The biggest factor in accent is class. Lower paid working class Australians will generally have a broader more classically stereotyped Australian accent. Your ruling class, national bourgeois, PMC, richer petit bourgeois etc will have a private school voice that comes off a little bit upper class English, a bit mid-atlantic.
There’s the historical factors that contribute to Australia’s usage of the word c*nt too.
If you go back a century or so, there was a pretty clear “class” divide (in a non-Marxist, Bourdieuvian sense) between the working people and the ruling elite.
Australian larrikin culture was deeply skeptical of authority, pretentious people, and those who sought to join the ranks of the ruling class (or at least to emulate them.) Partly by its historical roots in lower class culture and partly by intent, larrikin culture would be crass and vulgar because this was like a shibboleth; if you were capable of engaging in the vulgarity then you’d signal to the other people around you that you were “one of them” rather than being like a haughty, polished Eton College graduate who would instinctually turn their nose up at that sort of stuff.
What that means is Australians use often use the term c*nt as a term of endearment but that will only be with people who are on the same level. You wouldn’t hear an office worker using it as a term of endearment to their boss or supervisor but when they are around workmates having a drink together, you’re much more likely to hear it then.
It’s a really interesting cultural phenomenon but I’m completely in favour of banning the use of the word c*nt in this space because the alternative will only provide a flimsy pretext for chuds to claim that ackshually they were using the term “like an Aussie”.
Yeah, I can pick out Melbourne vs Sydney accents, and even Sydney East vs North vs West (and the various cultural group differences such as Mediterranean-influenced Australian), but it’s not something most people would pick up on, even many Australians. Someone from out in the country is gonna think the West and upper North has harsher vowels than them (a holdback of First Nations English vernacular) and the others are just posh city boys.
It’s more like someone from London being able to pick up what street you’re from.
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There’s the historical factors that contribute to Australia’s usage of the word c*nt too.
If you go back a century or so, there was a pretty clear “class” divide (in a non-Marxist, Bourdieuvian sense) between the working people and the ruling elite.
Australian larrikin culture was deeply skeptical of authority, pretentious people, and those who sought to join the ranks of the ruling class (or at least to emulate them.) Partly by its historical roots in lower class culture and partly by intent, larrikin culture would be crass and vulgar because this was like a shibboleth; if you were capable of engaging in the vulgarity then you’d signal to the other people around you that you were “one of them” rather than being like a haughty, polished Eton College graduate who would instinctually turn their nose up at that sort of stuff.
While I’d argue that the spirit of larrikin culture is dead and its bloated corpse looms large over contemporary Australian culture as a grim parody of what it once was, the tradition of being crass and vulgar remains, and it’s still used to signal to in-groups.
What that means is Australians use often use the term c*nt as a term of endearment but that will only be with people who are on the same level. You wouldn’t hear an office worker using it as a term of endearment to their boss or supervisor but when they are around workmates having a drink together, you’re much more likely to hear it then.
It’s a really interesting cultural phenomenon but I’m completely in favour of banning the use of the word c*nt in this space because the alternative will only provide a flimsy pretext for chuds to claim that ackshually they were using the term “like an Aussie”.
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never_been_to_adelaide.txt
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agree with the rest of your post btw, it’s totally class divided
but adelaide, probably on the basis of class divide (muh free settlers) are the regional accent in australia I would say
Identity built around the pronunciation of “dance”
Yeah, I can pick out Melbourne vs Sydney accents, and even Sydney East vs North vs West (and the various cultural group differences such as Mediterranean-influenced Australian), but it’s not something most people would pick up on, even many Australians. Someone from out in the country is gonna think the West and upper North has harsher vowels than them (a holdback of First Nations English vernacular) and the others are just posh city boys.
It’s more like someone from London being able to pick up what street you’re from.