ausmemes @aussie.zone zero_gravitas @aussie.zone 4w ago

It's a beautiful language we've got

29 comments

Very true. A sentence is not perfect when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.
In the American South, it's the same.

There's a comedian, Jeff Foxworthy who does a bit about it.

A: Djeet chet?

B: Naw

A: Y'ont to?
- Love that routine.
  
  Hey'd yeet chet?
  
  Nawd ju?
  
  Y'awnt to?
  
  Aight
  
  I still use "Sinch y'is" like "sinchyiz up, get me a beer?" (Since you is)
  
  My dad's line is "while you're up". No further detail. Depending on time of day, this may be a request for beer or for tea.
  
  And whether or not you actually are up at the time is immaterial.
  
  Yeah, this is how it went! Thanks for filling in the details!
  
  *Since you are
- I'm sure that was the inspiration for this post.
  
  That was my first inclination as well.
  
  I do think it's interesting the similarities between the American South accents and the former British colony accents. I saw a documentary once that said there's an accent from some island in Virginia (or maybe the Carolinas) that is virtually unchanged from the British accent, as was spoken in the 1700s
- Aight.
I don't get; no idea what they're saying.
- A slightly more recognisable way of writing it would be "d'ya eat yet?" But "d'ya eat" becomes elided even further down to "dyeat", which ~~can be reanalysed as "jeet"~~. I'm not really sure what the phonotactics are behind "yet" becoming "chet", but in this sentence...yeah, it just kinda does.
  
  edit: wait no I worked out why "chet". It's the /t/ at the end of "jeet". /tj/ becoming /tʃ/ is very common across English.
  
  edit 2: to be more precise, dy (/dj/) becoming j (/dʒ/) is also yod coalescence. So it's all about yod coalescence + allision.
- Did you eat yet
  
  Didja eatchet
  
  Jeet chet
Fuck I hate how boganly true this is
Similar in the US deep south:

"Jeet yet?" (Did you eat yet?)

No

"Yontoo?" (Do you want to?)
- I've heard it pronounced "Yawna?"
  
  Ooo, I forgot about that one.
Aussie/Yinzer handshake https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Jeet Jet%3F
In England you say “alright” and they say “alright” back, regardless of what’s going on in their life. Nothing more is needed.
Can I have an etymology for this though?
- Did you eat yet
  
  Didja eatchet
  
  Jeet chet
Same in Baltimore
- Aaron earned an iron urn.
- Yeah Pittsburgh too
In Maine we say Chuptah? instead of “what are you up to?” Truly the language of love.
Yeah nah. I've never heard this.

More like ya had tea yet?
- It's saying "did you eat yet?"
Are we doing the redditor thing where we pretend every Australian speaks like an eastern states bogan?
- What do the central and western bogans speak like?

29 comments