5 minutes or less: More Australianisms

Today was the first time I head somebody use Oi in day to day life (vs in drinking games or at a sports game). When a girl saw her friends on a tram she said, "Oi!" and when she couldn't get their attention, she repeated it (as in "Oi, Oi, Oi!"). I got a huge grin on my face, as I felt very much in Australia. So, below is a "5 minute or less" post on more "Australianisms."

If you are in a store looking for shoes, sales people will often ask "Are you right with sizes?" The appropriate response to this is not "I'm sorry, what ???" but rather, "I'm still looking around," or "I need this shoe in a size 8."

To end a sentence you use a "full stop" not a "period". Saying period repeatedly when dictating a paragraph at work will bring giggles and odd stares. I guess the typical use of saying the word period to make a point doesn't really work here either, as in "You are not allowed to go to that party! Period Full Stop."

Continuing the punctuation mark differences, ( ) are called brackets not parentheses. I still can't figure out what Australians call what the US refers to as brackets [ ], much less braces {}. Apparently they are all just different types of brackets.

The owner of the pizza shop below our apartment always says "Good on ya!" It think it is generally used here to mean "Way to go!" but he just says it a lot in place of "good luck!" or "sounds good guys!".

Besides often replacing Z with S, which we mentioned in an earlier blog post, the letter Z is pronounced "Zed"  instead of "Zee." This makes the common phrase "X, Y, and Z" sound pretty goofy.

Jelly here is called Jam. In Australia, Jelly actually means what the US calls Jell-O. Hence, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not a thing in Oz. Interestingly, peanut butter and jam sandwiches are also not a common thing, as either a phrase or a common sandwich. When I bring my beloved PB&Js in for my lunch, my co-workers consistently smile and shake their heads at me saying "Sometimes, you are so American...."