Would you Like an Avo this Arvo?
By theprofessionalhobo ~ October 23rd, 2009. Filed under: Australia.
You may want to do a double-take, but those are indeed Australian mountains, a couple of hours from where we live. Most of the snow has likely melted by now.
…and if you don’t know what the title above means, you’re probably curious just about now.
Okay, so here’s yet another quirky expression from this side of the world that is worth a peek at:
As per standard Aussie abbreviation rules, it would make sense that an avocado would be shortened to avo.
Check.
With me so far?
Great. Now for the second word….arvo. When pronounced, the r tends to be silent (at least to my Canadian ears it is), so the first few times I saw it spelled out I thought the r was a mistake.
However, it’s not a mistake.
No, the r found its way into an abbreviation of what you may or may not recognize as afternoon. (Maybe I should be more concerned about the v, which doesn’t even appear in the full word.).
For the longest time, I referred to (and spelled) afternoon as avo. I wonder how many locals thought I was talking about avocados, and just chucked it up to another one of those “crazy Canadian” tendencies, as I’m becoming famous for.
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Really informative post Nora. Any idea how high high these mountains are?
I thought snow in oz was a rarity! Maybe its back on my list so!
October 24th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Aww this makes me miss my old Australian roommates from London. When I first moved in I had no idea what they were talking about 75% of the time but by the end I was speaking fluent Australian. Every now and then I still like to drop arvo, or lappie (laptop) into the conversation just for the weird looks i get.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:03 am
They may think that equating avocados with the afternoon is one of your crazy Canadian tendencies, whereas I read the title and assumed you’d gone Aussie.
October 24th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Nora, I wouldn’t stress too much – I have a born-and-bred Aussie friend who always texts me to catch up “this avo”, so you’re not as wrong as you might think. I mean, I always cringe and think there should be an “r” in there, but if some Aussies do it your way, then you’re doing OK!
October 24th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
@TheLongestWayHome – The mountains in the picture are up to 1,700 meters (5,600 feet) high. There are parts of Victoria (such as Mt Buller, pictured) where snow stays most of the winter. But be prepared to pay through the nose if you want to ski/snowboard!
@Stephanie – I actually thought I’d throw a lot more Aussie lingo into the conversation when I was recently overseas visiting home, but interestingly the only thing that really stuck was “no worries”. That, and even though I can’t seem to remember to say “petrol” when referring to “gas” in Oz, I consistently did it back home – to the response of many raised eyebrows!
@Mike – Gee thanks! Just to confuse my Aussie readers, I should have called it “Would you Like an Arvo this Avo”? Hmm…
@Amanda – Great! I figured it wasn’t a horrific faux pas, but I feel much better now! (smiles)
November 4th, 2009 at 4:10 am
How funny! I love learning about the local dialect when traveling (except when realizing I had been using the wrong term for something, as you mentioned!). Some of my favorite sayings were in Scotland — “neeps and tatties” for turnips and potatoes. Fortunately, locals are usually forgiving that visitors don’t know their slang!
November 5th, 2009 at 7:42 am
@Emily – Ooh….Neeps and Tatties…..that sounds awesome! I can imagine that the Gaelic influence results in some pretty cool local slang! That, and I hear cockney rhyming slang is a mind-twister…
January 31st, 2010 at 2:41 pm
‘arvo’ is also sometimes abbreviated to ‘arv’ as in ‘what are you doing this arv?’
February 1st, 2010 at 8:34 am
@Graeme – Oh jeez. There’s another rule I’ll have to account for! Great – thanks….(said sarcastically, but with a huge grin)