mum23

Congratulations to ladywin for running such a wonderful previous challenge; I hope that the momentum will continue with this one.

One of the great things about TD and TW is the way we come together from all over the world to share our thoughts and ideas, and sometimes our joys and struggles. In the process, we learn a little about each other’s cultures too. During the week, I was talking to someone from the US, and I used a phrase that was completely alien to them, yet anybody from my country would have known exactly what I was talking about. When I subequently looked it up, I was surprised to find that it was a uniquely Australian idiom.

The following word list consists of words that we Australians commonly use in colloquialisms, yet most of them can be used in other ways as well. You may use the words (as given... no changing tenses or number) in any way you like, but if anybody tries to use the words as they’re used in our idioms, their efforts will be looked upon with extra favour.

At the end of the challenge, I’ll list the words in their colloquial phrases and translate them into English for you.

Word count is 217, and the challenge will run until 10 Feb.

Have fun!




slather

blue

dob

sook

ripper

damper

crook

drum

flake

b url

mum23

sigh... there's always something that needs fixing!

The last word should be 'burl'.

ladyhwin

I like it Mum!! even though I'm not really eligible this round, I'm still going to want to try my hand at these words! And the Australian thing intrigues me.... I'm from the US and now I'm curious

chelydra

Slather wot does it not them syntheticks mind you you wan the good kinds wit fresh fish oil wotll sook in good get the whiskers relaxed an settled down, off guard. Caught some blues one summer oiled em out added sudsy soap borax corn syrup and diddle me weevils if twunt the beslather ever this sida Wombattaburg. Just dob it on good then gossip a spell bout wot that ripper geezerz getnuppto or tell how the wife bought yet another damper this time with rubber bananas hanging down all over and then after a couple minutes sooking you dive in no warning that just makes em nervous and scrape away and if the lathers jus right they wont even know their crook is cooked til ya take off their sheet and drum their pockets for scheckls. Mind ya don blow it now don flake no noses nor burl no earlobes seen as they don need the agitation an neer do you. Anna word to the wise onnacounta we got fiftyodd words to go yet if I hear one peep boutchur wheedling anybodys welkin ever again i swear well never mind wot I swear you don wan fine out wot lemme jus assure you well no leeme jus leave to your imaginings an wit that leeme wissue gday.

chelydra

I was afraid I might have followed your rules then saw I wasnt allowed to pluralize blue... whew... just to confirm my ineligibility, not that this monologue addressed to an apprentice barber is much of a threat to win. Accent and colloquialisms as authentically Aussie as I could manage but the bluefish strayed in from Long Island waters.

mum23

chelydra, thanks for getting the ball rolling, and for the laugh! I'd love to know just where you're likely to have heard authentic Australian accents and colloquialisms that sound anything like that... when I read your piece out to my daughter, she wanted to know what language I was speaking! Couldn't find Wombattaburg on a map, either...

Looking forward to seeing what other people do with it, and more giggles, I expect. Don't forget, though, you don't have to try to use the words in Strine...

marg

LOL at chelydra's brilliant entry - I honestly thought most of the way through that he was talking about someone peeling potatoes

I have to admit that I found the list of words very daunting - until I remembered Arthur Upjohn !

.. so the whole of this is my entry (I disqualify myself from the outset) and to use your expression, mum, I'll 'take a burl' at it, just to show willing !

They found Dan Keegan’s body face down in the reeds at the edge of the dam, just down the road from the pub. I guess most people would’ve let is pass, given that Danno liked a beer or two and he’d been pretty crook all last winter – the doctor told ‘im it was his prostrate, so you know what that means.

Well, the next night, we was all down the pub when Reynolds, the new copper, comes pushing in like he owns the place. John, the barman, who’s a bit of a sook, asks him real nice an’ polite what he’d like, and Reynolds says, in that posh, plummy accent of ‘is, ‘Give me the drum on the Keegan murder’.

Well, we all fell about – like, here’s this drongo that just got off the boat last week, and he’s believing that one of Danno’s mates did him in an’ expecting us to dob in the bloke that did it ? I could see Mick Reilly in the corner and his hands was twitchin’ – he’s a ripper bloke, Mick, but he loves a blue !

Well, next minute all hell breaks loose and it’s on for one an’ all. I managed to catch Mick as he was about to flake out after a belt to the head from Sam, but there was a wall of blokes in front of me and I reckoned it was open slather on Reynolds.

Well, fair dinkum, what could I do but what I did ? I set the sprinklers off on the lads, which put a bit of a damper on things, but I reckon you don’t want to get the wallopers off-side !

mum23

Oh wow, marg... I was soooo hoping that you'd join in!

What a great story, and the way you used all the words... just like a true blue Aussie! Folks, all you need to do is read marg's entry and I won't need to do any translating for you at all!

marg

curses.. should've been '..on for young and old' ... sorry 'bout that

mum23

hmmm... well it hasn't been on for young and old here at all!

The deadline has come and gone, and the very entertaining entrants we've had have both declared themselves ineligible. I think I'll extend it until next Sunday night TD time... the 17th of Feb, and hope that some more entries come rolling in!

chelydra

“Wol I mush slather hovva blue dob sook me ripper then get mysell mickxed up with a damper crook any drum. “
Madmax and Melba rolled their sunbleached eyes.
“Yknow, Bertie…”
“that’s all wellun good”
“an we cuddin agree more, really”
“buddoncha think it’s about time to flake off?”
Melba oozed sweetly off her stool as her fella picked at a gumwad on a bootheel and lost his balance. “Tie flaggough,” repeated Bertie meditatively.
“Tis fruss anyhows, old friend.”
“Yah, gotta hit the burl. Wallabee River comin through in the mornin yknow”
“Catch em on the fly or repent at leisure me gran heusta say.”
Bertie yawned skeptically. “I dunno. Tay slike spam to me. More power to ye tho. Gotcherr dam ready then?”
“Aye. An the diversion pond dug up and holding tanks scrubbed down.”
“Wol hokay then. I jess need a cup l’amore. Maybe sox or tin to be on the safe side.”
“Better safe than sorry.”
A heavy scent, meaty and erotic, wafted in with the predawn breeze.
They murmured approvingly and smiled.
A round massive creamy moon teetered on the western horizon. A soft shuffly thundery sound and a vague sense of vibrations underfoot left no doubt. By dawn the whole town would be flooded.



With just six words to go.

Hazer

We hadn’t been in the big smoke an hour and Jake’s in a blue with some burl flake. I’d be up a gum tree if he caught me eavedroppin, so I slather on more suntan lotion and pretend she’s apples. I know something’s onkus ‘cause this bloke is callin Jake a ratbag an I can see he’s mad enough to spit chips. Now my brother Jake ain’t no sook and he won’t dob or give him the drum. The burl bloke is accusing Jake of getting some shiela preggers, an I dunno if it’s fair dinkum but I know Jake’s been blowin to ‘is mates about some damper that’s just ripper. Now when it comes to my brother I try to mind my own bizzo and not be a stickybeak, but I didn’t just come down in the last shower, and I’m guessing we’d better nick off before this turns into open slather, so I slide over into the driver’s seat and fire up the old rustbucket. I drive towards em like I’m on the pea and I yells at Jake to get in, an for a moment there I thought he was gonna spit the dummy, but he got in an looked at me all chuffed. Bob’s your uncle he says to me with a nod.

Hazer

This was a fun challenge, mum23,and educational as well! 217 words exactly.

Qsilv

Wait, wait… what’s this ‘no changing tenses or number’ gambit? You do realize who you’re dealing with, right? Your TD/TWr compatriots?! We have a fine strong history of brat-hood here! Just ask anotherronism (‘course y’gotta catch him first… and he’s been MIA for quite a while …last I saw he was sitting by a burl wood fire with a wicked little seam-ripper in one hand and a bomber jacket in the other…). But seriously, you can’t just slather on a bunch of new rules out of the blue and expect them to actually stick. That’d put a damper on the whole game of creative rule-breaking. Half the potential suckers… er… entrants! …would turn blue as a sook (BEFORE you cook it) and flat out flake out. Because, you know, we’d be convinced that next you’d be asking each one of us to verify we’re a legitimate TD/TWr member, like “what’s your TD DOB… how many pix have you done… which palette… “ as if we might be only another common crook sneaking in with a brand new ID but no real contribution to toss into the ever-evolving churning drum of …of ..of… wait, wait… where was I going with this? (...thinks…) (cheats… looks back at the beginning…) OH! Right! It’s art, I tell you… it’s all “ART”!

mum23

Hey… great to see more stories appearing here while I’ve been busy.

chelydra… entertaining and enjoyable, as always. Creative use of the list words, and I see you’ve tried awfully hard to get some Australianism in there, what with Madmax and Melba (oozing sweetly off her stool, just as a sticky, raspberry sauce covered dessert might), and talk of sunbleaching and flooding, which we’ve seen a lot of again very recently. Your dialogue, however… well, let’s just say I haven’t yet met anyone that talks like that! Still, your story conveyed a sense of sitting around a campfire, or on a verandah, relaxing with friends late at night and in that sense it felt very much like home…

Hazer… you’ve been doing some research! Great story, and I’m very impressed with how you’ve used many of the list words in their colloquial context, and also used many more of our slang words and phrases. I’ve never heard the expression ‘on the pea’ though… where did you find that one? For the rest, I think you could pass for a local, except that maybe you sound more Australian here than your average local!

and Q, well, for all your complaints, you did use all the words as specified, AND got them in the required word count, AND wrote a most entertaining piece to boot, so I guess you’re in the running! And, you’re all ‘eart, as well…

Thanks for joining in, all of you. Another day or so to go…

Hazer

FYI, mum23, and other TW readers. "On the pea" or "deranged"....refers to eating the poisonous Sturt's Desert Pea.

mum23

How oddly wonderful to find discover something about my own country from somebody so far away… thanks Hazer!

Before I announce the ‘winner’, I guess I’d better put those words into their colloquial phrases and provide the explanations. marg and Hazer have already used many of them in context, so you need only read their entries to get the gist. You should also know that most Australians do not habitually pepper their speech with phrases like these, though the meanings are commonly understood.

open slather: a situation in which there are no restrictions; free-for-all

have a blue: be involved in a fight

dob (somebody) in: to inform on them, to tell tales

sook: may be used as a verb or noun. To sulk, act like a cry-baby, especially if one doesn’t get their own way.

ripper: great, fantastic

damper: a bread made from flour and water, traditionally cooked in a camp fire

crook: sick, ill, or badly made

to give (somebody) the drum: give them information, or a tip-off

flake: shark meat, sold under the generic label of ‘fish’ in fish ‘n’ chips takeaway outlets

to give it a burl: to attempt something

So there you go… if any of you ever visit our shores, you’ll come forearmed with a bit of the local lingo!

Many thanks to all who participated… I enjoyed all the entries enormously.
Without any further ado, I’d like to pass the torch on to Hazer for her marvellous story, which sounded so genuinely ocker that I wonder if she’s actually been here before. Congratulations Hazer, and looking forward to your challenge.

Hazer

Well, thank you mum! This challenge was so much fun and Google had a treasure trove of Australian colloquiums so it was just a matter of putting them all together. I enjoyed all the entries and hope to inspire some more great stories when I have my word list ready. I try and have it posted tomorrow.

Hazer

...I will try, that should have read.

Hazer

I just noticed an oversight...I did not use the word crook in my little story which disqualifies me. Mum23, I will hold off posting my list to give you time to reconsider.