Talk:Australian English vocabulary/Archive 3

message: I restored the previous meaning of camp. Reason: As I understand it, up until the 1970s the term for a homosexual man was "camp", as in, "I am camp", "He's camp", "Are you camp?". The American term "gay" was either yet to be invented or heard of in Australia, and camp was the word commonly used. In addition to this it was also used in its standard sense of humourously overstated and exaggerated gentures and mannerisms. So I restored it because the earlier sense I've described is the one that is Australian and it is also the one that is extinct, having now been replaced by "gay". Use of "camp" as an adjective is more the standard international usage in use today so to me the inclusion of the term here at all is because of the old, Australian, use of the term as a noun. Precinct13 00:13, 10 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: In reply to your question "Meaning what? In the form 'he's camp' it means --he is effeminate or he practices in homosexuality. A small but important difference." I would say that, until the 1970s in Aust, it meant that the person practices homosexuality. Later, after the word "gay" caught on sometime in the 1970s, the meaning would have more meant that he is effeminate. I've not personally encountered any of this, but have read several reports by people around at the time who describe the words used in this way and the change in meaning that occured sometime in the 1970s. Yes it was and is in British English, but then many of the terms here, like "mate", "bloody" are as well. The word campy refers more to theatricality and exaggerated performance or behaviour, and is probably related to the later, more universal meaning of the word camp that came in to play after "gay" came in to use in Aust and the general meaning of the word "camp" shifted.  Precinct13 20:57, 11 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: No problem. Yes it is obscure, and seems to be totally extinct in this sense. Apparently out of use since the 1970s. Yeah the discussion pages can be good. Precinct13 08:14, 13 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Camp

message: "Literal translation" means word for word, as in "dream +  time". It doesn't mean exact translation. Grant65 (Talk) 06:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry Eric, but "literal translation" does mean "word for word". In any case, if you are saying that it is not a word for word translation of an Arrernte word then we shouldn't need mention Arrernte as the word/concept is clearly very widespread, if not universal, to Aboriginal cultures. Grant65 (Talk) 09:24, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

text: Why are you asking me? You came up with the Arrernte bit. "Dream + time" hardly conveys the meanings that we understand by dreamtime. So if it wasn't a literal translation, in what sense was it a "translation"? Grant65 (Talk) 10:51, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: dreamtime

message: Is used in ordinary speech. Possibly more by bureacrats and teachers, but it is widely used. Also used in relation to seating at sports grounds. Check Google, where almost all use seems to be from Australia. Grant65 (Talk) 06:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: undercover area

message: "Double quote marks" are the normal style on Wikipedia and the tiny 'single quote marks' used with this font are harder for the eye to pick up. Grant65 (Talk) 06:22, 15 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Please use "scare quotes"

message: G'day all - just signed up and first off congrats to the regulars here.  It's a great entry for what seems to be, unfortunately,  a dying culture.  My first point of note is that under "bludger", there is reference to a "scab" in trade union terms.  I think this is flat out wrong as a bludger just doesn't do any work whereas a scab does, but is non-union (often brought in during a strike).  Are there many people who have heard a scab deliberately called a bludger purely for their non-unions status?
Citizen D 00:12, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I would agree that a scab need not be a bludger - feel free to be bold and edit :-)  A separate entry for scab should be adequate.--User:AYArktos |  Talk 00:21, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bludger 

message: A few minor points I'm not 100% confident about so I won't change them without confirmation
* arsey: I've always taken arsey to mean lucky or flukey, not any of the meanings listed on this page... anyone agree or disagree? 
* blue (traditional Australian name of anyone with red hair) --- I've always said "bluey"
* bogan: I've always taken it to mean a specific stereotype, not just any "lower class white Australian" -- it is someone that wears thight black jeans, moccasins, a megadeth T-shirt, has a mullet and most likely you see them hanging out at the train station drinking VB.
* stumped: never heard it mean nonplussed. If you're stumped (or something's "got you stumped") it means you're unable to find an explanation for something or an answer to a question.
--Rkundalini 14:56, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah some good finds there Rk.  To be arsey is definitely to be very lucky where I'm from.  You could also add "blood nut"  for red heads.  The other two are fair comments.Citizen D 00:16, 17 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  A few queries 

message: a removed this:
 Devo - Australian slang for devostated (eg. You would be devo.)
I've never heard of it. Is it really widespread across Aust? MinorEdit 00:26, 27 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: a removal

message: I took out the bit of conjecture that divvy van is connected to the UK slang term Div or divvy meaning fool. This UK slang is not widely known in Aust - tho I have heard it used in recent UK TV programs, I certainly don't think it was known back in the 1970s when the term divvy van was coined. I think divvy van is based entirely on a shortening of divisional van. MinorEdit 03:52, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Divvy (van)

message: a few slang terms for heroin have just been added (scagg, smack). Are these uniquely Australian, or international terms? MinorEdit 03:23, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm pretty sure that smack is Australian and skag is either US or British, but I'm not sure. (The first time I heard "skag" was in the song "I'm So Bored With the USA" by The Clash, which was released in 1977.)  Grant65 (Talk) 14:24, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I am taking them all out. A quick google reveals a multitude of websites discussing "smack" as a slang term for heroin - but nowhere is there any mention of it being an Australian term, and a large number of the sites are not even Australian-based. MinorEdit 22:31, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Slang terms for Heroin

message: The duplicate entry for mate has been reinstated after being deleted. Mate is already listed under Terms for People. Why does Mate need to be listed twice? MinorEdit 19:10, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The structure of the page is that general terms come first, and then someone has decided to group "Terms for people" somewhere else. I didn't organise it that way, but it just evolved into that format. To follow your logic where everything should be in the general list, then all terms listed in terms for people should be copied up into there as well (and with differing descriptions too). I don't see what the problem is, because the words you were adding and reinstating were in the article all along. The example from the Olympics/American comics (below), did not make it clear that it was intended as a send-up of a mistaken use of the terms, so could have easily misled casual international readers. (DELETED BLOKE TEXT: bloke - a slang word for guy, usually means an adult man. Is effectively the opposite of shiela. As in "you beaut Aussie blokes and great shielas and mates who will really treat you true blue", as quoted from a Los Angeles Olympics spiel when talking about Australia.)    MinorEdit 21:29, 16 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, I didn't realise that it was listed below as well, when I wrote it, because I had presumed that the general list included everything - therefore if there was no text there, then "mate" was not included.  I don't care what the definition is, just so long as it is included.  And I thought that including *famous* comedic quotes which explain the use of the word was very relevant.  Its not my fault if you weren't alive in 1984 to hear it, or didn't ever see D Generation etc who copied it.  It was obvious enough to me, but to you I guess it was not.  A bit like how you think you have a right to randomly deleted entries that people put in and add rude comments about it, when in fact you have no such right. 59.167.139.163 15:07, 17 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: ''Mate'' duplicated

message: Did anyone else watch Finding Nemo thinking that the seagulls were all saying "Maaate..." in that wheedly, fake-friendly, do-us-a-favour voice of the classic bot?  I thought it was a  briliant piece of insight into Australian culture and I was so disappointed to find out they were supposed to be saying "Mine". 203.214.74.36 13:42, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Pronunciation of ''Mate''

message: Is it appropriate to have the make or trade names of commercial motor vehicles (Falcon, Commodore, Magna) listed here? If we start listing trade names for commercial items in Australia that are only trade names, then this page will get very long. MinorEdit 20:24, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I know where you're coming from but as I see it the page is designed (e.g.) to assist people to understand every day Australian conversation and car names are in every day use. While "Ford" wouldn't need explaining to someone from Greenland, "Falcon" or "Holden" would. Grant65 | Talk 04:31, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Car make names

message: I'd like to hear from anyone living in the Sydney metropolitan area in relation to whether they have heard the terms "Gupta" or "Deepak" being used playfully in reference to a person (generally male) of Indian, Pakistani or Nepalese persuations. The terms are actually common Indian names as far as I am aware. I have heard these terms used increasingly over the last few years, particularly in Western Sydney. I'm not sure if these are very new terms or slow developing terms. Any feedback would be good, particularly if you live in Western Sydney.
Examples of the terms used:
1. "Hey mate, have you seen the new Gupta who started here the other week, he works in accounts"
2. "Hey buddy, check this Deepak out!"
I have a feeling these are very new terms and confined to only a few pockets of NSW.
I'm dying to know if anyone else knows about them. The curiosity is killing me. Yes I know I have too much time on my hands :) - Nigel J Van Houten 03:18, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Gupta and Deepak