BS: more translations from the Australian

Subject: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: leeneia
Date: 02 Dec 21 - 05:57 PM

I just read another mystery ("Spotted Dog") by Kerry Greenwood, and Corinna's still having adventures centered around her bakery in Melborne. The book is rife with words I don't know, and Australian catters are invited to explain and comment. (I'll do them four or five at a time.)

1. She was good at these interruptions...the spoken equivalent of KTHXBAI.

2. I picked up the esky...

3. "Carry on," I said with a Picardian wave.

4. ...Ms. Dawson got me a subscription to Stan.

5. I saw one of the girls and two nervous spoodles.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 02 Dec 21 - 06:09 PM

Might "spoodle" be a portmanteau of "spaniel" and "poodle?"

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Dec 21 - 06:12 PM

So what would you get if you crossed a spoodle with a labradoodle?? :-)

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Helen
Date: 02 Dec 21 - 08:12 PM

Hi leeneia,


I just Googled this one - KTHXBAI

"Okay, thanks, bye" - [O]K TH[ANKS]X BAI[BYE]

I don't think most of those sayings are typically Aussie sayings, except for "esky" which is a well-known brand name of a portable insulated cooler for carrying beer cans and/or picnic food. The word esky is commonly used here for any brand of picnic cooler.

Stan is an internet site for subscriptions to movies and TV shows.

I have no idea what a Picardian wave is. Is that the correct spelling?

Charmion's brother Andrew, I think you are correct about a spoodle being a spaniel/poodle cross breed.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Dec 21 - 08:24 PM

Labspoodlededoodoo

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Rusty Dobro
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 04:18 AM

Is ‘Picardian’ a reference to Jean Luc Picard in ‘Star Trek’?

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 06:26 AM

Like Helen I've never seen that weird thanks - maybe it's a social media thing?

Esky is a common clue in crosswords! & of course, everyone has an Esky, even if their cooler not the branded strong metal box, but a fragile polystyrene one, it's become a word like hoover or kleenix.

Here folks pay fortunes for Designer Dogs, & it's rare around my little bit of Paradise (Inner West & Eastern suburbs where richer folk live!, the closest suburbs to Sydney CBD) to see the kind of mutts we grew up with. Now-a-days cross-breeds are not accidents of dog nature, but very expensive animals. A couple of days ago I actually saw a mutt being walk along with designer dogs I nearly died of shock ...

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 08:24 AM

The Picardian wave is that gesture Patrick Stewart makes with his right hand when he says, “Engage”.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Helen
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 01:47 PM

Sandra, I do not use social media so I hadn't seen KTHXBAI either but Hubby knew what it was as soon as I said it.

Thanks Charmion, that explains it. Not particularly Aussie but well known in Trekkian circles, I guess.

When I Googled Picardian, this is one of the topics which came up:

picaridin

I thought that maybe the spelling was Picaridin and it was a, well a salute, to the the famous Aussie salute:

the great Aussie wave aka the great Aussie salute

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 04:41 PM

I watched some episodes of Star Trek in the 60s after Dad finally got a TV (1966, 10 years after Oz got TV) but I never really got interested in watching stuff (TV or movies) and I've never owned a TV since moving out in 1976, I've never seen the later series, tho I do occasionally read something on the TV pages so I do know later series exist with Picard replacing Kirk!

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: leeneia
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 05:27 PM

I guess we've pinned everything down. I suppose esky comes from Eskimo, don't you.

Here's a video of Patrick Stewart waving "engage." There are quite a few different ways to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jd1Ih8EUmw

I'm like you, Sandra. I basically stopped watching TV in 1958. However, I like to watch YouTubes, which are shorter and over which I have more control.

Here are a few more items:

6. "Fuck off, cunt" came out as a bellow, the sort made by a Mallee bull with its foot caught in a cattle grid.

There are two things about #6. First, what's a Mallee bull? And the second thing is about 'Cunt.' In America 'cunt' is a nasty word for the female genitalia, also a very contemptuous word for a woman, and the kind of men who use it would be baffled to hear it used to address a man. In fact, if you ever come to America, do not ever use the word cunt at all.

7. My two black eyes, now of a hue resembling European smallgoods.

8. "These palatial dwellings all look very impressive from the street...

"More front than Myers?"

"Oh yes."

9. The last item is not puzzling, just something I'd like to share.

"I have heard it is never too late for a happy childhood."

I like that. For example, when I was about twelve years old, I was given a Viewmaster and some pictures of the Painted Desert. At that time, the Painted Desert might as well have been on the moon, for all the chance I had of visiting it. But one day, maybe five years ago, I decided that I was going to see the Painted Desert at last. I would expunge the notion that going far away to see exotic landscapes was not for people like me.

To make a long story short, the DH and I got together with two good friends, and we went to Arizona. Flew out, rented a car, saw the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest and Meteor Crater, among other thing. I felt like I had filled a hole that had always been in my spirit.

Is there something like that that you have been quietly wanting all these years?

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Helen
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 06:01 PM

6. the c-word is not acceptable in polite society here either, but it can be used as a swear word aimed at men here too. Basically, in my opinion, if someone thinks that's an acceptable word to use in society they may not be clever enough to understand the subtle nuances of using the word about a man, or they are aiming to denigrate the man even more by downgrading their place in society to that of a lowly woman. (Don't get me started!! I'll shut up about it now.)

7. European smallgoods would be some sort of meat sausage like salami, bratwurst, etc. Pick one which resembles the colour of a black eye.

8. More front than Myers. Myers is a big department store chain which had overblown, impressive buildings back in the times about 100 years ago when they were first built. Having "front" can also mean aggressive, over-confident behaviour.

9. Your story about the Painted Desert experience makes me think of a trip I made to Uluru (aka Ayres Rock). An amazing rock in an amazing landscape with amazing cultural significance. A truly memorable trip.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Dec 21 - 06:51 PM

Wikipedisa - Esky is an Australian brand of portable coolers. The term "esky" is also commonly used in Australia to generically refer to portable coolers or ice boxes and is part of the Australian vernacular, in place of words like "cooler" or "cooler box" and the New Zealand "chilly bin". The term derives from the word "Eskimo" ... (invented in 1952) ... by 1960, 500,000 Australian households owned one (in a country of approximately 3 million households at the time).

hmmm, the current esky no longer has a steel body, but I'm sure it can still serve as a seat.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Tangledwood
Date: 04 Dec 21 - 05:48 PM

#6 Mallee bull. Mallee is an agricultural area in north western Victoria. If somebody is asked about their state of health they may well respond "as fit as a Mallee bull". Why a Mallee bull is any more fit than one from the Kimberley or the Gulf Country I have no idea. I guess author Kerry Greenwood has just adapted the cliche.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: JennieG
Date: 04 Dec 21 - 07:04 PM

Kerry Greenwood lives in Melbourne, so the Mallee bull term is probably more prevalent there than in other states.....although I have heard it said here in N.S.W.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: leeneia
Date: 05 Dec 21 - 10:09 AM

So it isn't a breed of bull, such as Angus or Hereford, just a bull that happens to live in Mallee? Mallee must be a nice place.

Kerry Greenwood's bio at the end of the book didn't say where she lived. I was wondering whether she was Australian at all. Thanks for the info.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Dec 21 - 10:30 AM

I read that the great Australian salute was the waving-away-flies wave.

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 06 Dec 21 - 02:50 AM

was? it still is!

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: JennieG
Date: 06 Dec 21 - 05:07 AM

Oh, I don't know about the Mallee being a nice place......it's interesting but a bit inhospitable in places. We have driven through some of it; the road from Mildura in Victoria to Renmark in South Australia goes through some very flat country. We became quite excited about a slight incline, at one stage.

The Mallee

Subject: RE: BS: more translations from the Australian
From: Tangledwood
Date: 06 Dec 21 - 06:38 PM

Mildura to Renmark would be the good bit wouldn't it Jenny? Having areas called Big Desert Wilderness Area or Little Desert aren't very inspiring.
I had a friend who grew up on a farm near the Murray. She pointed a cow out to me one day and said "that's a sandwich cow". I asked her what that meant. "There's only enough meat on it to make a sandwich".