We were all moulded in one part of The Dreaming, or what we call the “Jukurrpa”. We were all moulded from the Earth. And we were given “wangarru”. We all got speech. Or “Lilla”, we were given a song. And with that song came The Medicine, and The Medicine, the story for the country. And we believe that we come from the country, ‘cause we were moulded, given birth, from her. And when we finish up or when we pass on, we go back to her, we become a part of her. So, that’s another way of saying… talking about The Dreaming. And the songs are very important. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle. And when you sing all the songs, you’re putting all the little jigsaw puzzle together. And it becomes a big map. And the map is Australia.
G'day, guys, and welcome to Aussie English. My objective here is to teach you guys the English spoken Down Under. So whether you want to speak like a fair dinkum Aussie or you just want to understand what the flippin' hell we're on about when we're having a yarn, you've come to the right place. So, sit back, grab a cuppa, and enjoy Aussie English.
G'day, you mob. How's it going? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English, the number one podcast for anyone and everyone wanting to learn Australian English.
Guys, I'm starting to get the hang of working from home. I'm starting to get into the swing of things. I'm starting to become accustomed to having a work-from-home job, I tell you what. It's nice to have this kind of freedom. Like, today for instance, got up, did a bit of work, had a lesson, went and got some coffee with Kel from a little cafe in Barwon Heads, and I had a croissant with... what was it, cheese and ham, and something else in there. Really, really good. If you guys haven't yet had cheese and ham croissants in Australia, they are really good.
After that, came home, did a bit more work then went for a walk, sort of hung out on the beach, you know, relaxed, cleared my head, listened to a few audio books. But yeah, definitely enjoying this kind of lifestyle, I think, although the downside, you know, that's the upside, the downside is that I have to do it all myself, right. There is no boss that I can turn to, that kind of comes to me and says, "Pete do this. Have this done by this time.", so I have to rely on my own motivation and discipline to get things done.
Anyway, guys, welcome with this episode. It's great to have you here as usual. Hope you don't mind me sort of sharing a bit about my life. I love, you know, trying to give you guys access to the inside world of Aussie English.
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Anyway, the intro scene there. Now, I wanted to share that. I thought it was really important to get the story about Dreaming and the Dreamtime straight from the horse's mouth, as we say in English, meaning directly from the original source, right.
So, we had several Aboriginals in that video by the Australian Museum. You'll be able to check it out via the link in the transcript. Go watch the whole thing. It's very insightful, very interesting. But the guy there talking was Eric Tamwoy, and he was talking about Dreamtime in Aboriginal culture and what it means to him.
Now, we'll go over that in today's Aussie English fact so stick around for that. But before then, we'll dive into the Aussie English joke.
So, because the expression, 'the penny drops', is talking about pennies, I thought I'll try and find a joke about pennies, right. And 'a penny' is an old form of currency that was used in Australia that came from Britain. So, they're still used in Britain, pennies. They make up a pound, I believe. But in Australia now, we use dollars. Anyway. Here's the joke.
What did one penny say to the other penny? What did one penny say to the other penny?
Let's get together and make some cents. Do you get it? Let's get together and make some cents.
So, it's a bit of a weird joke. So, 'cents' spelt C-E-N-T-S, 100 of those, 100 cents makes up a dollar in dollar currency, whether it's American dollars, Australian dollars, Hong Kong dollars, a cent is one hundredth of a dollar. Okay?
Now, if we spell that S-E-N-S-E, same pronunciation, 'sense', this can mean, when you say 'makes some sense', it means a way in which an expression or situation can be interpreted a meaning, right. So, 'what is the sense of that thing?' would mean 'what's the meaning of that thing?'.
And then, if you were to say 'make some sense', that means to be intelligible, justifiable, practicable, right, for it to be... for the meaning of it to be obvious. 'To make some sense'.
So, the joke here with currencies pennies and cents: What did one penny say to the other penny? Let's get together and make some sense. Right? So, it'll be practical and obvious if we get together. It'll make sense. Anyway.
The expression today is 'the penny drops'. 'The penny drops'. I wonder if you guys have heard this expression before. Now, this was suggested by Emma. Good job, Emma. She is in the Aussie English Classroom. Every week on the Aussie English Classroom students suggest the different expressions that we then vote on and the winner is the one that I do for this episode.
So, let's go through and define the words in the expression 'the penny drops'.
So, again, I've already sort of covered what 'a penny' is. 'A penny' is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound in British currency.
'To drop'. If you drop something, it is that you let that thing or you make that thing fall vertically. Right, so I've got my wallet here in my hand. Hopefully, you can hear that. If I drop it onto the table, that's what happens, right. Gravity smacks it in to the table. 'To drop something'.
So, the expression. What is it mean? 'The penny drops'. 'The penny drops'. We would use this when we suddenly realise something, right. It's used to indicate that someone has finally realised something. A belated realisation of something after a period of confusion or ignorance. That is when 'the penny drops'.
Now, it originates, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it originates by way of allusion to the mechanism of a penny-in-the-slot machine, right? So, this is where you put a penny into a machine to get it to do something. It's an old vintage arcade machine that you can play by dropping a penny into it.
So, the earliest citation of a use of this phrase, 'the penny drops', meaning, 'Now I understand', was used in the Daily Mirror in August 1939, so it's not even 100 years old, right. And the quote was:.
"And then the penny dropped and I saw his meaning".
Right? He suddenly understood his meaning. So, it's the image of someone waiting for a penny-in-the-slot mechanism, which frequently jammed, to operate making a loud noise, making a clicking noise that it's working, right. Sounds plausible. And if that isn't the origin, it's difficult to imagine what is.
So, as usual, let's go through some examples of how I would use the expression, 'the penny drops' or 'for the penny to drop' or 'and then the penny dropped'.
So, example number one. I was reading an article this week about catfishing, right. Have you heard of catfishing? So, 'a cat fish', obviously as a fish that lives in the water and it looks like a cat because it has whiskers on it. These fish kind of suck the mud up and try and get animals out of the mud.
However, we use this to refer to someone who pretends to be someone else online on Facebook, on MySpace, on whatever it is online, on dating websites, and they assume someone else's identity. They create fake social media accounts and then use them to create a fictional online persona to lure someone into a relationship with them. That is when you are 'a catfish'. And then, if we want to turn it into a noun it is called 'catfishing'.
So, I read an article about a horrifying story, again, which I'll link in the transcript, where this girl was catfished by what turned out to be another woman. And when the girl finally realises after months and months and months that she'd been tricked, that she'd been duped by a catfish, she said that the penny finally dropped. She finally realised the person was a fake who had assumed someone else's identity online, who had been catfishing her, who was a catfish, and the penny finally dropped.
Example number two. Maybe you've got a meddling mother who's always trying to play matchmaker and set you up on dates with her friends' children. So, she is always meddling in your affairs and try to set you up with these people to go out with them, and you know, hoping you'll end up in a relationship.
You've probably heard of that kind of mother. Maybe you had a mother like that. Mine wasn't, thankfully. So, she keeps doing, you know, she keeps trying to get you to go out and meet her friends kids, she keeps telling you to come to social events, and then she pushes you towards them, tells you, you know, "Go and introduce yourself! Say hello to this person". If she keeps doing this incessantly, and then you suddenly realise what she's up to, what she is trying to achieve, what she's doing, she's trying to set you up with a friends' sons or daughters and find your partner, the penny finally drops, right?
The penny has dropped once you realise. So, you realise what she's doing, you realise what she's trying to accomplish with her constant nagging for you to meet these people. The penny finally drops.
Example number three. Maybe like me you're married and your anniversary's coming up, so the date when you guys got married is quickly approaching that you celebrate every year, your anniversary. And imagine your wife or your husband keeps asking subtle questions like: "What are you doing next week? Are you free on Saturday? Can you make sure that you leave Sunday free and not organise anything with your mates?".
At first, you might be sort of confused and wonder why all of a sudden, you know, your partner is trying to find out about your plans and make sure that you don't schedule anything, but then you realise, then the penny drops, and you realise she's trying to organise something for our anniversary. The penny drops, you cotton on to what she's trying to plan, and obviously, you know, if you were me, you let her plan those things.
Anyway. So, hopefully now, guys, you understand the expression 'the penny drops'. It means for you to suddenly realise something, right? So, if you... if the penny finally drops for you, you have suddenly realised something.
So, as usual, let's go through a little listen and repeat exercise. This is your chance to practice your pronunciation, so listen and repeat after me, guys.
And.
And then.
And then the.
And then the penny
And then the penny dropped x 5
I said that's when the penny dropped.
You said that's when the penny dropped.
He said that's when the penny dropped.
She said that's when the penny dropped.
We said that's when the penny dropped.
They said that's when the penny dropped.
It said that's when the penny dropped.
Good job, guys. Good job. Now, notice there what happens to the D and the TH between 'said that' and between 'and then', right? If I say those quickly, have a listen. Do you hear D_TH like D TH, or do you hear no D? Okay? I'll say both of those.
And then.
Said that.
There's no D there, right? So, we're not releasing the D. We go... the tongue goes to make the D sound, but then go straight into the TH. Now, this is called assimulation where two different sounds kind of joined together and one may disappear. If you want to learn more about that, make sure that you join up to the Aussie English Classroom, and go through all the pronunciation lessons that I have in the Australian English Pronunciation Course. You'll learn all about this kind of connected speech, and using these tricks and tips is going to make you sound a lot more like a native speaker.
Anyway, guys, let's get into the Aussie fact today where I wanted to talk about the Dreamtime and the Dreaming.
So, I wanted to talk about the Dreamtime and the Dreaming because this is the religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs, and it's very important to Aboriginals, obviously, and is a big part of Australian culture. Most Australians are going to know if you mention the Dreamtime of the Dreaming, right. So, they'll have an idea of what you're talking about.
So, these terms were first coined by Australian anthropologist Frances Gillen and his colleague W. Baldwin Spencer who studied the indigenous tribes around Alice Springs, and they publish their work in the book The Native Tribes of Central Australia.
In that work, they spoke of the 'alcheringa', an indigenous word from the Aranda people of Central Australia, which was translated as "the name applied to the far distant past with which the earliest traditions of that tribe deal".
Five years later, in their book The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, they gloss 'the far distant age' as 'the Dream times' and they link it to the word 'alcheri' meaning dream, and affirm that the term is also used by many other indigenous peoples nearby.
That said, it has been argued that it is based on a misunderstanding or mistranslation. Some scholars suggest that the word's meaning is closer to "eternal, uncreated". Anthropologist William Stanner once remarked "Why the blackfellow thinks of dreaming as the nearest equivalent in English is a puzzle", and said that the concept was best understood by non-Aboriginal people as a "complex of meanings".
So, what's the difference between The Dreamtime and The Dreaming.
The Dreamtime is the period in which life was created according to Aboriginal culture. In the Dreamtime, all elements of the natural world--animals, plants, hills, rocks, rivers, waterholes, deserts--they were all created by spiritual beings or by ancestors often of heroic proportions or with supernatural abilities who inhabited the land at the time.
These figures were often distinct from 'gods' as they did not control the material world and they weren't worshipped, but instead only revered. The stories of their creation are the foundation of Aboriginal lore and culture, and they are also the subjects painted by many Aboriginal artists.
According to Aboriginal lore, all living things were either created by the ancestors themselves or by spiritual beings. So, for example, a river may be an ancestor or it may be a creation snake, a spiritual being.
In contrast to The Dreamtime, The Dreaming explains how life came to be. It is sort of the equivalent of Genesis in the Bible. It is the stories and beliefs behind the creation. It is called different names in different Aboriginal languages such as 'Ngarranggarni' by the Gija people, the 'Jukurrpa' by the Warlpiri people or 'the Ungud' by the Ngarinyin people.
The Dreaming explains how things came to be. For example, why is a rock a certain shape or in a specific location. Why did the echidna get its spikes? Why does the moon return full every month? How did kangaroos get their tails?
On top of explaining how and why the world is the way it is, The Dreaming also commands the rules and ways of being in Aboriginal culture. Dreaming stories explain these beliefs such as: the lesson not to hurt animals; who one should marry and bear children with according to the Aboriginal skin system; or who one should not talk to, again, according to the Aboriginal skin system; how one should show respect in another's country; how one should welcome strangers into one's own country.
So, it dictates how one needs to behave in certain circumstances. The Dreaming stories are the cultural rules and obligations Aboriginal people are expected to live by within their culture.
The Dreaming is not static or linear. It is the past, but it is also the present and the future. It is constantly evolving to explain events and changes today, such as floods and storms, and both negative and positive occurrences in people's lives.
Because Australian Aboriginals never had written language, The Dreamtime and The Dreaming are oral traditions that have been passed down through thousands of generations for maybe more than 65,000 years as songs and stories.
So, guys I hope you enjoy this episode. I hope you learnt a little bit about indigenous culture in Australia. And if you would like to hear a story, a Dreamtime story, make sure that you sign up to the Aussie English Classroom, because I'm going to add that in today's expression of course.
Okay. Anyway with that, thanks for joining me and I'll see you next time. Peace.
G'day, mate. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Aussie English podcast. If you wish to support the podcast and help me keep bringing new content, you can do so via my Patreon page.
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Have a ripper of a day and I'll see you in class.