Is Australian slang carking it? Dying, that is.

One lexicographer is seeing fewer Aussie terms than ever in contemporary slang. Words are always going in and out of fashion, but if the Aussie lingo is changing, can we see what it’s changing into?

Linguist Daniel Midgley gives it a burl on this episode of Talk the Talk.


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181: Is Aussie Slang Dying out?

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Promo

Promo with Kylie Sturgess, 2014-10-28: Aussie Slang

Show notes

How arbitrary is language? English words structured to help kids learn
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140813103503.htm
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/articles/2014/how-arbitrary-is-language/

The paper itself
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1651/20130299

Linguists Tony Thorne and John Hajek say Australian slang is not what it used to be
http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/linguists-tony-thorne-and-john-hajek-say-australian-slang-is-not-what-it-used-to-be/story-fneszs56-1226955247201

The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang
http://www.bloomsbury.com/au/dictionary-of-contemporary-slang-9781408181799/

“nose to the grindstone”
http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/miller.htm

Here is a list of Australian slang. If you’re Australian, here is a list comprised partly of normal words, and partly of quaint parochialisms.
http://www.goingrank.com.au/glossary.html

The rise and fall of Australian slang
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27805070

Or are Australians taking themselves more seriously?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/26/is-aussie-slang-dying-out

Reasons some Australians give for not using slang.
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=1RORfbdKk-8C&lpg=PP1&dq=mccrindle%20word%20up&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q=unsophisticated&f=false

Ben was curious about the proportion of workers in various sectors. The stats show that people in the production sector have diminished a lot since 1966, and service industries way up.
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/828adb6574d4875bca2570ec001b1f52!OpenDocument

Rob Pensalfini thinks we should be looking to marginalised communities for our new slang.
http://theconversation.com/aussie-slang-is-as-diverse-as-australia-itself-27973

Many Australian slang words are actually British or Irish.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_English_vocabulary#Words_of_British_and_Irish_origin

Like ‘bludger’
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bludger

Vale comes from Latin ‘valeo’
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vale#Etymology_2

It’s related to value, valor, and valiant.
http://verbosum.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/verbum-hodiernum-valde.html

RIP for ‘Rest in Peace’ (or requiēscat in pāce) seems more informal, and used for people known to the speaker.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rest_in_peace