Strine, also spelled Stryne (), is Australian slang for a broad
Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no of ...
accent. Someone who speaks Strine is called an
Ocker. In contemporary Australian spoken English, the term ''Strine'' is being replaced by ''Strayan'', a word gaining traction in more recent years (although Strine is still used among some populations). In written English, Strine remains more frequently used.
The term is a
syncope, derived from a shortened phonetic rendition of the pronunciation of the word "Australian" in an exaggerated
Broad Australian accent, drawing upon the tendency of this accent to run syllables together in a form of
liaison.
The term was
coined in 1964 when the accent was the subject of humorous columns published in the ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...
'' from the mid-1960s.
Alastair Ardoch Morrison, under the Strine
pseudonym
A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...
of
Afferbeck Lauder (a
metaplasm
A metaplasm is almost any kind of alteration, whether intentional or unintentional, in the pronunciation or the orthography of a word. The change may be phonetic only, such as pronouncing ''Mississippi'' as ''Missippi'' in English, or acceptance ...
for "Alphabetical Order"), wrote a song "With Air Chew" ("Without You") in 1965 followed by a series of books—''Let Stalk Strine'' (1965), ''Nose Tone Unturned'' (1967), ''Fraffly Well Spoken'' (1968), and ''Fraffly Suite'' (1969). An example from one of the books: "Eye-level arch play devoisters ..." ("I'll have a large plate of oysters").
In 2009,
Text Publishing, Melbourne, re-published all four books in an omnibus edition.
The late environmentalist and TV presenter
Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert Irwin (22 February 19624 September 2006), known as "the Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian zookeeper, Conservation movement, conservationist, television personality, wildlife educator, and environmentalist.
Irwin grew up ar ...
was once referred to as the person who "talked Strine like no other contemporary personality".
"Freakish end to a wild life"
''The Age''
See also
* Diminutives in Australian English
* Monica Dickens
* '' How to Talk Australians'', an online miniseries looking through the eyes of teachers and students at a fictional college
References
Citations
Sources
* Lauder, Afferbeck (A. A. Morrison) ''Let Stalk Strine'', Sydney, 1965, page 9
* Steber, David. ''Strine and Amusing Language from the Land Down Under'', Steber & Associates, 1990. .
External links
{{Wiktionary
With Air Chew
��Copyright registration copy of the song in the National Archives of Australia
The National Archives of Australia (NAA), formerly known as the Commonwealth Archives Office and Australian Archives, is an Australian Government agency that is the National archives, official repository for all federal government documents. It ...
Some examples of Strine
(includes audio files)
Australian English
Australian humour
1960s neologisms