Sometimes I try to play up the Australian accent/stereotype to foreigners for a bit of a laugh, only to then get in to a conversation with other Australians and realise I was actually playing it down.

  • LittleLordFauntleroy@lemm.ee
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    9 days ago

    I was chatting with a yank fella I know on Discord and called him mate, I’ve known him for about a year. There was a pause and he said, “That’s the first time you’ve ever called me mate”. Bloke was just about tearing up cos apparently I’d just fulfilled one of his life ambitions, being called mate by an Aussie. Ordinarily I use mate just about every other sentence but it made me realise I must subconsciously tone it down for foreigners.

    • Fleur_@lemm.eeOP
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      9 days ago

      For me it’s sentence structure and grammar. I’ll use words like ‘mate’ when talking to non-aussies but they’ll be in very formal sentences. With other Australians all that gets chucked out.

  • selfcleaningtaint@lemmy.sdf.org
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    9 days ago

    Born and raised in Perth so have been told I sound British. When I used to game online I was often told I don’t sound Australian and would then go into what I thought was proper Ocker only to have Australian friends call me out for sounding like a Brit imitating crocodile Dundee…

    • BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org
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      9 days ago

      I grew up in rural NSW and I’ve been called British, New Zealand, American, South African. 🤨

      I felt better when I visited friends in the US and ran into some mates from Perth who’d been there a few months and they said “it’s so good to hear an Australian voice again”.

      And one of their new US friends heard me talking and were like “oh my God another Australian!”

      So it seems to be just people in Melbourne and Sydney can’t pick my accent.