I've been feeling rather frustrated lately. I don't know why it took me more than a year to feel frustrated since I've been in Adelaide since February last year.
So, what is it about "official" & "Adelaide"? LOL I just simply don't get the Aussies! Like, seriously =.= I don't get their humour, their culture of drinking & clubbing, the way they say "no worries" in response to "thank you", the way they say "ta" as a replacement of "thanks",
arvo" for "afternoon", & calling people "mate". I dunno about you but according to my dictionary (in both sense), "mate" is something more personal. According to Microsoft Encarta Dictionary 2007 - U.K. used to address somebody: used as a friendly, or sometimes hostile, form of address to a man (informal) (usually used in combination). There were more than 1 definitions. Another definition is "friend". Well, I'm not a man AND I'm definitely not YOUR (any random Aussie person) friend! It gets to me all the time! =S Even though I speak proper English, without the lahs, mas, lohs etc., they still don't get me. Sooooo, I have to "speak like an Aussie", which they don't understand me either! It's freaking frustrating, it's like being mocked at, y'know? It's like they're secretly laughing at me in their heads, "Haha...Actually I understand you perfectly. I'm just poking fun at ya." OR "WTH, your Eng sucks to the extent I do not understand you!" There are a few instances where Aussie people don't get what I mean. I'll just give you 2 examples.
Incident #1
Venue: A reject-shop kinda store
Was looking for a waste paper basket but I couldn't seem to find it after having walked up & down the aisle a million times, so I resorted to asking one of the cashiers on duty.
Me: Hi, I would like to know where I could find a waste paper basket.
C: A...what?
Me: A waste paper basket?
C: Errr...sorry, what?
Me: (Attempted to pronounce it in an Aussie 'style', with "a" being pronounced as "ai") A wAIst paper basket.
C: A rice paper basket?! (I was like =.= WTH, rice paper basket sounds close enough to a waste paper basket & she still couldn't get it!! Was losing my patience)
Me: (Was getting annoyed at this point) A waste paper basket? You know, something you used to throw unwanted papers into?
C: Oh! A waste paper basket! Right, it's just there..walk to the end & they're just on your right.
Me: Thanks.
C: No worries! (see what I mean?!)
Incident #2
Venue: Home
I couldn't find a particular piece of information on the subject that I had to sit an exam for the next day. So I msg-ed one of my coursemates, an Aussie obviously, to ask her if she knew where to find it. Till the next day, even after I've sat for that subject, I didn't get any reply from her. & she replied me this: hp all ok ee lin! sorry didnt reply at time. was lk for that answer too! How did you find the nxwm (short for Nutrition, Exercise & Weight Management) exam? L___ (her name) I wasn't in the mood to reply her because obviously I didn't see the point in replying. I mean, what should I say? Tell her what I thought about the exam? Then what? =S Back home, we (my friends & I) don't normally sms about stuff like that. We would just talk face to face if we wanted to know stuff like that, not sms! It'd be so awkward to just stop msg-ing with nothing else to say. Besides, I didn't wanna waste my hp credit! =S Anyway, I thought maybe I should reply just to be polite. & so I told her what I thought about the exam & she replied me saying that she agreed. Then WHAT?! Ish...I hate it when they (Aussies) make small talks that go nowhere. So no, I didn't reply after that.
Disclaimer: I'm not being racist. I'm just simply saying that I don't get the people here! & I don't think I'll ever fit in. You see, I don't even get their humour. Last year when I took this course which requires us to watch some clips of Aussie TV shows, everyone laughed except me. I sat there with this face --> =.=|||XOXO,
Me
3 comments:
i get what you mean in this entire post! lol. and i know what you mean about not getting their jokes. i never got the lecturers' jokes in first year uni either. and i would be the only one sitting there, either not understanding the accent at all, or not understanding the joke.
but either i got better at understanding the accent/jokes or my current lecturers have a better accent that i can understand. ... actually.. i did have a lecturer last sem who always spoke too fast for me to understand. i went up to her after a lecture once and told her that i couldnt understand her and told her to speak slower. she was nice about it but i think she forgot about it half way through the lecture. -__-....... and i gave up attending her lectures cuz i didnt understand her and her lectures were pointless anyway. :P
hahaha how random blogging about this issue when you're having exams. heheheh. actually isnt "no worries" the substitute for "no problem". it's about the same. just that we use "np" instead of "nw". lol.
btw one paragraph has a 'glitch'. what's this: style="font-style: italic;">lahs, mas, lohs etc.) they .
lyd: ROTFL the solution: not going to the lecture. it's pointless anyway. XP
jennifer: i think no problem is more relevant what. cause if someone's doing something for u, it's kinda "troubling them" so u say "no problem" but "worries"? like huh? who's worry? urs or theirs? so weird...
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