The truth about where our Aussie accent descends from

YOU can tell an Aussie accent from a mile off. From dropping the Rs and abbreviating almost anything, where did our signature slang come from?

Where has our Aussie accent come from? Picture: Alamy

“G’day how youse goin’?”.

You can tell an Aussie the minute they open their mouths, however not all of us don the full bogan like Paul Hogan.

In the documentary, The Sounds of Aus, our accent is seen as the most significant identifier of the Australian cultural DNA, and is arguably the most Aussie thing about us.

The doco looks at the story of the Australian accent: How it came about, how it has evolved over two hundred years of colonial and cultural history, and how and why we speak the way we do.

‘Stone the Flamin’ Crows’.

I never thought too much about this subject until a Swedish friend of mine said she imagined our vernacular was concocted by a bunch of drunk sailors. I hope she wasn’t referring to Captain Cook, I can’t imagine him standing with a bunch of tinnies in his budgie smugglers shouting, “Ahoy mates there’s Botany Bay, reckon that’s a great place for a barbie!”

Cook and the First Fleet actually brought with them, in sober fashion, settlers with a mixture of English and Irish accents.

It’s thought the settlers’ children were the ones that created the unique accent we recognise today.

Some find the Aussie accent amusing, others find it downright annoying. I mean why is it that our inflections go up at the end of every sentence? Is it because we’re too insecure to make that statement? Perhaps we’re looking for affirmation? Are we trying to be inclusive? Maybe in our Aussie bizarreness, it’s all of these things.

I know — it’s because the sun’s too bright.

And what’s with asking questions that don’t need answering, like “how great was the weather today?” People just look at you like, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?

Where did our Aussie accent come from?

We’re a pretty laidback bunch, and this is reflected in the laziness of our language. We often forget Rs and Gs at the end of words, like ‘rippa’ and ‘fishin’. Let’s face it, we don’t open our mouths much and that’s not to avoid eating the flies.

There is no such thing as the perfect Australian accent, and our accent doesn’t vary as greatly from state to state the way it does in other countries.

We do as a nation tend to abbreviate just about everything though, with a little ‘bogan speak’ thrown in.

If you don’t believe me here’s some of our faves …

G’day — hello

Reckon — absolutely

Tradie — tradesman

Snag — sausage

Sanga — sandwich

Trackies — Track suit

Boardies — board shorts

Vegies — vegetables

Rellies /rellos — relatives

Barbie — barbecue

Bogan — unsophisticated

Fair Go — be fair

Accadacca — ACDC

Arvo — afternoon

Servo — Service Station

Agro — aggressive

Preggers — pregnant

Mozzie — Mosquito

Sunnies — Sunglasses

Sickie — sick day

Exxy — Expensive

Chook — Chicken

Dunny — toilet

Regardless of what anyone says, our Aussie accent is our most famous export and above all what makes us uniquely Australian and that, fellow Aussies, is ace!

Originally published as The truth about where our Aussie accent descends from