AUSTRALIAN Culture and Language Help - II

[OliveOil_Med]

I have another question. Do kids in Australia say 'cool', or do they use some other word?

Also, do a lot of people read National Geographic in Australia?

[Fainting Fancies]

Yes, kids in Australia say 'cool.' Quite a lot, actually, you're definitely safe with 'cool.' I can't really think of anything that kids would say instead.

I don't really know if a lot of people read National Geographic. I'm a female in my early twenties and I don't really read it, neither do my parents, my friends or their parents. One friend got a year's subscription of it for her birthday last year, it's in libraries everywhere and at doctors' and dentists' offices and the like. It might be more popular with the older generation and people more intellectual than I am!

Hannah

[OliveOil_Med]

There's an American cop show called Law & Order, and I think they have a British version of the show too. Does this show play in Australia? If so, how often does it play? The American one or the British one?

And if no, what are some well-known cop shows in Australia?

[OliveOil_Med]

Double posting because I just had a thought go through my mind that not just people from Australia could help out with.

What could be some Australian wizarding swear words?

We already know that swear words can very from country to country, and swearing Merlin up and down just seems like it would be more of a British thing, seeing he was a British wizard.

So what words do you think Australian wizards would use when they wanted to swear?

[Annalise28]

I say 'cool' a lot, as well as 'awesome'. Really, I just say the first thing that comes to my head, which can sometimes be stuff as weird as 'coolies' < don't use that, it was a terrible fad back in 5th grade >.< We take the speech styles from america and britain, as well, though. Most TV shows that we watch are american, except for 'Austrlian Idol' and 'So You Think You Can Dance - Australia' and shows like that. There are plenty of Austrlian shows, but I tend to stay away from them because they're not very good. So, anyway, we hear a lot of American speech and words that we hear on TV are used a lot in every day speech.

I've never read National Geographic, but as Hannah said, I'm sure a lot of people do but usually those interested in it.

We watch the American version of Law & Order. We also watch CSI Miami and variations of that..

As for Austrlian Wizarding swear words, I have absolutely no idea. The swear words that I hear usually are american ones - the 'f' word, and.. other, erm words such as that. We don't talk about Merlin. Bl**dy H*ll, though, is definitely used here.

I really, really hope that helped even a tiiiny bit.

~ Annalise x

[OliveOil_Med]

Maybe it would help if I included the sentence I need the word to fit.

"Magdalene, where (Australian word) have you been?"

Does this help at all?

[Annalise28]

Yes, that helps quite a bit.

Other than the 'f' word, which in Australia would also be frequently used in that sentence, 'hell' or sometimes even 'heck' are used quite a bit. I say that first a lot every day. Usually when someone annoys me (usually my sister ) I say 'What the hell!' really angrily. So, it would work fine in that sentence and is also a very commonly used word.



~ Annalise x

[OliveOil_Med]

Yes, but these are witches saying this, so it still relates back to my question of Australian wizard swears. I'm kind of thinking of this chapter as the first real introduction to Australian wizarding culture.

[emck]

If it were me, I'd just use something British. Most of our swear words are British, really. Only bogans use the really Australian slang-y type swears.

[U-No-Poo]

Hmm, well, I don't know about Lise and Emily and everyone else, but I tend to use God's name in vain a fair bit However, you mentioned that this would be in the wizarding world, so I guess you'll be fine with Merlin. I mean, he's basically the magical equivalent of God, isn't he?