What is up with Australian Upspeak?

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OP’s a deek.

OP, They already speak Cockney, may we have an example of Upspeak?

I can't imagine it being any worse than American upspeak.

Even DL fave Rachel Maddow has a nasty case of upspeak.

Set the dingoes on them.

All I know is that Australians are invading California. You find them everywhere!!

I mean, it's cute when Savage Garden do it..

We do it as retaliation for listening to years of Californian vocal fry.

And, like, the totally unnecessary use of “like”, as a verbal prop. Like.

Australians don't drop their H's.

You people. Sheesh.

I'm not sure OP. Why has Australia contributed so little to global cinema? I always thought that it was odd that they never seem to produce any decent films.

They used to r12.

As long as they are handsome, all is forgiven.

I'm Australian., it's true, Australia makes the shittiest movies, they're all rubbish and embarrassing. This upspeak you talk of is spoken by 'bogans'. A bogan is a common, lower-class person, usually on government benefits or low wages, they are ill -mannered, poorly spoken, uneducated. classless and overconfident, At least 60% of the country are bogans. I imagine most bogans have convict heritage. Rebel Wilson is a bogan. Paul Hogan is borderline bogan. Nicole Kidman is not a bogan. Savage Garden were from Logan, a Bogan suburb. Popular culture in Australia dictates its's fashionable to be a bogan, but only if you're vulgar.

Chris Hemsworth is not a bogan, Chris Lilley is. A bogan who has made good, is called a cashed-up bogan. Mel Gibson is borderline bogan.

And they just celebrated Anzac Day, the Bogan Halloween.

R15 has some major self hatred?

^^^so if you don't identify with feral, lower class people, you hate yourself?

r17 ANZAC Day is to remember the men and women of Australia and New Zealand who served in WWI, it is a sacred day, it's insulting to call it 'Bogan Halloween'. Bogan Day is 26th January, also known as Australia Day, the bogans see it as a day to celebrate everything bogan; beer, football, drunkenness etc.

It's because they're insecure? about their place in the world?

R12/R15 well, I’ll defend DOGS IN SPACE. Michael Hutchence was in it.

R22 and let’s not forget Pucnic at Hanging Rock.

“Picnic at Hanging Rock” is a great film by Peter Weir, R23! I agree!

I also cannot stand the Australian accent in general...

[quote]Logan, a Bogan suburb

Ha!

Does Gallipoli not count as an Australian film? How about Walkabout? Muriel's Wedding?

What does 'upspeak' mean?

I've liked some Australian movies. "Love Serenade" was funny.

And I love Aussie Rules football, which I can watch from the other side of the world, where I can appreciate the fit players in tiny uniforms, without having to hear them talk or hear anything about their "bogan" personal lives.

r21 not insecure, they don't care enough to be insecure

Kylie doesn’t talk this way, and you should be ashamed for even thinking it OP.

r29 "seeking validation"

Kylie speaks mid-Atlantic. As does Elle.

But Kylie doesn’t deny her bogan roots. Elle Macpherson grew up in a reasonably upper middle class suburb of Sydney but she was originally called Eleanor Gow, so there’s that.

I have to find an early interview with Kylie....

You. Will. Cringe.

R15 Wash your mouth out!

You Aussies have given us a gay cinema classic!

I'm Australian, and used to be made fun of at school because I spoke 'posh'. I don't know why I speak like that.......more Cate Blanchett than Kath and Kim.

It just doesn't sound right when I say 'mate'. I used to practice in front of the mirror to sound like everyone else. It just didn't work.

Here is how real Australians speak.

Absolutely love Kath n Kim!

And where would we be without Muriel and her wedding! A gay classic!

Isn't Australia sort of like Florida as a continent? I've heard education and intellect are frowned upon there.

Only M can do the accent justice.

I accept your M and raise you JLD.

[quote] Why has Australia contributed so little to global cinema? I always thought that it was odd that they never seem to produce any decent films.

I happen to think this is one of the greatest pieces of film ever produced.

Years ago, a classy and sophisticated DLer was arrested in Australia.

R16 Mel Gibson isn't really Australian, though. His grandmother was Aussie, but she was an opera singer, not exactly what would be described as a bogan. The only reason he grew partly grew up in Australia was because his father was afraid of his children being drafted in the US.

Are the Hemsworth brothers bogans? What about Margot Robbie? Or that fetus faced model who used to fuck Orlando Bloom, Miranda something? Was Steve Irwin a bogan?

I didn't know Australia is anti-intellectual

Beware of the Aussies, pretty soon they’ll be running for office like those pesky Canadians and stilling seats from American citizens! Oh wait...

My next-door neighbor has a heavy New Zealand accent....I like her, but her accent SETS ME OFF....

Aussies invented Upspeak.

R15, 60% seems low.

I have heard he same thing r39.

Coming out of an Australian’s mouth it sounds okay. Normal, really. When Americans do it it’s absolutely not natural. It’s a vapid affectation that only came about post late-60s. Hideous!

R44 I went to the same school as Mel - he was ahead of me but one of his many brothers was in my year. Mel got all the looks.

Then he ended up ahead of me at UNSW - he was at drama school there.

I can honestly say that he’s the most beautiful man that I’ve ever seen. Gorgeous as a school boy but ridiculous looking once he hit his twenties.

And now look at him!

I work with an Australian woman who does not upspeak, and an American Jewish man who does.

R52 Was he already an angry man back then?

R53, is your Jewish guy a big queen? Young gays are known to favor upspeak.

I didn’t know him, R54, other than as my mate’s big brother. But he was always fucking beautiful.

R27, upspeak is a speech pattern that's classically identified with California valley girls. Every sentence turns up at the end so it sounds like you're asking a question, rather that making a statement.

Very hard on the ears.

I'm Australian and I've never said 'G'day' or 'G'day mate' as a greeting in my life. It is a class thing. And yes, for the most part, Australian's are anti education and anti intellectual, but again, that's also a class thing. The accent is a class thing too, as in Britain, just the majority of the country are classless, i.e. bogans. Bogans despise anyone who's made something of themselves; the educated, wealthy etc, so they attack and try to tear them down out of jealousy, it's called Tall Poppy Syndrome. Paul Hogan once said he preferred America to Australia because in America if you have a nice car people will congratulate you and compliment you and be happy for you, but in Australia people would envy you and probably scratch it. Makes it very hard to have ambition in Australia with lots of people wanting to tear you down to their level. Helen Reddy, Elle MacPherson, Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Olivia Newton John, and Hugh Jackman don't have the traditional broader Australian accent, but I imagine they might have undergone elocution to be rid of it, or they're from upper middle class families.

Are the Hemsworth brothers bogans? What about Margot Robbie? Or that fetus faced model who used to fuck Orlando Bloom, Miranda something? Was Steve Irwin a bogan?

I wouldn't call the Hemsworth full bogans, but borderline. Margot Robbie I would call a bogan, but I bet she doesn't define herself that way, Dalby, and the Gold Coast, where she's from, is bogan paradise. I wouldn't call Miranda Kerr a bogan, but her family are, she has cleverly cultivated herself away from her bogan roots. Steve Irwin is the prototype of your typical bogan, but he was a good man. The bogan equivalent in the UK would be a CHAV. I'm not sure what you'd call them in America. Lower class perhaps? Remember, a bogan doesn't necessarily have to be poor, a lot of bogans are well off, but still talk poorly, have no manners and are poorly educated and dress terribly.

Something I've noticed about Aussies: When they hang up the phone, they all say this soft, high-pitched, mewling "bye." WTF?

^ It’s true LMAO! 😆

It is true! (The whiny "bye"). Can some Australian PLEASE explain this?

Well, we may talk strange, we may be all bogans, we may have no class or culture, we might be anti-education and anti -intellectual, but we do have gun reform and gun licencing and free healthcare for all our citizens, I'd say that's pretty smart actually.

Is anyone going to explain the wimpy "bye"?

This has turned into an unexpectedly interesting thread.

There was a character on the Aussie soap Neighbours back in the 1990s who had the worst case of Upspeak I’ve ever heard. All I remember is she was very cute, blonde and her character was a total ditz.

Had a look on Wiki-I was referring to Melanie Pearson as played by Lucinda Cowden.

Here she is!

HOME & AWAY was the better Aussie soap.

true, Home and Away is better. Always seemed odd that everyone on Neighbours had to be friends with and date someone else who only lived in Ramsay street, which is a cul de sac and not a street at all.

Just, The Sleepover Club.

And they were dyketastic, too.

STILL waiting for someone to explain the breathy-little-girl-voice "byye." It was amazing to hear even deep-voiced men doing it.

R72 I didn’t know what that meant at first but then realised that I do it! But I hardly ever speak on the phone so it wasn’t that obvious to me? <— there’s some upspeak for you