General Chat

Arvo.

Just thought i would take the opportunity to wish all on the thread, and your families, a very Merry Christmas....wherever you live on this big blue planet....:>))

Allan. Strange that your brother thought that outback people would take exception because you were a pom.
The true blue outback Aussie ( born and bred ) Australian are normally very friendly, and welcome most folk regardless of where you are from.

It would be very difficult to try and disguise an English accent, as we who are born in different countries naturally mimic our parents speech sounds from the early days of growing up, plus our vowels from school years in the alphabet are pronounced different in varying countries around the world. Kiwis ( New Zealanders )are easy to spot, as are South African's, as there vowel soundings are a dead give away to an Aussie....lol
My father said.... O'w ya goin!! ( How are you going!! )
I also do the same when i meet someone....O'w ya goin mate!!........ Australian slang in its true form ,is a form of verbal laziness by us...lol Dropping lettters ( constanants ) by shortening words.


Someone mentioned about offending others by calling or using nicknames? Poms, Taffey, Spud, Kiwi, Canucks..ect
To me its a form of affection ( slang )....not slander.


You cannot offend a " true blue" Aussie, no matter what you call him.
My brother and mates greet me as such.
O'w ya goin ya ol bludger.!! ( for want of a better word..lol )
Its a term of affection and mateship rather than a put down to an Aussie of "my era"....and said with a grin on you face.
My father used the same terms as did my uncles when greeting each other or their mates. So kids mimic their parents.

Now if i was to say this to someone straight from the U.K....he might take offence?...or even snot me one on the grin dial....lol
My 3rd Cuz in Essex Eng and myself had a conversation on the blower about 6 years ago, as we were to meet for the first time when we were to holiday from Aussie to England.....Boy!!! did we have verbal problems......hee hee
Never understood a single word she said, and visa versa.....LOL

When i first met my BIL ( to be ) who immigrated as a ten pound pom with his family in the 50-60s.........he was born in Manchester in the 1940s, and i first met him in the 70s as he went out with my sister, and eventualy married her. As soon as he opened his mouth to speak it was easy to tell he wasnt born in Oz.
Right up to the late1990s before he died, he still had the accent. I'm almost sure most UK'ers can pick an Australian born person trying to play the part of a English aristocrat in a movie. It just dosent sound right....lol
Nor an American trying to play the part of an Ozzie outback hero, trying to speak Aussie slang. It just dosent sound or come out right.

So call me, or speak to me the way you want, because its just water off a ducks back, mate....lol

As long as you dont speak/type Welsh or Gaelic because i would be lost, and i would have to "Google"......:>))

Av a good un.


Tony....:>))

Hello all

Sandie, Ive never taken offence at being called a pommie.

When I told my brother that I had found a job in Leonora he told me not to let them know I was a pomme as the *outback* people might take exception.

As I then had, and still do have, a pronounced Lancastrian twang, I thought that this would be a tad difficult.

When I arrived in Leonora The Shire Clerk was German, the caravan park caretaker was Duth, the dogcatcher French and the Rates Clerk was of Italian extraction.

As leonora was a 'Service" Town for the surrounding region most of the police, teachers, nurses etc were from Perth and were only there for a year or so.

It was a few weeks before I met my first, genuine, outback Aussie!

I once asked a mine-manager at one of the largest nickel mines why they had so many foreign workers. His reply; Aussies couldn't stand the conditions compared tp Perth.

That situation has now changed, but only because mines are now served on a 'fly-in, fly-out' basis

Allan

Hello Colin & Perse Have a good Christmas & All the Best for the New Yr
have a safe journey Colinxxx
Perse ~~~~ from Jinglebells X
Allan hope you are alright x Sandie x

Merry Christmas Colin

Tony is very eloquent, I have to agree Sandie whereas I am all mumbly jumbly but I can do joined up writing.

Can't always read it mind you take Jinglebarbrasbells, I first read it as Jinglebar and then brasbells.

Cheers Persey

~~~~~~~~~ to Barbara -

Just wishing everyone a very merry Christmas and a happy new year. I will be AWOL for about the next week, visiting my sister in northern NSW. The area is called " New England " for reasons that escape me, but the terrain rather resembles what I have seen in the Scottish highlands. It is granite country, and because of the elevation will be decidedly cool at night, but warm to hot during the day.
Bye for now,
Colin

Sandie we ladies can mutitask . we are lttle treasures . lol Barbra x

Hi to anyone looking in~~~~~

Tony hi~~~~~
Thank you for that eloquent explanation of the shearers:)).....very educational:))

Funny you should mention the change over from £sd to decimal currency, only a few days ago i found an old keyring which has a plastic circular New decimal currency calculator on it.It's like a wheel within a wheel, and turn the inner wheel and the arrow on it shows the new values against old from 2 1/2d being 1p up 20shillings being £1.:)

Well I must be away to do some housewo*k.
Don't know how I managed when I worked full time !!

Byeee for now,
speak later
Sandie.x
Tues 13.04

G'day everyone.

3 days to knock off ( Xmas break )...:>))

Mmmmmm... Sandie.

Seems some Aussie edjumercation is needed here....LOL

This is/was really old Aussie slang mate, and now your testing me.....lol
O'k, to my beliefs......A "Snagger" is a newbie Shearer,but in this case an old shearer........ but an enept shearer, who hasn't sheared his sheep properly, and leaves tuffs/snags of wool on the sheep, coz he's in to much of a hurry to beat the "Ringer"...so nicknamed a "Snagger"

"Blue Bellied Joe" is a young Ewe/Sheep with little or no wool on its belly........sometimes known as a "Bare-Bellied Joe"

Now...just in case you ask me what is a Tar-boy....lol
When a sheep got nicked on the odd occassion from the shears, it would bleed ( naturally...lol ) and the Tar boy stood there with a pot of tar, and would dab the wound with Tar, to stop the sheep bleeding.

So o'k......now we put it into contex......;>))

The snagger was an old shearer with "Thin Boney hands" (Old fella ) that was shearing a young ewe/sheep with little or no wool on it, ( Blue- bellied Joe ) but wasn't doing a good job of it, and leaving bits of wool/snags/tuffs on it.
This old fella was trying to upset the "Ringer" ( The Champion shearer in the shed at the time)

Hence:
Out on the board ( floor boards ) the old shearer stands
Grasping his shears in his thin bony hands.
Fixed is his eye on the blue-bellied "joe" .
And glory if he gets her, won't he make the ringer go.

The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow
And curses the old snagger with the blue-bellied "joe"

So the Champion shearer ( Ringer ) looks around and is beaten by a blow/cut/click of the shears from the old fella....and then curses the old fella thats shearing a young ewe ( blue-bellied "joe" ) that dosent have much wool on it in the first place. Damn cheat....lol


O'k...hope ya got all that mate.............il'e be asking question later....hee hee


In 1963 Aussie changed from Pounds, Shillings, and Pence to Decimal currency.

This was the "Jingle" on the radio at the tiime.

Clink go the cents folks, clink, clink, clink.
Changeover day is closer than you think.
Learn the value of the coins and the way that they appear,
and things will be much smoother when the decimal point is here.



Av a good un.

Tony....:>)) *Who is still 5ft 10inches in height" and still earns a Quid.

Hiya folks~~~~

Tony~~the only bit of your song I know,but quite well, is this...

Click go the shears boys, click, click, click
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow
And curses the old snagger with the blue-bellied "joe"

What's a snagger and the blue-bellied joe..? lol

Perse~~Not heard of someone called Murphy being a spud ! lol I must be naive.

When playing as a child did you tamp the ball.? or play bat and catty..?

Had loads of snow today, but that's nothing unusual for us,what is ,is that a lot of the UK that don't normally have the heavy snow that they are experiencing just now.
My BIL now lives on Angelsey an island just off North Wales,they have had 3 inches of snow (they are at sea level) and his neighbour in his 60's , born and always lived on Angelsey says he has never ever know the snow to be so bad there.
Lol ,he ought to come to where I live we often have 4ft, drifting to 6ft in a bad winter,.No fun when you have get to work , but of course the children love it :)

~~~~~to anyone looking in later

Time for my bed........2.30am Tues

luv Sandie.x

Hello folks
just a quick visit bright & sunny morning, cold though ,Hya Tony ~~~~~~~~All Bye for now Barbra xx

Godfrey Bowen was our shearer Tony
In 1953 Godfrey Bowen set a world record by shearing 456 ewes in nine hours at the Akers station at Opiki, Manawatu (a record later bettered by Ivan Bowen)
We used to sing Click goes the shears at school and then when our Harbour Bridge was built they made up "Click goes the Toll Gates" to the same tune.

My dad could shear sheep with the old hand shears, he milked the cows by hand and he also did forging (blacksmith) he had to go to work at 14 to support his mum and 6 siblings - his dad died when he was 13 and he was the eldest boy. He spent most of his time in the bush or farm labourering and when he got home to his mother's he would cook the family dinners. When he joined the army - they made him a cook he was in charge of the cooking in the officers mess. My mum met him when she got back from overseas (New Caledonia where she got to dance with Eisenhower) she did waitressing at one of the army camps here. When she was away she was a Base Wallah and an Officer's Batman.

What's in a name Sandie - Americans still get called Yanks here by people my age and older. When I was in the States all the Poms were called Limeys. A lot of Welsh blokes here have been known as Taffy and if your surname is Murphy you are bound to get Spud and a lot of the Irish are called Paddy. As long as we don't call anyone Village we should be fairly safe.

Persey xx

G'day to all.

Perse. Yes, i have heard of the great Jackie Howe, shearer extrodinare mate. A bit before my time though!....hee hee
Boss ringer for years, and i think his title of 211 odd sheep with the old "Hand held shears" in the 1890s in 6hrs or something, and his record has never been broken? ( as far as i know ) They reckon he had hands as big as dinner plates...lol Not the type of bloke to argue with.Think he was Queenslander on the Darling Downs.
Eldest daughter now 36 when she was in primary school in the 70s came home one day and told me they had to learn the poem at school called " Click goes the shears boys" and in the poem theres a part that says ...... "The Ringer looks around and was beaten by a blow"..ect..... and she said, Dad whats a Ringer?....Isn't that something you ring your clothes out with after you wash them!!....LOL

Mmmmmm..i says, well you are kinda correct, but No,a Ringer ( in this case ) was a nickname of the top shearer in the shed, until someone broke his title by shearing more sheep.
BTW ...i am a "Footrot Flats" fan....;>))


Allan. Humpties!!....hee hee ....but yes,i can understand mate,and it would not be easy coming from the U.K to remember the correct pronunciation of things foreign to other country's cultures....For years i called Leicestershire as "Like-ester-shire" and Worcestershire as "Were-cester-shire".....made my cuz in England laugh.....lol
Can you imagine a born and bred Aussie digger doing a U.K census back in 1901.........LOL

Humpy or Humpies....Back in the 50s i remember them along the river banks of NSW and VIC borders on the "Murray River". Used to see them when i was a young kid going fishing or shooting for wabbits up north with me ol man. O'oops....Hope there's no Bunny lovers on this thread, but we did eat what we shot, and if you didn't, you were frowned upon back then. Rabbit stew was very popular in the 40-50s, and Aussie had Trillions of e'm.....Thank you England.....lol

Barbra. Not upset about the cricket, mate...lol
Nice to get a win though, but the poms are playing to well for us this time round.

Wishing all a great day/night.

Sang at primary school when i was a young bloke.

Out on the board the old shearer stands
Grasping his shears in his long bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a bare-bellied "joe"
Glory if he gets her, won't he make the ringer go

Click go the shears boys, click, click, click
Wide is his blow and his hands move quick
The ringer looks around and is beaten by a blow
And curses the old snagger with the blue-bellied "joe"

In the middle of the floor in his cane-bottomed chair
Is the boss of the board, with eyes everywhere
Notes well each fleece as it comes to the screen
Paying strict attention if it's taken off clean

The colonial-experience man he is there, of course
With his shiny leggin's just got off his horse
Casting round his eye like a real connoisseur
Whistling the old tune "I'm the Perfect Lure"

The tar-boy is there awaiting in demand
With his blackened tar-pot and his tarry hand
Sees one old sheep with a cut upon its back
Here's what he's waiting for "Tar here Jack!"

Shearing is all over and we've all got our cheques
Roll up your swag for we're off on the tracks
The first pub we come to it's there we'll have a spree
And everyone that comes along it's, "Come and drink with me!"

Down by the bar the old shearer stands
Grasping his glass in his thin bony hands
Fixed is his gaze on a green-painted keg
Glory he'll get down on it ere he stirs a peg

There we leave him standing, shouting for all hands
Whilst all around him every shouter stands
His eyes are on the cask which is now lowering fast
He works hard he drinks hard and goes to hell at last

You take off the belly-wool clean out the crutch
Go up the neck for the rules they are such
You clean round the horns first shoulder go down
One blow up the back and you then turn around

Click, click, that's how the shears go
Click, click, so awfully quick
You pull out a sheep he'll give a kick
And still hear your shears going click, click, click


Av a good un

Tony...:>))

Hi to anyone looking in~~~~

Hope everyone is well:))

This new set up on GR annoys me , the last 2 posts show the times as 1st) 1 hour ago and the 2nd) 60 mins ago !!!! That was the same when I was in school!
Just computers tho they will probably both show 'I hour ago' after I have typed this.

Oh ,we may have rise in the price of bananas then Allan ,but I'm not sure that our imports are are from Oz..

One thing I like about the peeps on this site is that there appears to be no racisism or ill feeling with calling peeps Kiwis, Ozzies/Aussies ,Poms or the like......
No one has called me a Taff yet.lol
I don't use the term but wouldn't be offended if someone did,................quite the opposite:)

Not at all interested in the cricket ,whilst I watch the news, I thought England where ahead in the test series , perhaps they are but lost the last game ????
Hubby used to play ,was an excellant bowler but was more often than not 'out for a duck' when batting.

Have a good day you downunders :))

I'm off to my comefy bed ,which hubby will have nicely warmed up ,just by spreading himself about it .lol

Byeee
Sandie.x
1.38am Monday, uk time.

Edit ..the previos post both now show 2hrs ago...........slow 'typist'

England lost the match in Perth, they are saying its because their familys are out in oz .dont mention it to Tony, he might just be gloating a bit lol
night All,, keep safe brits & cool in Oz Barbra x~~~~~perse & Colin

~~~~~~~~ to Persey

Barbra, the area is not widely populated but does grow many crops such as Avocados and bananas which will have been badly affected. In WA most of rge 2 million people live in the Perth coastal strip while the rest are spread throughout the rest of the State.

As an example the Bunbury Region, which comprises several towns, only has a population of just over 80,000 people.

Allan

And once you turn 60 you can get a free seniors coffee at Maccas providing you purchase something.

Sandie - us Kiwis have adopted sayings from everywhere - we are such a mixed breed here now....

but what really amused me was I turned up for work one day in this blouse over a camisole with a matching long skirt and this very nice young chap that worked with us said to me that I looked like his mother. I burst out laughing and so did my mates when I told them. He is lovely but he only happens to be a Fijian Indian named Mohammed.

LOL Persey

Hi Barbra.

Still warm here but rain no longer forecast for Christmas Day.

Parts of WA (Carnarvon in the Gascoyne region) are now experiencing the worst flooding in 50 years.

Meanwhile, down here in the SW we had a very light 30 second shower. It didn't enen wet the pavement!

Allan

Hello to all

Tony i remember when I first moved into the bush after arriving in Oz back in 1982 I caused much mirth in the office by referring to makeshift accommodation as Humpties! For those of non-Oz origins the correct word is Hummpys.

Sandie, a senior here is a person over the age of 60, when one turns 65 one becomes a pensioner, irrespective of whether you receive the old age pension or not. At 60 (I am 62) in most States you can obtain, subject to certain conditions, a Senior's Card. This gets you a discount in some shops and also reduced Council Rates and Charges. I get 25% off our local rates. Once I become eligible for the pension I will get 50% off

There are also discounts on water and electricity accounts, but not gas, also on driving licence fees.

My business is as a contracting/consulting Environmental Health Officer, mainly to local governments especially the smaller isolated ones who find it difficult to attract and retain staff.

Allan

Hi all~~

I love these sayings from different areas all over the world:))

Perse , I could hardly understand your post.. brought a smile to my face when reading it :))
Jackhow ..??... know that one now:)
Rattle my dags ?? .. Can guess what it is obviously.

Speak later,......... going to the cemetery to place Christmas wreaths .

Sandie.x

Tony et al

My Dad used to call the a hot-water bottle cover a Jackiehow and my daughter does the same thing and it wasn't till a few years ago long after Dad had died that we found out that Jackie Howe was a legendary Aussie Sheep Shearer and his name was given to the black singlet worn by the Aussies and Kiwis.

Well I must rattle my dags as it is bedtime.

Persey