Thursday, February 17, 2011

Oh, let's call the whole thing off.

Today, the kids had a "mufti" day at school. If you're not from these parts, you can read what mufti is here.

This mufti day in particular was to raise money for the Queensland flood victims. All the kids were given the option to wear maroon instead of their school uniforms and bring a "gold coin donation"--this means 1 or 2 bucks. (Maroon is the state color for Queensland.)


(What Ava and Nate wore today. This picture has no relevance to the post, but THE CUTENESS. I AM DYING OF THE CUTENESS.)

Anyway. having lived here 6 years now, you think you're pretty much aware of all the little quirks in language and pronunciation differences. But a couple weeks ago, when this mufti day was announced, all the teachers were saying for the kids to wear "ma-rohn" instead of "mar-oon". And I was like, "Whaa?" Like a long "o" sound? Instead of an "oo" sound?

Jason heard it too, and we were like, "Seriously? 'Marohhn?'" It doesn't even look like that! How have I never noticed this before?

When Ava came home saying it that way, we corrected her pronunciation. Was that wrong? I mean, we don't say anything when the kids say "tomahto" or "zed". They say "iceblocks" instead of "popsicles". They say "pardon", which is totally cute. I've noticed lately that Ava is calling me "mum" sometimes. That's all good. But my friends, you gotta draw the line somewhere, and for me, I think it's at maroon. I mean--it's double O's, you guys! There are rules! What's a girl supposed to do?

My Aussie friends and readers, am I being extreme? Is this a universal Australian thing? How do y'all pronounce the word?

Oh! And then yesterday, Jason and I were at a local garden centre. We bought an outdoor table and chairs, and Jason was describing the guy who helped us to the cashier. "It's the guy with the goatee," he told her, gesturing outside. She smiled at him, "The go-TEE?", she mimicked. Apparently, Aussies say "go-dee", with no emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Again, something we missed after 6 years of living here. "Wow," Jason said to the cashier,"I've never noticed that before." "Yeah," she said, "We run it all together. We're just being lazy, I guess."

Oh! And can I tell you one more? This one made laugh. Several months ago, a friend of mine came over for morning tea. As we walked into the living room, I said something like, "Here, you sit on the love seat and I'll sit here." She looked at me funny. "What's a love seat?" I explained that it was what we called a two-seater sofa. She'd never heard that term before, and I never realized that I'd never heard it used here. My friend laughed and said, "I thought maybe it was a special name you and Jason had for it, and then I was wondering if I should sit there after all!" Woohoo--that's how rumors get started!

Of course, this is a big country, with a lot of variation depending on where you live. But we were shaking our heads over the fact that, even as settled as we feel here, there are little surprises all the time. Keeps it interesting!

22 comments:

  1. "Honored friend and guest, you may have a seat on the most important chair in our home - the couch of love making."

    ReplyDelete
  2. MarOHN???? WHAT?!?! *sigh*

    I love the little accent quirks that my kids are picking up here in NZ, as long as they come naturally. Unfortunately, Girl Spawn has started to say "Ee-Ma" for her friend Emma's name, and that bugs the heck out of me. Mah-ROHN would bug me just as much.

    I had to giggle at the love seat bit. Too funny!

    ReplyDelete
  3. As an Aussie, a technical Queenslander & Brisbane hater 'cause I gotta live with the lunatics who build beside a river & then are surprised when it occasionally floods, the word is mah~rohn. ☺ And as Americans residing here may I suggest you learn to pronounce route our way because your way means something completely different out here! lol A common language divides us!

    ReplyDelete
  4. As a UK-ite, with you on this one Amy.... definately an 'ooooo' at the end, not an 'ohn', otherwise we would say knife, fork and sp-ohn.... me thinks not ;-) Even my brother who married an aussie and lived in Brisbane 20 years agrees with me ;-)
    And what was that other thing again..... commentating?? disorientated?? The list between nations just goes on and on.... but I am English, so does that mean I am right?! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. hilarious! I after having lived here for 24 years still say 'maroon' not 'marohn':) Ron laughs at some of my pronunciations:) yea I think the girl at Bunnings was spot on - Aussies do like to take the easy route or is that rout or .....:) Ganeida has me wondering about that one! :)yes there is another meaning altogether for that word/ similar sounding word(which you would love to hear I'm sure if you haven't already):)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I spent a lot of years wondering why the heck Americans would put jelly on a sandwich when it is much better eaten with icecream. lol Some of it is the different dialects that migrated, I'm quite sure. We got a lot of cockneys & you can hear the broad vowels in *Strine*. My Poppy was Scots & we all use a lot of blurred sounds.

    ReplyDelete
  7. yep its 'mahrohn' down under, its always been that way, maroon(ed) is something you get on a desert island isn't it?
    I thought a love seat was a 2 seat sofa with 1 seat twisted around to look at the other (& gaze with love at your lover)
    And by the way, DONT say fanny around here!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hee hee, you guys are cracking me up! Jenni, I SO WISH I had written that sentence, or better yet--used it! :)

    Ganeida, I had to laugh at the "route" thing! We learned that our first couple months here, when we asked someone what footy team they were "rooting" for!! Yeah, not quite the meaning we intended. And as for jelly--I know! I've started saying jam. :)

    Jules, what did we decide? That "orientate" is the older, more British use of the word? So both are ok, but I still stand by my original opinion. "Orient" for the win! :)

    And Jo, so funny! I heard about the whole "fanny" thing before we came out here, thank goodness!

    Maggie, the kids picking up the accent IS really cute, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, and Jo--I wonder if that *was* the original meaning of love seat? Unfortunately these days, you'd be fighting with your lover over who got to face the TV! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I could barely read your post cuz I couldn't take my eyes off those beautiful children. Wow!
    I love hearing about the diff word pronunciations. ma-rohn is weird. And too funny about love seat.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This post interested/entertained me on so many levels.

    Definitely draw the line with "ma-rohn"!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yep, Jo is correct. Maroon is what they did to Bligh of the Bounty. rofl.
    And the rule is, if you are the guest in the country you're the one with the accent! lol Learnt that overseas. They all spoke funny but no~one could understand my accent!

    ReplyDelete
  13. The kids are fast becoming little Aussies. I still laugh at all the shortened words one hears there. Posties, truckies, bike-ies. Thanks for the darling pictures on the kids.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Can you tell that the last comment was from your mother, signed in on my account. You can count on it that I never use "darling" as an adjective. If it is I, it will be a noun.

    ReplyDelete
  15. oh man, i hope you gave her a little wink after explaining what a love seat was...coulda kept her confused for days.

    ReplyDelete
  16. No one has yet posed the obvious question: what do they call a love seat in Australia? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. What do they call the love seat in Australia?

    The sex couch.

    Sorry, I couldn't resist!

    This is a darling post and those are darling darlings!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yes... the cuteness was of those 3 children was toooomuch and went directly to my new background pic
    Nana

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ah yes. So many great little things. My kiwi husband has been in the US for 12 years and gets the reverse of this. Love the loveseat story. What I want to know is how you handle living in Oz with your sister and fam in the US, as I will be facing the exact same scenario in 3 years and having a hard time gearing up for it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The Aussie pronunciation is much closer to the French pronunciation.

    http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/marron#French

    US friends and I have a lot of fun with pants too, and scones/biscuits/cookies.

    Best wishes
    Jen in Oz

    ReplyDelete
  21. As a little history question I have been wondering why Qlders use something closer to the French pronunciation. It may have come about during the late 19th Century when kanakas (workers from Polynesia who worked on sugar cane farms) were bought here. They spoke a pidgen English and had French influences in their culture due to colonisation at various times. This may explain why it is pronounced more like the French version.

    Best wishes
    Jen in NSW

    ReplyDelete
  22. Jen, thanks for commenting! You may very well be on to something there. And you're right...it's funny how even within the same language, there are so many variations and opportunities for confusion! :)

    ReplyDelete