Hmm.... Is that slang, though, Liz? It's more of a foreign language with different sentence structure and grammatical rules by the look of it - Just 'cos it's SUPPOSED to be english doesn't stop it being foreign! In Oz we KNOW we're supposed to be talking english, but are too lazy (or too bloody-minded) to do it properly, while you're actually using another language altogether... it just so happens it has some english words in it!

I feel that we are really more exposed to what passes for "international western marketable" slang these days. The american and americanised slang we all seem to be familiar with is the version we get in ads and TV shows, which is, I assume, the currently "accepted standard" slang or street talk - cleaned up for broadcasting. Nice to know that we will have a universal lingua franca some day - even if it is slang......... Just hope we can keep our own ways of speaking intact.