My accent is dumb, and other linguistic observations
I've been living in Australia for a few months now, and the main thing that experience has taught me is that my accent is dumb. American vowels are flat and lazy and nasal. I pronounce too many R's on average. It's really quite unseemly. The culture here feels like a weird blend of UK and US culture, partly because goods and media are often imported from both places. I've enjoyed learning some of the features of Australian English and hearing a wide variety of Australian accents. There are tons of immigrants from the UK and elsewhere in my department, so I'm encountering a lot of those accents too. Some Aussie words and phrases I've been interested or bemused by so far: "How are you going?" is used instead of "How is it going?" or "How are you doing?" Tasty cheese = cheddar Barbie = grill, but grills tend to be fireless electric cooktops in this wildfire-prone region Bushfire = wildfire Lollies = candy "Hey" is...