Of utes and stobie poles,

double cut rolls and other things....ah, yes!

I needed to do some explaining. Young J... turned up unexpectedly yesterday morning. He was apparently going to bring me an Easter egg "but I gave it to my girlfriend because I forgot to get her one". I smiled. Typical teenager. He is so much better than the sulky and often angry boy I knew this time last year that I am more than prepared to forgive him that. 

And he wanted to know about "slang" for an English essay. "Why is "ute" slang? We all use it."

Mmm....is it slang or isn't it? We discussed that and I explained that most readers of this blog would have no idea what "ute" meant in our terms. Here we mean a "utility vehicle" - one designed for carrying small loads, often across rough ground. They are used mostly by farmers and tradespeople. In the UK they would be "pick up trucks" and in the USA simply "trucks" I believe. 

Here it is only larger vehicles which are called "trucks" and, sometimes, "lorries".  Yes, all very confusing.

But there are other words too. We have "stobie poles" - the poles which carry the power lines - and they are pretty well unique to the state I live in. They were designed over a century ago by a man called "Stobie" in order to overcome the white ant problem. They are made of steel and concrete. Some people claim they are the cause of any number of accidents - in reality the problem is that people sometimes drive into them. They no longer appear in some areas because the power lines have been put underground - which is where they belong. Stobie poles are also used as an art gallery of sorts - some artists being much better than others.

And then we have the "double cut roll" in this state. It is a large bread roll cut in such a way as to allow you have twice the amount of filling you would normally have. I have never mastered the art of cutting a roll in that way. Most people buy them at sandwich bars or "the deli". The latter is a shop - a type now fast disappearing - which sells things like sandwiches, pies/pasties etc, sweets, cold drinks, coffee and the like. Most of it is "take away" and it is favoured by tradespeople and the like. 

You might even be able to buy a "frog cake" or a "kitchener bun" there. Frog cakes are small square cakes usually with green icing and a slit in the top that is filled with ersatz cream and supposedly looking a bit like a frog. There are chocolate and pink versions too - but they are not considered to be the real thing. Kitchener buns are made from the same sort of dough as a doughnut but, unlike the "Berliner" in the eastern states it is slit open and has rather a lot of jam and cream stuffed into it. No, not in the least bit healthy - which probably explains why they sell so many. 

There is also the "donkey" way of getting a ride to the deli - riding two people on a bicycle designed for one. It is illegal but still done. To get there you might need to go through a "koala" crossing - a crossing outside a school which has flashing lights.

But the difference between "slang" and "local usage" is a little more complex. I explained this to J... He looked at me in disgust and said, "That just confuses me even more."

I know. It confuses me too.