Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Dinkum Australian Dictionary by Lenie (Midge) Johansen

What a ripper of a dinki-di book this is to translate the Aussie slanguage that we've proudly been working on for the last two centuries so that anyone else who is still learning it can follow a conversation.
All through my life, I've been using Aussie slang to communicate and never really thought much of it until I began traveling overseas and people asked me to repeat what I had just said to them. And from the looks on their faces, they really didn't understand me. So, I had to: 1. slow down my speech and 2. use the Queen's English and not the bonza slang I'd been taught.
There's been a few more editions of this dictionary since I was given this particular one. So, if you're in the market for an Aussie dictionary for either a souvenir to take home or a good laugh, this one is totally worth it!
A word of warning, though. This dictionary on the translation of Aussie slang has a fair bit of racist words in it. This isn't any fault of ours; this kind of language has been used over the last two centuries and has stayed in the vocabulary because of its age and where it came from. I personally don't use racist language of any kind to describe people; I just own the book because some of the words are funny in sound and meaning.


I've searched the net for Lenie Johansen's website - or anything on him - however, I just keep coming up with this book. The one thing I've found out is that he was born in 1950 and is still alive; and that's all. So, if anyone has a site for him or knows of any other books by him, please leave a comment for us so I can add his name to ever-growing collection of author links on the sidebar. Thanks.

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