If you are a Games of Thrones fan, you must be familiar with the following sentence “you know nothing Jon Snow”… well this is the way I feel sometimes about my English. I thought that my universtity English degree, my previous lives in Montreal and London had afforded me to gain a wide knowledge of this beautiful language but it seems it is a never ending journey! But today let’s focus on the positive side only: learning a foreign language is like following the yellow brick road in The Wizard of Oz where each day is an adventure, an opportunity to discover and to learn more!
Actually when I moved to Adelaide I realized that there were many words and expressions (slang) I did not know! Furthermore, it seems that my French accent is SO strong that there is no way I could be mistaken for an Aussie girl… no matter how hard I try, when I open my mouth they instantly know I am French! Sometimes I wonder… why do French people sound so French?! Since I can’t really do anything about it, let’s focus on the former topic: Aussie slang!
Shortly after I moved to Adelaide, I made friend with my neighbour and enjoyed our daily conversations about the city, Australia, wildlife etc… even if sometimes he talked too fast and I could not catch the meaning of everything. One day he told me how popular the Aussie barbies were and that I should try. I thought he was talking about the Barbie plastic dolls (creepy…. why would he tell me that, I am not a kid anymore and what do Aussie Barbie dolls have that French ones don’t haha)… or maybe he was referring to bimbos, blondies (still creepy…why saying I should try?). So I got curious and asked him for more details (afterall maybe I was just lost in translation), I wanted to know what he liked about it… then I heard the word “shrimp” and the conversation went on and I learnt this day that a barbie is a barbecue, not a doll neither a bimbo nore a blondie!
Do you know what is a breakie? First time, I heard this word… I thought it was related to “break something”… do I want a breakie? Is somebody going to break my leg? Is it an Australian custom? Well don’t worry, if you see this expression on a cafe menu… nobody is going to break you anything, it just means: breakfast! In my opinion it is a good word to know here and speaking of it I know the perfect place where to enjoy a delicious Aussie breakie!
One day in English class, one of our teachers William asked us if we have been bothered by the mozzies during the warm and humid weekend. Because of the lesson topic, we knew he was talking about an animal but what kind of beast was that? The word sounded to me like a “mouse” but with a “S” so something like “mouses” but then I thought it can’t be, because the plural is “mice” (congrats these English classes are paying off)! A girl from Japan said that this animal did not exist in her country and William smiled and said he doubted it! Actually mozzies mean mosquitos!
After 6 months living in Australia, I can’t declare I am fluent in Aussie slang yet but I am working on it because I like it here and I really want to fit in! So to prove my love to Australia, I am going to write something that only Australians can understand:
G’day, I started my morning with a lovely breakie and wrote some emails to my relies. Then I was invited by my aussies mates to a seafood barbie. I hope there will not be too many mozzies tonight at the party! No worries! Ta ❤
I am not sure I understood the rules… but I managed to get a few things! So there are 2 teams playing on the field so you pick the one you want to support (generally I base my choice on the jersey colour). It is a bat and ball game so basically one team bats and the other bowls and then it is the other way around. The goal is to score as many runs as possible, easy! It is good to do a WICKET or a FOUR (people seems to be happy when it happens). It is bad to do a LEG BEFORE WICKET you don’t want that, never! I personally like the WICKET thing because the stick flies in the air and there is a little flashing light on its end which is pretty original.
The cricket match is divided into periods which is good so you can go in peace during the break to the food stand in the meantime to get some nachos or fries… because there are not actions all the time during the game so you don’t want to miss it when it occurs… it is like fishing, you never know when the fish is going to bite and you want to be there when it happens! Applaud and stand up when your team scores and don’t hesitate to encourage them shouting “Hit the Ball!”, “Come on guys!”, take some pics and post them on Instagram and you’ll be all right 🙂 people won’t even noticed it is your first time!
A lovely exhibition took place recently in Adelaide to celebrate this iconic South Australian dessert! One hundred artists and institutions (School, hospital staffs etc) were 
This is why I believe it is called “Mad March” because each day is a party that you have to join in!
Hello World! 