Cross- cultural Communication This page intentionally left blank

Strine
English
Sickie
Day taken off work
Fair dinkum
Honest, genuine
Wowser
A kill joy, spoilsport
Mad as a cut snake
Very angry
Come the raw prawn
Attempt to deceive
Cobber-dobber
One who informs on a colleague
Daggy
Dirty, slovenly (meaning now is ‘uncool’)
Sheila
A single girl
Figure 4.6 Examples of Strine
American English
American English differs from Standard English in a number of ways. It 
was George Bernard Shaw who said that the UK and the USA are ‘one peo-
ple divided by a common language’. In particular, American English has a 
vocabulary which in many cases uses the same English word but with a dif-
ferent meaning. some examples of which are given in Figure 4.7.
There are also numerous differences in spelling, with American English 
preferring ‘er’ where standard English prefers ‘re’, for example, ‘theater’ and 
‘center’. In addition, American English prefers ‘or’, whereas standard English 
prefers ‘our’, for example, ‘favor’, ‘labor’ and ‘color’.
There are also many differences in the American English use of words 
compared to their usage in Standard English – for example, in English, if we 
say something is ‘quite good’, we mean that it is not great or outstanding 
but OK. However, in the USA, ‘quite’ is more a superlative, not a qualifier 
and means an emphatic ‘very’.
American English is colourful, with metaphors and idioms that reflect their 
culture, including sporting references, such as those relating to baseball, 

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72 Cross-Cultural Communication
whereas Standard English uses cricket analogies. John Major, when Prime 
Minister, used the term ‘sticky wicket’ (that is, something which is difficult), 
which caused much confusion among interpreters at an EU meeting. One of 
the main problems encountered by foreigners when taking part in meetings 
with Americans is understanding the ‘management speak’. These expres-
sions cause confusion with foreigners, particularly those who have been 
educated in Standard English.