{"id":2681,"date":"2018-03-08T11:06:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T10:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/?p=2681"},"modified":"2018-04-25T12:40:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-25T11:40:23","slug":"diminutives-australian-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/2018\/03\/diminutives-australian-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Diminutives in Australian English"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Australian<\/p>\n

All languages use diminutives, shortened versions of the original word. We may use them to show affection or perhaps because we want to sound less formal, more friendly. Some diminutives may even be seen as slang. One of the quirks of Australian English is the wide use of them. There are over 5000 known expressions, far higher than in British or American English.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the following invite from an \u2018Aussie\u2019 friend. Would you say yes?<\/p>\n

\u2018What are you up to s\u2019arvo? Straya are playing footy against the poms on the tellie. I\u2019m having a barbie. We\u2019ve \u00a0got snags and loads of stubbies and don\u2019t forget your cossie.\u2019<\/p>\n

Does it seem like an alien language?\u00a0 Packed full of typical Aussies diminutives, it may at first be hard to understand. We\u2019ll take a look at some of the most popular ones and help you unravel your baffling invite.<\/p>\n

Our Top Diminutives In Australian English
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n

How many of the following do you already know, or can guess at?<\/p>\n

Jobs:\u00a0 <\/strong>chalkie (teacher), postie (postman), chippie (carpenter), sparkie (electrician), ambo (paramedic), pollie (politician)<\/p>\n

Food and drink: <\/strong>chockie (chocolate), snag (sausages), mushies (mushrooms), veggies (vegetables), stubbies ( small bottled beer), barbie (barbeque)<\/p>\n

Others: <\/strong>Poms (the British), Aussies (the Australians), Straya (Australia), footy (rugby), s\u2019arvo (this afternoon), cossie (swimming costume),\u00a0 you beaut (great), tellie (television), roo (kangaroo), rellie (a relative), sunnies (sunglasses), lippie (lipstick), smoko (cigarette break), mozzie (mosquito)<\/p>\n

More Examples<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just why are Aussie\u2019s so fond of their diminutives?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

It seems many Aussie diminutives have slipped into English dictionary. Who isn\u2019t familiar with the terms \u2018selfie\u2019 and \u2018uni’?<\/p>\n

Are modern day Aussie\u2019s just being lazy? No, argues Dr Nenagh Kemp of the Australian Geographic\u00a0 Society<\/a>. \u00a0She points out that Australians have been shortening common place words from the early 1800s and in some cases the diminutive version is actually longer than the original. \u00a0It seems that their use in more a cultural expression. In general, Aussies are often seen as laid back, friendly, open and welcoming. It makes sense then that the language they use would reflect that.\u00a0 We hand over the last word to Dr. Kemp<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all have an intuitive feeling that these words also make an interaction more informal, more friendly and relaxed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All languages use diminutives, shortened versions of the original word. We may use them to show affection or perhaps because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3072,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[130],"tags":[22,139,131],"class_list":["post-2681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learn-english-usuage","tag-australia","tag-australian-english","tag-modern-english","post-item clearfix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2681"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2692,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2681\/revisions\/2692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lsi.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}