The Aussie word of the day

[miladycarol]

Okay, it’s time for another Australian lesson.

Today, we will discuss the word “dag.” Sunday, at Lorinda’s house, she donned a well-loved sweater – or jumper, as they call them here – with holes and worn spots. She apologized for wearing such a daggy jumper. She then felt the need to explain the word's origins to me. Apparently, a dag is a piece of feces that has latched onto the hair on the backside of a sheep and formed a hardened turd cocoon. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a dag. To my mind, this made sense. She apologized for wearing a sweater that was a bit on the worn and messy side. Not sightly. I get that. Turd cocoons are not sightly, the sweater wasn’t the prettiest. I made the connection and was happy to move on, but she immediately continued by further explaining that dag could be a compliment to a person. “Oh, you’re such a cute little dag.”

Here, I paused.

So, let me get this straight. A dag can be a compliment. What you really just said was, “Oh, you’re such a cute little hair encrusted piece of shit.”

Compliment.

Hmmmm…

Am I the only one who doesn’t follow this? This tracks very closely with my theory of how international wars begin over slight cultural indiscretions. If my interpreter just translated your comment into my language while we were discussing strategy over a pot of tea as, “You’re so funny, what a cute little hair encrusted piece of shit you are!” Well, you may imagine the pot of hot tea could very accidentally be poured into said delegate’s lap. Quite by accident, I assure you. Hey, wars have been started for less. I heard WWII was begun because someone loaded one too many pieces of straw on a camel’s back which, in turn, broke the camel’s back. One may only assume that this was a prized camel. A very important dromedary. Hey, it started a war.

So, what lesson do we learn from this story?

A. One simply cannot trust an Aussie to say anything straightforward, after all, historically, it was a giant penal colony.

B. Aussies don’t know the difference between a compliment and an insult… and simply don’t care because, hey, they have the Great Barrier Reef and Fairy Penguins.

C. Aussie colloquialisms are just cute no matter what they mean because they have that really sexy accent so they can say whatever they want as long as they keep talking.

Remember, the Aussie word of the day is dag. Thank you for your time.

Comments

[agthorr.livejournal.com]

Today, we will discuss the word “dag.”

Oh, I know what that is. It's a Directed Acyclic Graph.

What? Why are you looking at me like that? *grin*

Oh, you’re such a cute little dag.”

Compare with "the shit" which sometimes means "uniquely awesome".

[kittekaat.livejournal.com]

Yah, I was going to say, here we have compliments like

Fucked up shit
Gnarly (bent up and distorted)
Bad (meaning good)
Bitchin'
The Bomb

I am sure there are others that I am not remembering because I just woke up.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

*giggles* Yes, indeed. I guess it's just human to juxtapose the meanings and intents of words.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Geek! *flick*

[wyliekat.livejournal.com]

We call 'em dingleberries. I wonder if that's vernacular?

[clio75.livejournal.com]

Being an Aussie country girl, yep my dad, grandfather and various other men I know call them dingle berries too.

One of my favourite "dag" phrases is ... Rattle your dags... means get a hurry on.

I love the Aussie language, it has to be a mystery to everyone else in the world. My fiance was in the Navy and did training in America. He used to love to speak strine to all the Americans.

I have a good friend in Texas, she loves my accent, mind you I'm not quite the outback ocker, there are certain Australian accents that make me cringe.... Crikey LOL

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

It's funny, most Aussies have confessed they hate their accent yet the majority of Americans would pay money to hear Aussies talk for hours. Interesting, eh? Honestly, I was interested in my husband for the content of his character, but the accent surely didn't hurt his case any. *grin*

[wyliekat.livejournal.com]

Milady has discovered that it's a British word - which would explain us colonials having it in our lexicon.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what I'm used to, as well. I have no idea where it originated, though. Upon research, I discovered that dingleberries is a British term. Dag is New Zealand. Here are the definitions.

dingleberries sl n :clingons, see jubnuts for the idea, syn. dangleberries, bum-tags, clagnuts (N), dags, clinkers, fartleberries.

dags (NZ) sl n :dried jubnuts, hence “rattle your dags” -get a move on, see dingleberries. Also, dag means mate, good guy, all right bloke.

Oh, Internet, is there nothing you don't know? *swoon*

[wyliekat.livejournal.com]

Love teh Intarnats. . . .

Well, that would explain how we came to it. Canuck speak is such a mix between American and British that you could practically draw a line through it.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

I often consider myself a bit of a mix. Even though I was born and raised an American, I have been reading British literature since 4th grade -- I had a bit of a love affair with Agatha Christie (and all her little gray cells) and I was lucky to have a library with British prints. This did wonders for my cultural development, but was a blight upon my spelling tests. The teachers in my school kept marking me incorrect for harbour, labour, etc. I'm so unAmerican. *sigh*

I soon graduated to Monty Python on PBS and I was suddenly sounding like a Brit, as well. I have been known to carry the British accent for up to 30 minutes after viewing a show. Yet, I still cannot manage an Aussie accent. Go fig.

[wyliekat.livejournal.com]

Cross John Wayne with a Brit accent and you might come close. That's always what I've thought, anyway.

[indiecowboy.livejournal.com]

I lived with Aussies back in Japan.

When they did things like this I would smile, nod and throw them a Fosters while I ran screaming from their seemingly evil plans to melt my brians.

All Aussies want to do that. Look at Russel Crowe.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... melted brains! They work well on Nachos. *grimace*

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm going with C, but then, I date an Aussie and I'm here to tell you, he could read the phone book out loud for an hour and it'd be sexy.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

We do seem to have a love for accents, don't we? It's funny, when I visit other countries I pick up accents easily, but I've lived here for 5 months now and I can't latch onto Australian. It's just not something my tongue wants to wrap itself around. If I could, imagine all the babes I could score?!? *giggles with glee*

[karinablack.livejournal.com]

LMAO!!!
Bill always says:
"Dag, yo!"
When he's trying to be "cool."

I'm going to have to tell him about this and laugh ominously.
Yes, Yes I will!

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Gee, I don't think I've ever heard it used that way, before.

Things that make you go "blegh!"

[muincat.livejournal.com]

OK...the first fast food place I ever worked at was a burger place in Seattle called Dag's. Do I really want to ponder the implications...? No, no I don't...

Re: Things that make you go "blegh!"

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

*shudders*

Hey, it's good to hear from you! *hug* I hope all is well in your world. I've been sending the new business energy. You know, I am so sad that I'm missing your Mom's Easter egg hunt this year. *sigh*

Re: Things that make you go "blegh!"

[muincat.livejournal.com]

Oh Gods Yes! I need all the good energy I can get. I sit here, taking a break from making invoices, to reply back to you. I HATE trying to figure out QB Online--I go back and forth between wanting to drop kick it or just sitting down to weep. I'm just not good with accounting or numbers in general. I've had no income for two months, nor has Bill, other than what has been trickling in from whatever work didn't go to the old books (previous owner). Its been rough, but I know this WILL be profitable in a couple of months time. Its just a matter of whether or not we can keep the water and electric on and make the house payment in the mean time. We're literally in a situation of "Does Bill have enough gas to get to the client? If not, where do we pull the money from to get him said gas?" Its ugly, but I KNOW it will work eventually. ::: sigh :::

I miss mom's easter egg hunts too. Its fun to watch the kids loot the property. I'll never forget the year the lady saw a newt on a log and touched it thinking it was a decoration. She let out the loudest scream when it actually moved! LOL

I haven't spoken to mom and dad much since Thanksgiving. I got the distinct impression that they didn't care for the way I dealt with Kim and I've been sort of uncomfortable about talking to them since then.

Re: Things that make you go "blegh!"

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

I tried using QB online once, but it really didn't work well for our needs. It was just too slow and buggy back in 2002. Maybe it's better, now. I empathize, though. I was chained to my desk for a few very long years dealing with the wonders of bookkeeping and accounting. And I've never been trained for either. My outlet of choice was to dash into the bedroom, firmly grasp my pillow and smash it repeatedly with gusto against the mattress. After about three minutes of that, then I'd weep quietly into the aforementioned pillow. Then, back to work. *gives you hugs and pats*

I have so much faith in you. You'll make it work. I know this because you have managed to create amazing things out of nothing before. I admire you for that.

I feel awfully disconnected. I am not sure what the Kim situation has been lately, but from what I last heard, you're dealing with things as best you can. Again, if anyone can make rosewater from weeds, you can. So, can't imagine why they'd disapprove, but you might find it easier to call and chat with them after the Easter hunt. If things become uncomfortable, segue into Molly and Shamika or how did the little kids do this year.

Good luck, Sweetie.