Today I've been out and about doing a few jobs in the car and I had the radio on. Nothing unusual there. The music choice is fairly ok if your an eighties child like me, but the ads definitely highlight a few cultural differences.
First was the McDonalds ad that didn't actually use the word McDonalds at any point. Remember this is a radio ad, so there was no discreetly placed big yellow "M" either. It's just that, this being Oz, they called it by a nickname throughout- so "Maccers" it was, start to finish. I suspect there aren't many other places in the world where The McDonalds Corporation would even tolerate such a casual attitude!
Then there was the ad for the home store with a massive sale on. Doonas and Manchester were among the items marked down. What?? Doona is the Aussie word for a duvet it seems, but manchester is a mystery. From the context I suspect it is a collective term for bedlinens and towels etc. But I'm not sure.
On a similarly geographical note, it would appear that one of the local Aussie rules teams has changed its sponsor. I couldn't really care except that apparently the players "guernseys" will now carry a different logo. Guernseys?? Well, I guess why not?- after all we call them jerseys. I do wonder why the Channel Islands have been singled out for such attention in the jumper department though, and am intrigued to know whether there's a country somewhere else in the world that dons its Sarks or Alderneys on a chilly day.....
So, from doonas, guernseys and manchester to stubbies (bottles of beer) and eskies ( for keeping your stubbies cold in), it seems that there's more to this Aussie language lark than just watching "Neighbours" for a few years in a misspent youth. I'm getting there, but I'm not entirely convinced. To me Manchester will always be a city in the north of England, and towels will remain, well, towels .
No comments:
Post a Comment