Photo

Joe Jonas in Australia - Random

Melbourne Convention Centre

Governor Bourke Hotel from Sydney (1885-1890) via State Library of New South Wales

> looks like a pretty rugged place

Youtube Sensation David Choi Touring Australia, Jakarta & Manila

“H” is a tricky letter in Australia. In instances where I’ve been taught that “H” is silent like in the word “herb,” it most certainly is not. At least, not here anyway. “H” in the Australian “herb” is pronounced like the “H” in house. And yet it remains silent like the American pronunciation of “herb” when used in the Aussie term “dickhead.” (According to my husband, yobbos put a silent “H” on everything).

Another letter to watch out for is “R.” Each time this letter is preceded by a vowel like “A” or “E”, it goes silent and morphs into an “uh” or “ah” sound. Take the American pronunciation of “hamburger” for example and try to Australianize it, if you will—what do you get? “Hambuhgah.” When my husband and I were on the hunt to buy stuff for our home, he’d always suggest going to the “supacenta” which I assumed was called “Super Center.” But when we got there, I was surprised to see the name of the place exactly as he had pronounced it: SupaCenta.

Next is “Z” which Aussies refer to as the letter “zed.” Many a “Z” goes missing and is instead replaced with an “S.” Materialise, specialise, realise—none of these words contain typos. They are, in fact, spelled correctly in Australia. 

Lastly is the letter “I.” It makes random and unexpected appearances in words like “aluminum” which suddenly transforms into a five syllable word “aluminium.” 

All of this makes me feel as though I’m in some sort of twisted, backwards version of “My Fair Lady”—instead of learning how to speak with elegance and refinement, I find myself having to cut my words short, speak faster, and enunciate less. It’s a perpetual linguistic exercise.

20110618_AUIntern_Camping_DHG_072 on Flickr.

View from sunnyside hill