[HPFGU-OTChatter] Brittspeak (was Re: Wotcher)

[silverdragon at ezweb.com.au]

>
> So if we Americans are copying the Brits, will you all in Australia
> eventually be getting Britspeak from us?
>
> Annemehr

I guess up till the 50's when Australians were basically 'displaced Brits',
most of our culture was essentially gleaned from the Mother Country. My Dad
(born in '29) still uses rhyming slang and various "Britishisms". Once the
White Australia Policy was abolished (which took 25 years - from 1949 till
1973, and non-Europeans were able to apply to immigrate, thus allowing other
influences into Australia), then with the technological advances since then
the USA took over, I guess, as the world-wide benchmark, if you will.
American television shows, movies, music etc all took over from the fewer
local productions and the usual British stuff we were used to (not me! I
wasn't born till later...). Except for on the ABC (national,
government-funded public broadcaster) that is... So we've had our
"Britspeak" days but I guess they're coming back now <grin>.


Saitaina wrote
>>Soon the world will be speaking the same
language.  It'll just be passed along from
country to country until we all catch on.<<

Sure enough! Have you been reading Orwell..? <Nox says suspiciously>.
Nothing sinister, I've just been reading Orwell myself..Not 1984, Animal
Farm, but the three Nations remind me an awful lot of the EEU, OPEC and the
err... other one... that includes Asia/Australia etc (can never remember
those intials - you watch, I'll remember seconds after I go off-line.), and
several others. Orwell just had the number of "nations" wrong, but I imagine
any day now we'll get down to three..)

Nox (sorry for bringing politics etc into it, but I'm still reeling at the
fact I was actually *born* while we still had something so racist and
horrible as the "White Australia Policy"...)