To start, I will apologize in advance for the length of this
blog, but I suppose it is my way of making up for my lack of blogging over the
last several weeks. Read on if you wish,
and there is no judgment if you don’t make it all the way through J.
Since we’ve been in Australia, we’ve been asked several
times by Aussies variations of the question, “What has surprised you most about
Australia?” Others have asked us to
identify the biggest difference between Australia and America or whether
Australia is what we expected. These are
incredibly difficult questions to answer because they seem to bear the burden
of identifying and describing all the slight nuances and variations of
Australian culture which differ from the American experience. Furthermore, we have not been in Australia
long enough to fully understand or experience all of its culture and have not
yet had the chance to venture to many of its differing geographies. As with any country or culture, it is quite
simply impossible to capture or fully explain an accurate and full picture of
life in that country as opposed to one’s own.
A country or culture cannot be captured in a prism of explanations or
quantifiable qualities, just as a person cannot be explained through
delineating a few key characteristics.
The last several weeks I’ve been thinking about how to
explain our experiences so far with Australian culture. I decided this week that I would focus on the
one response Brad and I have settled upon as our “go to” answer for the time
being when asked what has most surprised us.
Australian culture has more British influence than we
expected. To be sure, we knew of
Australia’s connection with the British, we knew it is part of the
commonwealth, and we knew the history behind it before arriving here. However, when we imagined Australia, anything
British did not enter our minds. Almost
every time I have mentioned this answer to an Australian, I have been met with
a surprised look and usually a laugh as they explain that the British think
that Australia is very Americanized.
First, let me make my case for the British influence in Australia, then
I want to explain what others have pointed out as the Americanization of
Australia. As a brief disclaimer, the
qualities I will point out are of course massive generalizations and not true
in all cases or of all people, but they are just used in an attempt to point
out some differences.
First of all, the sporting culture here is very
British. The big sports as of late are
rugby, horse racing, soccer, and now cricket.
Though the Australian rugby season has ended, the sport still looms
large in Australia at the moment as its national team is competing in the
international Four Nations Tournament against New Zealand, Samoa, and the
UK. Soccer and cricket are gearing up
and we cannot escape them as there is at least one game going on in the field
next to our flat every weekend and cricket games are seen all over the city in
every field as well. To that end, lawn
bowling is very popular, and lawn bowling clubs and games can be found
everywhere.
The big event this last week was the Melbourne Cup, the
culmination of racing season in Australia.
The month of October is known as Carnival season in Australia, when the
finals of the horse racing season occur, and the “big one” happens at the start
of November in Melbourne. We live very
close to the horse track in Sydney, so we decided a few weekends ago we had to
check out a race. Though anyone and
everyone can and does attend, the races seems very British and high
society. Men must wear suits, and women
must wear dresses and sport some sort of headgear, usually a fascinator. Though initially wary, I decided that when in
Rome, I must do as the Romans, so we went for the look as best we could. It was a lot of fun hanging out for the
afternoon at the track and this was magnified when the big race on November 4
“stopped the nation”. On that day, the
state of Victoria officially has a holiday, little work is done as people are
making bets throughout the day and having parties, most people come to work
dressed in their racing finest, and all stops when the race is on so that the
country can watch the race. Pretty fun,
and definitely British.
Another even more obvious way the British culture pervades
is through the close travel connections between the countries. Since coming here, we have learned that it is
so commonplace that it is almost considered cliché for young Australian adults
to go to London to study or work for a few years or for young Brits to come to
Australia. We have met many Brits here
in Australia and there are quite a few Irish as well. (While we’re on the subject, Sydney is
incredible international, and many of the people we have met are from Asian
countries or South Pacific islands as well.)
The crazy part of this is that I sometimes feel like I’ve lost the
ability to differentiate a British accent from an Australian one.
This brings us to the Australian ways of speaking. My view on this may be skewed a bit by the
fact that I have been working in the business sector, but Australians seem to
use more “proper” ways of speaking. I
certainly will not claim to be an expert on British English, but as far as I
know, Australian English uses almost all the British spellings, and their word
choice seems almost indecipherable from the Brits as well. I answer many “queries” at work, we throw
trash in the “rubbish bin”, we wait in the “queue”, moms take their babies
around in their “prams”, and so on. Just
for fun, I started to make a list words and phrases that Australians use that are
different than words Americans would use, and I included them at the end of
this blog for anyone interested.
To be fair, there are also many differences in the ways
Brits and Australians speak. Of course
there is a difference in the accent, but Australians also have many informal,
more “chummy” ways of speaking with their mates. Everyone’s name is somehow shortened or given
a nickname. In my opinion, the best part
of the Australian lingo is their indefatigable penchant for abbreviating
everything. There’s not much I like more
than a good abbrev. Yet paradoxically,
they often abbreviate words, then add some sort of vowel sound to the end,
often leaving the word just as long as it was before, but I attribute this to
the Australian way of wanting to make relationships more personal and casual. Some examples of this are breakfast (brekkie,)
a cup of coffee (cuppa,) McDonald’s (Macca’s,) and sunglasses (sunnies).
Though their word choice seems more “proper” in some
instances, in many other ways the Australian ways of speaking represent the
Aussie friendliness, lack of pretention, and intent on creating familiarity and
rapport with people instantaneously. The
Aussies love to joke about everything, can’t resist lampooning those who take
anything too seriously, and communicate often through ribbing. You know you are liked when a joke is made at
your expense, and you are liked even more when you show you can throw one back.
Though we haven’t had a chance yet to get far outside of
Sydney, I’m told that especially outside of big cities, in the Outback, and in
western Australia, the Australian slang is much more “bogan” and can be almost
indecipherable at times to outsiders.
“Bogan” seems to be a uniquely Australian word for a uniquely Australian
type of person. Most Australians can’t
entirely explain it, but as best I understand, it is their work for a typical
type of Australian who is a bit uncouth, somewhat “redneck”, perhaps a bit
high-wheeling, and often speaks using heavy Australian slang.
Anyway, I should probably get back to my original point of finishing
my explanation of British influences in Australia. However, I wanted to explain a little further
about Australian ways of speaking, because I believe that this is what I have
found most distinctive about Australian culture.
Two final ways we have seen the British influence is through
their food and government, though these influences aren’t as strong. Aside from vegemite (which I don’t
recommend!) there doesn’t seem to be much cuisine that is uniquely
Australian. Fish and chips and meat pies
are commonplace and could be considered part of Australian cuisine, but these
are of course traditionally British.
Australians do love to barbecue, and some grilled items (kangaroo
burgers anyone?) are Australian. Outside
of that, they have cuisine from all around the world. Here in Sydney, there is a ton of Asian food
from every country as well as Turkish and basically food from all over …
Africa, Greece, Italy, South America, America … you name it.
The government also has British influences. Australia is a parliamentary system with some
socialized institutions, including socialized health care and a government
mandated employer pension contribution for all Australians (called a superannuation).
Yet I’m told that many Brits, others from outside of
Australia, and even Australians themselves view Australia as extremely
Americanized, and I can definitely see how that is true. A lot of the shows on TV and most of the
movies are American. The music scene
includes all the current American singers/musicians along with some Australian
names. American pop culture seems very
embedded here. There are American stores
(Target and Kmart are big) and lots of American food and restaurants. McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, and
KFC are the popular American fast food places that can be found around. Typical American food can be found on many
menus and many American food product brands are found in grocery stores. I’m heard that fried southern food is a trend
in Australia right now as Australians have fallen in love with fried chicken,
among other things.
I’ve also noticed very similar ways of thinking about
politics between Australians and Americans.
Of course the classic debate over how much government influence to
accept in everyday life is an ongoing discussion which seems to surface in
every political issue. There is much
frustration with the current government, but it seems as though there has been
frustration with almost every government.
Australians have complained about a lack of trust for government. Especially as of late, the Australian
government has closely allied itself with America and very much assumes the
same stance on issues such as ISIS and the crisis in Ukraine as the U.S.
government. To be sure, this is
definitely not to say that Australians follow or even always value the American
way or the opinions of others. Though
Australian policies and government actions may be similar to other countries,
Australians seem very independent in their thinking and will act according to
what they believe is right, regardless of how it appears to others. They are not concerned with following anyone,
nor do they idolize or strive to emulate other countries.
Another striking difference that still catches me off guard
at times is the absence of a concern for political correctness at times; quite
frankly, Australians don’t always care about how they are perceived. The prime minister of Australia, Tony Abbott,
recently threatened to “shirt-front” Vladimir Putin, and this comment was both
heralded and derided as a very classic mark of Australian political
culture. Though perhaps not the most diplomatic
comment to make to alleviate tensions with Russia, Abbott vowed
(understandably) to assume a confrontational stance with Putin over a lack of
clarity regarding the MH17 disaster, which affected many Australians. This is a mild example, but a lack of concern
for political correctness is seen in many other areas of Australian
culture. Racial slang and stereotypes
are still used here more openly and commonly (though it is still derided) than
in the U.S., and colorful language is much more common on tv. The Australian news media has been
particularly interesting for me to take in.
In the print media, the voice and opinion of journalists is freely and readily
seen. The journalists’ opinions on a
subject are often openly shared through the course of an article, and this
usually emerges in the form of sarcasm or jibes at the expense of the subject.
All in all, we have really enjoyed Australia so far and I
continue to enjoy observing both the similarities and differences between
Australian and American culture. We love
the laid back culture (and I especially love the beach culture J) and the fact that
Australians tend not to take things too seriously. We have met lots of friendly people and have felt
very welcomed. As always, thanks to
those who keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
We love and miss you all!
Australian
Phrases/Words
How you going? = How are you doing?
Lollies = candy
Brekkie = breakfast/brunch
Cuppa = cup of coffee/tea
Footy = rugby
Boot = trunk
Pram = stroller
Bits and pieces = things
Billabong = watering hole
Capsicum = green pepper
Chooks = chicken
Rock melon = canteloupe
Mate = friend
Way out = exit
Take away = take out
Bush tucker = original Australian food off the land
Bush walking = walking in nature
Bogan = Uncouth Australian person/redneck
Superannuation = government mandated employer retirement contribution
all employers must make
Heaps = lots
Good on ya = good for you, nice job, etc.
Trolley = shopping cart
Rubbish = trash
Macca’s = McDonald’s
Sunnies = sunglasses
