Help writing with 'stralian accent

[AlexBailey]

Hello Literoticalists,

I'm working on a piece with a character who is a jovial surfer dude from Melbourne, Australia. Do you have any suggestions or particular samples I should check out?

I've found some helpful youtube stuff and read some surf reports but I still haven't got it and I have no idea how a Surfer from Melbourne might sound different than a cop from Sydney.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Mate, there's a few Aussies here that could have a squiz at your yarn.

Same diff like the LAPD and some surfer dude. Uptight vs relaxed. Also depends on the era. The 60's - unique. Today - heavy American and Asian influences.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hello Literoticalists,

I'm working on a piece with a character who is a jovial surfer dude from Melbourne, Australia. Do you have any suggestions or particular samples I should check out?

I've found some helpful youtube stuff and read some surf reports but I still haven't got it and I have no idea how a Surfer from Melbourne might sound different than a cop from Sydney.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated.

He'll be freezing his nuts off, for starters, if he's in Melbourne - and going down to the south coast to actually find some surf (Melbourne being the northern end of a very big bay.

Also cops don't surf - channel Robert Duvall from Apocalypse Now .

Chloe Tzang figured it out, although she specialised more in panel vans, to be honest. As RustyOz says, there are enough of us to put you right (or have lols at your expense!).

No shrimps, though. Don't mention shrimps. Those ads were talking out their arse!

 

[Rustyoznail]

And don’t send him to Bondi. No surfer worth his Kombi would surf with that bunch of wankers.

 

[ElectricBlue]

And don’t send him to Bondi. No surfer worth his Kombi would surf with that bunch of wankers.

True that. But good fish and chips, if that cafe is still there (it's been many years since I was near Bondi, possibly decades).

 

[Rustyoznail]

Yeah but bloody expensive.

***edit*** Bloody hell! Been flat out like a lizard drinking!

The olds gave me a bell, so I had to yack to them for a bit.

Anyhoo, fling us your shit and we'll take a chookie.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm not Australian, but my advice is, don't over do it. You don't need to do anything to capture the accent itself. Throw in some distinctive Australian vocabulary, but don't over do that, either. If you read a sampling of stories by some of the Australian authors here, you'll notice that their characters' dialogue isn't much different from that of Americans. All you'll need is to throw in some local surfer slang -- but not too much.

 

[RetroFan]

I'm from Australia, and can offer some advice.

There are basically three Australian accents. There is the broad Australian accent (think Steve Irwin, Paul Hogan), the general Australian accent (Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman) and the much rarer cultivated Australian accent (Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett).

Australian accents are not geographic, however some accents are more prevalent in certain areas. There can be some minor differences in terminology in different states, for example some states say pram others say stroller. A lot of the time Aussies use terms similar to the UK, for example most girls would refer to their panties as their knickers as they would in England. Some Aussie slang is unique, for example cask wine is called goon, bogans are the equivalent of rednecks in the USA and chavs in the UK, chickens are chooks, and ibises are frequently referred to as bin chickens.

You cannot tell where an Australian is from by their accent alone. For example if you were writing a story about three girls in the USA where Jane is from New York, Michelle is from Baltimore and Lisa is from Boston, then their accents will give away their origins. Move the story to the UK and have Jane from London's East End, Michelle from Liverpool and Lisa from Yorkshire, and again their origins show by their accents. However, set the story in Oz and Jane is from Melbourne, Michelle from Adelaide and Lisa from Brisbane, then it won't show their origins, even if they have the three different Aussie accents.

My advice is to not overdo the Aussie accent even if your character has the broad Australian dialect but to reference it in narrative. For example, my story 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends' is set in Adelaide, and one of the girls Kayla has a particularly broad Aussie accent. I describe her accent as being so broad that she sounds like an American or English actress attempting the Australian accent but failing badly at it.

Take care with some slang. Don't have an Aussie girl slip over, land on her backside and say, "I fell flat on my fanny" because unlike in the US where she would be talking about her buttocks, in Oz she would be talking about her vagina. You can use this sort of thing for comedy - in one story an Australian guy and an American girl are talking dirty, and the Australian tells the American that 'he wants to fuck her fanny'. He of course means her pussy, but she thinks he means her anus and freaks somewhat.

Good luck with your story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My advice is to not overdo the Aussie accent even if your character has the broad Australian dialect but to reference it in narrative. For example, my story 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends' is set in Adelaide, and one of the girls Kayla has a particularly broad Aussie accent. I describe her accent as being so broad that she sounds like an American or English actress attempting the Australian accent but failing badly at it.

Even Meryl Streep, who can nail most accents, failed when she tried to do an Australian accent, when she played Lindy Chamberlain.

But when it's done the other way, Australian actors doing American accents seem to do okay - good old Rusty Crowe, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, etc etc. Don't have a clue why that's the case - do they sound wrong to Americans?

 

[SimonDoom]

Even Meryl Streep, who can nail most accents, failed when she tried to do an Australian accent, when she played Lindy Chamberlain.

But when it's done the other way, Australian actors doing American accents seem to do okay - good old Rusty Crowe, Mel Gibson, Nicole Kidman, etc etc. Don't have a clue why that's the case - do they sound wrong to Americans?

They sound convincingly American. Most Australian and UK actors seem to do just fine with American accents, but there are some laughably bad attempts by American actors to do British accents -- Keanu Reaves in Dracula, or Kevin Costner playing Robin Hood come to mind.

It might be because the standard American accent -- the kind you hear spoken by most broadcast journalists on TV -- is so common, and is more familiar to others than foreign accents are to us. I wonder also if it's because the American accent is flat -- it may be easier to flatten one's accent than to make it more lilting and musical.

With respect to this thread, I think we're talking more about vocabulary than accent -- using Australian words in place of words used in other English-speaking countries. It's difficult to try to represent accent in writing and the results can be frustrating to read if not done extremely well.

 

[Rustyoznail]

We’re just taking the piss...

Normal Australian writing is no different to anywhere else, but Australian accents and slang are unique. I guess because the rest of the world doesn’t hear us on tv or movies much, it makes it difficult to pick up. We’ve had Pommy tv shows and US movies for ages, so it’s pretty easy for us to replicate any accent. And geez, you have some rippers...

And as Retro said - don’t try too hard. Last thing you want is to look like a flamin’ galah by chucking every possible bit of slang at a story.

 

[Bramblethorn]

They sound convincingly American. Most Australian and UK actors seem to do just fine with American accents, but there are some laughably bad attempts by American actors to do British accents -- Keanu Reaves in Dracula, or Kevin Costner playing Robin Hood come to mind.

I have a soft spot for Robert Downey Jr.'s Australian accent, which he seems to enjoy doing.

 

[oggbashan]

A surfer from Melbourne can't surf there. The surf is outside the bay so he would have to travel some distance. I liked surfing on the Ninety Mile Beach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety_Mile_Beach,_Victoria

As for accents? A very little hint is enough. The female character in my story:

https://www.literotica.com/s/is-e-an-aussie-is-he-lizzie

was overdoing it for effect.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Take a look at my “Chinese Eyes” story - surfing and set in Oz but a bit north. I think I got a lot of the slang even I overdid it a tad, roight mates? Crap surf in Sydney tho, bloke. Right bunch of wankers from what I was told. You gotta head north but then you gotta keep an eye open for those cane toads. Lol.

When you’re done, put a link here. I want to read this one.

 

[jomar]

I’m with the less is more crowd.

 

[AlexBailey]

Lol!

You all have me LMAO.

Did I blow my geography? I should have said Torquay? Is Melbourne the closest international airport to Bells Beach? It's still off a ways I suppose, stupid tourist.

I have heard actors say the Aussies are the best at taking up all of the various English accents- if you need a Scot hire an Aussie. I can usually pick up accents while hanging out with foreigners but the slang Australian banter eludes me.

I'll definitely go for 'less is more'. I'll check into the references and actors you have mentioned.

Thanks!

 

[oggbashan]

You all have me LMAO.

Did I blow my geography? I should have said Torquay? Is Melbourne the closest international airport to Bells Beach? It's still off a ways I suppose, stupid tourist.

I have heard actors say the Aussies are the best at taking up all of the various English accents- if you need a Scot hire an Aussie. I can usually pick up accents while hanging out with foreigners but the slang Australian banter eludes me.

I'll definitely go for 'less is more'. I'll check into the references and actors you have mentioned.

Thanks!

There is nothing wrong with being a surfer from Melbourne except that he would have to travel a long way to a surf beach. Melbourne is at the head of Port Philip Bay, a large, mainly landlocked area of sea. Except during storms the waves would be very small, suitable for children to learn but no use to an adult surfer. He would have to go to Victoria's south coast, over an hour away, depending where he was in Melbourne.

By comparison, all of Sydney's beaches, including Bondi which is very close to the City centre, are surf beaches. None of Melbourne's are.

Live surf at Bondi:

https://www.coastalwatch.com/surf-cams-surf-reports/nsw/bondi-beach

Compare waves at Brighton Beach (a suburb of Melbourne) inside Port Philip Bay:

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/s...=be28317ac5be859817f1e64a001afb1a&action=view

Victoria's surf beaches:

https://surfingaustralia.com/SurfingVictoria/page/top10surfbeaches

Serious surfing at Bells Beach:

https://uk.video.search.yahoo.com/s...=359d46f1e2e057c5f67f11818eb4d6f9&action=view

 

[ElectricBlue]

You all have me LMAO.

Did I blow my geography? I should have said Torquay? Is Melbourne the closest international airport to Bells Beach? It's still off a ways I suppose, stupid tourist.

If a foreigner came to Oz to surf, they'd more likely go to the Gold Coast or Byron Bay, not Mexico (Victoria is south of the border...).

But yes, Tullamarine is the closest international airport, unless he's a tight-arse flying discount, in which case he might arrive at Avalon. What am I saying, you've got a surfer. Of course he's got no money, so Avalon it is. Have him fly Tiger Air. But only a pom would target the Bass Strait to surf in - marginally warmer than the Atlantic, I suppose. Make sure he's got a wet suit.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Land in Tulla, Skybus to Southern Cross, then the train to Geelong. Hitch a ride or bus down the coast. Bell’s is the closest surf beach to Melbourne, and there’s a reason why they have a surf carnival there every year. The other option is the Portsea back beach, but that’s harder to get to. Besides, Portsea is full of rich wankers...

True surfers don’t worry about the cold. It’s all about the wave. Just wear a 7mm steamer in winter.

Oh, and the original Point Break? Not Bell’s.

 

[ishtat]

It's worth remembering that 30% of Australians were born overseas and more than 50% have at least one foreign born parent so they don't all have to be Anglo/ Aussies or have Anglo names. If you set your story in Sydney Melbourne or Perth the cosmopolitan make up will be very obvious. Not so much in Brisbane and much less so in Adelaide.

We even let in a couple of hundred thousand American migrants.

 

[Bramblethorn]

There is nothing wrong with being a surfer from Melbourne except that he would have to travel a long way to a surf beach. Melbourne is at the head of Port Philip Bay, a large, mainly landlocked area of sea. Except during storms the waves would be very small, suitable for children to learn but no use to an adult surfer. He would have to go to Victoria's south coast, over an hour away, depending where he was in Melbourne.

Noting that Australians tend to be pretty tolerant of long drives, so it's not at all unreasonable to have him driving an hour each way for surf.

But yes, Tullamarine is the closest international airport, unless he's a tight-arse flying discount, in which case he might arrive at Avalon. What am I saying, you've got a surfer. Of course he's got no money, so Avalon it is. Have him fly Tiger Air.

You monster.

(It's true, though.)

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I'm not Australian, but my advice is, don't over do it. You don't need to do anything to capture the accent itself. Throw in some distinctive Australian vocabulary, but don't over do that, either. If you read a sampling of stories by some of the Australian authors here, you'll notice that their characters' dialogue isn't much different from that of Americans. All you'll need is to throw in some local surfer slang -- but not too much.

yabbut, thats just cuz they're dumbin' it down for the yanks, and the progs, (prods? now i can't remember the derogatory nickname for British folk) Ah, Rusty bails me out -- Poms

 

[ElectricBlue]

yabbut, thats just cuz they're dumbin' it down for the yanks, and the progs, (prods? now i can't remember the derogatory nickname for British folk) Ah, Rusty bails me out -- Poms

Brits are still Poms = pomegranates = immigrants, in memory of the Ten Pound Pom program just after the war, when you could get passage on a ship to Australia for a tenner. The program stopped some time in the sixties, I think (somebody will confirm or deny that).

 

[ishtat]

Ten Pound Pom program just after the war, when you could get passage on a ship to Australia for a tenner. The program stopped some time in the sixties, I think (somebody will confirm or deny that).

It ceased in 1982 but the price went up to about 75 pounds in 1973. There was a murky side to the scheme. It was introduced by the Labor government in 1945 For British and Irish migrants and later extended to Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Greece in the early 50's and Turkey in late 1967. While the main objective was to increase the population, all political parties were united in favouring whites only. Arthur Calwell the first Minister responsible was credited with the infamous statement "Two Wongs don't make a white."

However, in recent years the source of migrants has shifted to Asia especially China and India. The people who came back in the 50's would probably be insufficiently educated to get in now.

 

[Thefireflies]

Something like 85% of Aussies live near the coast and I read somewhere that 10% of us surf. Whether that figure is accurate, who knows? But the thing is, while there is a surfing culture in Australia, it’s not really an exclusive clique (unless it’s locals versus outsiders fighting over a break). At any given surf beach you’ll find everyone from professionals to tradies, drug dealers to teachers, and always grommets (kid surfers), and everyone else in between too. With the exception of surfing jargon, the way they talk will more than likely reflect where they come from in society.

As far as the accent goes, we are a lazy bunch at times, clipping words. In a formal environment we might say, How are you today? Informally, we’re more likely to say, Hey, how’s it goin’? I note American’s speak like that too, and perhaps it’s a colonial thing, or we are picking up American traits? Though, according to linguists the lazy speech patterns have always been here. Do note it’s common to hear people use the term ‘Dude’, but we’re most likely to address someone as ‘mate’, whether we know them or not.

By the way, if you want to read a good Australian surfing story with a fair amount of erotica mixed in, you can’t go past Tim Winton’s book Breath. It was recently made into a film by Simon Baker, who I think did the book justice. And the film is visually stunning. I recommend them.