australian as anything

A couple of regular readers have commented on some of the very Aussie language I use here. Even though I have a post-grad level of education I prefer to write the way I speak. It’s very much my ‘voice’ with the added bonus that it makes it less attractive for ‘content hunters’ to appropriate my stuff. I’m Australian born and bred but I’ve always believed I was born on the wrong continent. My heritage is English and Irish on my maternal side and while my paternity is something I don’t know much about, my birth father’s surname is German so I’ll just run with that. Coincidentally my adoptive family have the same heritage give or take.

I was raised by my first generation Aussie mum who adores anything that reminds her of ‘home’ – England – and my very ‘Scottish’ dad who is also half German. My dad’s sense of humour is so dry it qualifies for drought subsidies.

But even though I’m a bit of a bitsa (Aussie slang for ‘bits of this and bits of that) we are all True Blue Aussies.

I did a bit of digging and it seems the phrase true blue derives from the English city of Coventry and refers to the blue cloth for which the city was famous. Someone borrowed it from England and tagged it on to Australia as we are wont to do.

Someone born and raised in the country of Australia by parents born and raised in Australia by Australian parents, and who values and keeps original Australian traditions at least prior to the 1970’s.

WHAT DOES “TRUE BLUE AUSSIE” MEAN IN AUSTRALIA? THE OUTBACK …

My searching reminded me that in Australia we sometimes call a fight a ‘Blue.’ It’s a bit racist though.

In the 1850s, a large influx of immigrants arrived in Australia, hoping to make their fortunes in the gold fields. The Irish, many of whom were redheads, soon gained a reputation as hard drinkers and fighters. A fight, in local slang, was a ‘blue‘.

Why are Australian redheads often called ‘bluey’? – English …

My cousin Shaun has gone viral this week and he’s about as Aussie as they come! He’s doing some great work promoting local bakeries and raising money for charities.

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I started thinking about writing this post during yoga on Tuesday. The class was standing in Tree Pose or Vrikshasana, and while I am trying to work on my judgement… I looked at the guy in front of me. He had the most amazing physique but couldn’t stand on one foot to save his life!

I thought “He’s all over the shop like a mad dog’s breakfast.”

I almost chuckled to myself at the thought of explaining that particular turn of phrase to any non-English speaker. All over the place, all over the shop, all over the road – take your pick! But it’s the mad dog’s breakfast that cracks me up!

I admit I was being judgemental of the dude with the yoga bod but few yoga skills. You see it all the time – a young person comes to class with a background in gymnastics, dance or athletics and can smash out even the toughest postures but can’t find the stillness to hold Warrior 2 for more than a couple of breaths. Tree Pose, especially in a dimly lit room can be Hard Yakka (hard work.)

But you can still have a crack at (try out) the pose without looking like a Galah or a Goose (a silly person), for example, by placing your foot on top of your other foot. This will give you many of the benefits of tree pose without the flailing and falling and generally being a bit of a dill.

Look, I’m not a yoga teacher but I’ve been practising for long enough to know that the striving and reaching is the opposite of what I need to do in poses. I can push myself to the edge of my edge in a posture now that I know my body well enough to know what will work. I’ve had enough great teachers to know how to gain the benefits from the yoga without risking my joints.

I’m not really judging anyone’s ability to do the asanas. It’s more that I want them to experience the beauty of the pose without the stress and striving. When I see someone flailing all over the place, like a frog in a sock – sorry… Anyway, I want to tap them on the shoulder and whisper, “Do less to do more.”

Which brings me, as always, back to writing. I hit the ground running this year and managed to achieve all my publishing goals within the first three months. I’ve been striving and reaching left, right and centre… It’s possible that I didn’t set enough goals? But seriously. it was a case of Go Hard or Go Home, a phrase that had its origins in the British army in WW2, if you’re wondering. I went hard out of the gate with 2021 and after some hard core publishing stuff and a couple of marketing promos frankly I am a bit worn out by the whole thing. And as always, writing has suffered from my focus on publishing and marketing.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I successfully pitched two stories, one to a publisher and one to an agent. This was the final goal on my publishing list for the year, one that I truly believed I wouldn’t even come close to achieving this year. So much for believing in myself. Although I have always been a very committed independent publisher, in the spirit of more Do Less to Do More and less Go Hard or Go Home, I decided to try my luck in the traditional camp. If everything goes to plan, I will probably be publishing under a pen name and quite possibly a different pen name for each book.

It all takes time and head space. I don’t want to make a dog’s breakfast of it.

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Speaking of promotions… The Romantic Comedy promo and the From France with Love promo are live for just a few more days. In May I will be increasing the prices of my eBooks to be more inline with their value and the