Singapore Kid's Places: Are we really Aussies if we can't talk Strine?
Are we really Aussies if we can't talk Strine?
It's a funny life as an expat sometimes, especially for the children who never quite know where to call "home". My family and I had a funny discussion the other day about the kids' identity, and whether they are really Australian, as their passports declare. They have never really lived in Australia and are not familiar with many of the weird and wacky Australian-isms that you hear day to day over there. I have lived outside Australia for most of my adult life, and so they don't pick up much Strine from me, and Martin is from U.K!
If we ever get back to Australia, my kids will feel like real dills when the rellies chuck a wobbly cos they're calling lollies "candy" and bikkies "cookies"and any tick of the clock they might want to send the ankle biters out to woop woop to teach them some true blue Ozzy jargon!
Nice post. On a recent trip back to Australia, I noticed how more singaporean my daughter sounded than australian, how she kept referring to her thongs as "slippers" and when bushwalking one day she kept referring to being in the jungle. On the train she was fascinated by graffiti, wanting to know who gave permission for people to draw on the walls. Her passport says she's Australian, but I recognise the influence is minimal. Does it want me to rush back home - not just yet.