Safetosea

There was a time when the Australian vernacular, our slang, was something that we delighted in. Rich, steeped in history. Words like bowyang (not quite a garter), and grouse (really good). Of course 'fair dinkum' (truly), cobber (friend, colleague), mate (well... ya mate) were mainstays, but they were just the thin skin of something that occupied three full pages in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

We'd laugh at attempts in films to "do" Australian, the way a foreign actor could never get the accent, or misused a word. There were unwritten rules that made usage either right, or very wrong. Only we knew them.

Now times have changed. Meryl Streep nailed the accent in Evil Angels, and even Robin Williams did ok as he did a hatchet job on us recently on David Letterman, though he got so much wrong, confusing Australian Rules football with Rugby League and some crap about flying snakes??? I haven't seen one for weeks. He's right in one way though in that everything here will kill you. As well, the kids today, with all their exposure to foreign film and tv have, though they retain an Australian accent in one of its many forms, taken up dude speak at the expense of their past.

Those of us a little older though hold on, in some degree, to old loves.

Yesterday, and on Saturday, the waves were grouse.

Fair dinkum. My oath.

If only the bloke doing the slash was me.