canadian politics.

can't really say i've been keeping up with the canadian election.
as a matter of fact, i decided i couldn't be bothered to photocopy my passport/visa/photo ID or whatever was required of me to vote via snail mail. but this caught my eye today...

the question doesn't actually make grammatical sense though... the interviewer asks: "if you were prime minister now, what would you have done about the economy and this crisis that prime minister harper has not done?"

if i was prime minister NOW, what would i have DONE? the tenses don't match up.
does he mean if i was prime minister NOW, what would i DO? or does he mean if i was prime minister 2.5 years ago or 6 months ago or even YESTERDAY, what would i have DONE (differently)? maybe i've been spending too much time with aussies who don't use proper grammar, but i think the question was worded poorly.

speaking of aussie english... this guy Bruce Moore from ANU suggests that the distinctive (read: annoying) australian twang may be on its way out. really? is there anything i can do to speed this process?
:)
(scroll down to the bottom of the article and the writer has a handful of aussie slang, my favorite of this bunch is: shark biscuit which is slang for someone new to surfing. kekeke.)

aussie english lesson #10

i've been meaning to put these up for quite awhile now. sorry it took me so long.

hotting up - modifying or "souping" up a car.
adrian: i thought about hotting up my car.
me: what? this hunk o' junk?

punt - to take a guess, take a stab
chris: um... due to compression of the facial nerve?
clinical coach: no.
chris: oh well, i was just taking a punt.
clinical coach gives him a serious stare down.

crack it - get mad, go nuts
if our clinical coach cancels on us again, i'm gonna crack it.

similarly... cracked a tanty - throw a tantrum
leah: i had to cut my dog's nails this weekend and he just completely cracked a tanty.

sanga - short for sandwich
me: i'm hungry.
carl: well go and get something. they have pies, coffee, sangas...
me: huh?

stacked it - fall really hard
oh man, did you see that guy? he just stacked it!

chuck a sicky - call in sick, play hooky
i'm not feeling like going in today. maybe i'll just chuck a sicky.

apparently you can chuck a lot of things. for example chuck a chu-ey means, pull a U-turn.

get your kit off - take your clothes off
a very inappropriate way to ask a woman to remove her clothes during a well woman check would be to say, "hey! get yo kit off!"

camp - gay
he's looking awfully camp today isn't he?

zebra - crosswalk, pronounced ZEBra not ZEEbra

fringe - hairline, bangs

*****

EDIT

11:47pm watching the opening ceremonies of beijing 2008.  canada's come out but australia and korea haven't yet.  i'm pretty pooped though, don't know if i'll last much longer.

12:53am just saw korea come out.  was a little disappointed to see the north and south come out separately.

1:13am finally.  australia and china have come out.

1:44am i'm tired of waiting for them to light this silly flame.  i'm done.  good night.

aussie english lesson #9.

back with some more aussie slang!

now aside from refusing to enunciate anything, aussies like to keep foreigners guessing by shortening words. for example...
ambo is ambulance
medico is a medical professional
servo is a service station
bikee is a biker/motorcyclist
and arvo is afternoon.

snog - to hook up with, in particular of a physical nature
medcest - relationships that occur within the medical class
susan: did you hear the new goss? X is snogging Y!
me: really? X and Y? more medcest? ewww...

spewing - REALLY mad
flogged - get beaten really badly, get outplayed, embarrassed 
our coach was just spewing. we were getting flogged out there, the final score was like 54-1!

rock up - show up, often unannounced and/or just as is
me: do i need to RSVP? want me to bring anything?
adrian: nah, just rock up.

little lunch - morning recess
morning tea - mid morning snack
tea - dinner
linda: remember when we used to have little lunch and morning tea?
me: *sort of confused* um... yea... you mean like those lunch things where you take a cracker and add on a layer of cheese and a layer of ham?
linda: huh? what are you talking about? what crackers?
me: i dunno. what are YOU talking about???

adrian: what's for tea tonight?

me: tea?  i don't drink much tea.  i'll probably just drink some OJ.  

doona - quilt, comforter
knickers - underwear
loo roll - toilet paper

*****
hit my goal of 20 hours of study this week.
next week's goal goes up to 25.
i'm definitely past 3rd and up-shifting into 4th now.

still looking...

i'm still looking for a permanent home. it's been frustrating but hopefully we'll find something that we like. something that'll fit us all. did i mention we're a party of 5? yep. 5. matt, susan, laura, alan and myself. and that's where the problem lies. its been tough finding something with 5 bedrooms, at least 2 bathrooms and a carpark. i hate to admit it but it might soon be time for us to "break-up" and find smaller places.

i'm also still looking for new aussie slang to share with you. here's a few that i've come across since i've gotten back.
1. canteen - cafeteria. this dude walks up to me on campus the other day and asks - "where's your canteen?" and i'm thinking... well, i don't have a canteen. do i look like i'm a soldier or a camper? i have a water bottle but not a canteen. and why does this guy want to see my canteen anyway???

2. baby capsule - baby car seats. we were passing by this fire hall and it read: "baby capsule adjustments & fittings". which obviously was referring to making sure that your baby car seat is appropriately sized and fitted in your back seat. however, for a split second i imagined some sort of fire-proof capsule that you place your baby in, in case of emergency or fire! hahaha.

3. solarium - tanning bed/tanning salon. a local paper headline read: "solariums double cancer risk". i thought they were talking about planetariums, and thought "my goodness! all those school children taking day trips! THINK of the CHILDREN!!" *shriek* but no. it's just all the paris hiltons and nicole ritchies of the world. in that case... i guess it's kind of like natural selection then right? OUCH!

4. talent - slang for girls (or boys). the english equivalent would be "meat".
me: you gonna go to the internationals bbq?
matt: hm... probably not.
me: but what about the free food and the fresh talent!
haha!

and lastly... T.O. is still looking for his first superbowl ring. i was disappointed to find out this morning that my cowboys lost to the giants. and who said T.O. never had any heart. just watch the first 2 minutes or so...

go Pats!

the aussie experience.

alright boys and girls. i've got one last list of aussie-english words. probably the last one for the year. so listen up!

TINNY - a small aluminium fishing boat. often used by rowing coaches to ride along the water to yell at the rowers. more importantly, used to scoop out rowers that have fallen into the river. i've seen that happen! that brings us to our second word: alumiNIUM. not aluminum. al-loo-min-eee-um.

SUSSED OUT - to figure out, or sort out.
james my roommate: d'you suss out what's happening tonight?
me: did you just call me a sissy?!?

CAPSICUM - what we call a pepper or a bell pepper, they call capsicum. then, what do they call pepper spray? capsicum spray???

WHINGE - to whine. "stop whinging!"

TOAD in the HOLE - now a "toad in the whole" is where you poke a whole the size of a toonie in your bread, place it on the frying pan and then crack an egg into it. well, that's what the poms call it anyway. what's a pom? it's a not-so-affectionate term that aussies and kiwis used to refer to the brits.

POPPER - juice box!

PINCH - when you borrow something without any real intentions of returning it. "oh shoot, i meant to pinch a couple of scrubs from the hospital but i forgot."

BUCK's/HEN's PARTY - refers to a bachelor or bachelorette party.

some other things that i've learned/noticed...
MASCOT - i don't think i know what UQ's mascot is. and now that i think about it, i have no idea what UQ's sport teams are called. any UQers know the answer?

COIN in your CUP - this is one that i learned just the other day. so if you drop a coin into someone else's drink. the drink owner has to scull (chug) down whatever is remaining in his glass. but the money is their's now - free to be deposited into other unsuspecting beer holders.

THANKING the BUS DRIVER - everyone thanks the bus driver as they get off. even those that are getting off through the back doors. i'm not sure why we don't do that in toronto. and i find this odd because for the most part i find aussie bus drivers to be grumpier than ttc bus drivers.

BAG CHECK - this happens basically wherever you go. when you walk out of a store, they'll ask to have a look in your bag. i don't know why? i guess petty crime is an issue. meh. so when you're in oz and the store clerk asks to see inside your bag, don't be offended. it's not because you look like a juvenile delinquent. they ask everyone. even little ol' ladies.

ps. if you want anything aussie, speak up now or forever hold your peace. i'm sorry but all the koalas and kangaroos have been spoken for already.

dryspell...

sorry for the lack of consistent posts lately guys.
i've been busy studying and have been leading a pretty dull life. i've been spending most of my days in my room, poking out for food and toilet breaks.
i haven't even been going to all the lectures. been attending the mandatory stuff, but have been pretty picky and choosy otherwise. i've always been a pretty keen lecture attender but lately i just find that my time's better spent at home than at a boring lecture where it's a constant struggle just to stay awake as i listen to some monotone lecturer drone on and on about something that's not even going to be examined.
***
my rooms looks like a bomb exploded in it. there are books and papers everywhere.

every day is a shuffle. before i go to bed, all the stuff on my bed gets put on my desk. and then when i wake up, everything goes back onto the bed.
***
it has been stinkin' hot in brisbane. i think we're technically still in the "spring" season but today was a high of 32. i think we're expecting similar weather for the rest of the week.
***
this morning, i was listening to the 2nd period leafs' broadcast on AM640 (thank goodness for the internet!). when i had left for school, leafs were up 3-2 at the end of the second. afterwards, matt (an avalanche fan and leaf-hater) was more than happy to let me know that the leafs had lost in overtime. :(
i hope this isn't indicative of the type of season they're gonna have this year.
***
i've been jotting down aussie-english words. i will have a monster lesson for you all after my exams.
***
i leave you with something most of you may already know.
ALCOHOL METABOLISM:

alcohol is converted to acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). acetaldehyde is converted to acetic acid via acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). acetaldehyde is what causes the hangover symptoms and gives you a red face. many asians actually lack ALDH and have a variant form of ADH which converts alcohol into acetaldehyde more efficiently. this leads to increased levels of acetaldehyde and furthermore, stronger/faster hangover symptoms and a red face - also known as "asian flush".
a drug called disulfiram is used as aversion therapy for alcohol abusers. disulfiram inactivates ALDH. as per the mechanism above, it increases the negative effects of alcohol in hopes that through operant conditioning (remember Skinner? - the american psychologist. not the simpsons character!) the alcoholic will reduce or even better, stop drinking.

aussie english lesson #6

sorry for the lack of aussie words.
it appears that i've mastered the aussie language and there is nothing else to learn!
here's a few that i squeezed from my friends...

1. dobber - tattle tale. Um... Ms. Douglas, so-and-so did such-and-such. "Ugh! Albert, you're such a dobber!"

2. dunny - toilet. from my understanding, it refers to the toilet ITSELF rather than the room. but they don't really differentiate between the two here in oz so.

3. bee's knees - cool, best, high quality. "whoa! is that the new sphygmomanometer-1000?!? that's the bee's knees!"

4. dressed to the nines - used to describe a person that is formally and immaculately dressed. "wow, aren't you dressed to the nines!"

5. swotvac - refers to the week off from school before exams. the term SWOT was originally a scottish term meaning sweat. however it has been used as slang to describe a student paying careful attention to his work. hence swotvac. the backacronym (an acronym that is formed after a previously existing abbreviation) that has arose is: Study WithOut Teaching VACation. (background info courtesy of wiki)

6. crook - really sick or even dead. "I haven't seen Emma in a few days. She must be crook!"

aussie english lesson #5

Wagging – skipping class. Don’t you have lectures today? Yea, but I’m wagging.

Sticks – rural area, boonies. “Where do you live?” “Oh, I live out in the sticks. About 6 hours away from any major city.”

Cracker – really good, great. So the other day I get an e-mail from my surf instructor and the first line read “Cracker link on your blog!” and I’m thinking “huh?? What does that mean and how did he find my blog?” turns out he’s got a tracker on his website. After the post from a few Fridays ago, I guess a lot of you had checked out the website. He was curious to see where all his new traffic was coming from and that led him back to my blog. So there’s another word courtesy of Jamo. CRACKER!

Cheers – I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this one already. It’s probably the first word I noticed. It’s synonymous with “thanks”. But it’s often used on parting or ending a conversation. Every aussie signs off their e-mails with a “cheers” at the end.

Queue – back home we don’t use this word much. And when we do, we usually use it as a noun. “there was a long queue in front of the bank machine”. But here, it serves more in its verb form. “I was in a hurry but people had queued up past the entrance and around the building”. “hey, what’s everyone queuing up for?”

Overcooked – I am NOT making this one up. It came up in our PBL group meeting the other day. So I’m told that in oz, the word “overcooked” is used to describe a baby that is delivered post-term or a baby that is overdue. Where did they come up with this? Well, apparently a baby that’s delivered after 40 weeks, “looks overcooked”. I’m told that their skin is RED and dry... like an overcooked turkey or something. How’s THAT for some imagery?

I just have to remind myself that aussie english isn’t ‘weird’. Just different. Cases in point:
• Toilet – not bathroom, restroom, washroom, powder room or any other room. Just toilet.
• Eskie - ice box, cooler
• Trolley – shopping cart
• Heaps – lots, tons
• Car park – parking lot
• Footpath – side walk
• Scull – gulp down, chug down

aussie english lesson #4

It’s been almost a month since the last aussie-english lesson. You know what they say about languages.
If you don’t use it, you lose it.
SO…

1. Mossie bite – mosquito bite. “Damn mossies! I’ve got mossie bites everywhere!”

2. No drama – not a problem, not an issue. I first heard this being used by my surf instructor a couple of weekends ago. For example: “we’ll go through some basic skills as a group and then if you want to go and try to catch your own waves, that’s no drama”. Or “if you want us to take some pictures for you, that’s no drama”. No drama. I love it.

3. Goon – REALLY cheap wine. Can usually be purchased in a plastic pouch. How can I describe this… it comes in box. Within the box is a plastic pouch. The pouch usually holds like 6L of CHEAP wine. The pouch is attached to a little plastic tap. You set the box on a little ledge of some sort and pour yourself a glass.

4. Refectory – cafeteria. And as such, “meet me at the main caf” becomes, “meet me at the main refec”.

5. Bring a plate – potluck.
“I’m having a bring-a-plate at my place on Friday night. So, bring a plate!”

6. Chemist – pharmacy. I think they still call pharmacists, pharmacists. But the pharmacy is called a chemist. “I need to drop by the chemist to pick up some panadol” (which is Tylenol here in Oz).

7. Macca’s – short for McDonald’s. If you say MickeyD’s they won’t know what you’re talking about.

8. Bogen or yobbo: aussie term that has similar meaning and connotation as “hick” or “yokel” back home.

9. TAXI! – used in jest towards someone that knocks something over, trips, or does anything that is associated with alcohol intoxication. The clumsy person can be of any alcoholic state. So why do you yell out “TAXI”? well, the idea is that they are too drunk to function properly and you are calling them a taxi to send them home.

study hard!

Aussie English lesson #3

1. “How you going?” – how are you? Similarly, Aussies also like to say “how’d you go last night?” meaning, how was it last night? Or how were you last night?

2. Brekky – short for breakfast. I initially thought this was a sms/text-message generation thing but apparently not. Many restaurants will advertise “BREKKY 5AM”. Including Hungry Jacks. For those of you that don’t know, Burger King is called Hungry Jacks here in Australia. It’s the same menu with the same fries but just called Hungry Jacks. I can differentiate the major fast-food restaurant solely from their fries. Probably not something to boast about. >_<

3. You’re alright – used often in response to an apology. For example, as I pass through the aisles to get to my seat I’ll say “pardon me” or “I’m sorry” and the Aussie that’s sitting will say “you’re alright!”

4. Tomato sauce. Tomato sauce refers to ketchup here. No such thing as ketchup. And you know how back home we can say to(MA)to or to(mae)to? Here it’s all to(MA)to. “You want some toMAto sauce with your fries?”

5. Take-away – no not subtractions. It refers to take-out food. “What’d you have for dinner last night?” “Oh, just some Chinese take-away”. Funny how one little word makes such a huge difference. And if you think about it “take-away” makes sense too. But it just doesn’t seem right.

6. Pike – to bail, to let-down, or to be a no-show. If someone is absent from a party… “where’s Emma?” “Oh, I think she’s piking.” “Why is she being such a piker?” … “I’m sorry I piked last Friday guys, I just had way too much work!”

7. Prank – to call and hang up. This is just the same as back home but used in slightly different circumstances. Let’s say I’ve met a new friend and want to exchange phone numbers. I’ll recite my number as she punches it into her phone. Once she’s done, she’ll offer to prank me. She’ll call me and then hang up so that I can get her number off of my call display. Make sense? We do that in Canada too but we don’t call that “pranking”.

8. Sausage sizzles – these are sausages or hot dogs served not in hot dog buns but rather just in plain ol’ white sliced bread. It’s got to be white. It can’t be whole wheat. I kid you not. Condiments? Just ketchup. *shakes head* i mean... toMAto sauce. I’ll put up a pic of a sausage sizzler the next time I have one.

australian-english lesson #2

here are some more wacky things that australians say.
1. do you know what a bubbler is? something that bubbles? sort of. it's a water/drinking fountain. they call it a bubbler.
me: you guys know where the fountain is?
oz friends: the what?
me: the fountain, you know the water fountain? where you drink water?
oz: you mean the bubbler?
me: huh??? >_<

2. stubbies: really SHORT shorts. i think they're referred to stubbies only if a guy is wearing them.

3. jumper - now back home, when someone says jumper the first thing that usually comes to one's mind is a really ugly track suit. perhaps of a fluorescent pink or a neon green in colour. but here it actually refers to any ol' long-sleeve shirt/thin jacket/thin sweater.

4. good on ya! - now aussies like to use this one a whole lot. it's used in a congratulatory sense and usually means something similar to "good for you".
custom's agent: first time in australia?
me: yes.
custom's agent: and what is the purpose of this visit?
me: i'm coming to study.
custom's agent: and what are you studying?
me: i'm starting medicine at UQ this month.
custom's agent: well, good on ya!

5. how would you pronounce this word: beetroot.
you know beet-root. it's reddish-purplish , you can eat it raw in your salad or pickled as a condiment? well these aussies love their beetroot. especially in their burgers.
BUT, it's not pronounced beeT-rooT. more like bEE-trOOT.

6. last one for today. now this is an expression. probably one that is used more by immature males than the general population. but i find it quite funny nontheless.
smugglin' tic tacs? - it's supposed to mean "are your nipples hard"?
;D let me give you an example.
me: brrr... it's cold in here.
oz friend: are you smugglin' tic tacs?
me: WHAT?!?!
oz friend: you know, smugglin' tic tacs?
me: no. i have no idea. what do tic tacs have anything to do with the cold?
oz friend: are your nipples hard from the cold?!?!

get it?
study those carefully. you may be tested on them at a later point in time.

pardon me?

so aside from the heat and the driving-on-the-wrong-side of the lane, one thing that i have been having some difficulty adapting to is the language.
yes. the language. and yes they do speak english here but...
1. they don't enunciate ANYTHING! everything's a big slur.
2. the lingo is different. let me give you a couple of examples.

"tuck yourself in" - means "knock yourself out"
so you're having a burger and some chips (not fries, CHIPS) with a friend and he asks you to pass the ketchup. in canada, we would say "here. knock yourself out". but these aussies say "tuck yourself in!"

poor form/good form - used at anytime one does something poorly or well.
spilling beer while drinking from a beer bong - "poor form!"
drank all your beer without spilling a drop? - "good form!"

"reckon" - they love their reckons. i reckon this... i reckon that... you reckon...??? it's really a qualifier. instead of saying "i think..." or "i imagine..." it's "I RECKON..."

"keen" - means interested, want, up for
for example: "you still keen for a jog tonight?"

"the pits" - adjective to describe anything that sucks
for example: "sleeping on someone else's couch is just the pits!"

"wet behind the ears" - someone that is immature, naive, or a bit of a rookie.
for example: "she's a little wet behind the ears isn't she?"

and that concludes our australian english lesson for the day.