Strine

English

Alternative forms

• strine, 'Strine, 'strine

Etymology

From a pronunciation spelling of Australian spoken with this accent. Coined by “Afferbeck Lauder” (Alastair Ardoch Morrison) and popularised with his 1965 book Let Stalk Strine. Australian from 1965.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɹɑen/
• IPA^(key): /stɹaɪn/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn

Proper noun

Strine

1. (Australia, New Zealand, UK, informal, humorous) Broad Australian English described as if it were a different language.
   • 1982, J. C. Wells, Accents of English, Volume 3: Beyond the British Isles, page 595,

     Several Strine forms depend on an assumed equivalence between Strine fortis consonants and Cultivated/RP lenis ones, thus garbler mince (couple of minutes), egg jelly (actually). It is doubtful whether this reflects any real phonetic difference.

   • 1989 July 8, Ariadne, New Scientist, page 120,

     A team at Griffith University in Bribane is working on what the university′s newspaper callls a bionic snorter. Translating into English from Strine, this is a bionic hooter, conk, bugle or nose.

   • 1992, Gillian Bottomley, From Another Place: Migration and the Politics of Culture, 2009, page 133,

     Dell′Oso describes the encounter of an Asian woman with a surly bus driver whose only language is Strine (a form of Australian English, barely intelligible to many of the native-speakers).

Related terms

• Strayan

Coordinate terms

• Murican

See also

• Strines

Anagrams

• Insert, Stiner, Tiners, estrin, inerts, insert, inters, niters, nitres, sinter, terins, triens, trines