5

My writing textbook on page 446 says this:

Use local conventions regarding punctuation, spelling, and mechanics. Be aware that these conventions differ from place to place, even in the English speaking world. For instance, the Australian state of New South Wales uses a different dictionary for spelling than all the other Australian states.

I can't seem to find anything backing up the statement about the dictionary. The author does not appear to cite his source for this information.

In short, does New South Wales really use their own dictionary?

The textbook is Markel, Mike. Technical Communication. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012. Print.

unitron6991
  • 63
  • 4
  • I would never trust anything that used the nonword “punctuations”. Punctuation is a mass noun, not a count noun. – tchrist Oct 30 '12 at 03:04
  • Sorry, my mistake. It was not plural in the text. Fixed. – unitron6991 Oct 30 '12 at 03:36
  • How exactly does OP imagine the administrators of NSW would enforce this policy? Make it illegal for residents to buy and use standard dictionaries? This isn't, imho, a Real Question. – FumbleFingers Oct 30 '12 at 03:37
  • 3
    @tchrist 'Punctuations' is fine in the context: "Different dialects of English use different punctuations." – Kris Oct 30 '12 at 04:10
  • This may help? http://dictionaryofsydney.org http://www.oup.com.au/titles/primary/english/english/9780195564884 – Kris Oct 30 '12 at 04:13
  • 2
    @FumbleFingers You're being trigger-happy once again. The NSW government could enforce it by prescribing it for all local government use including the parliament, for all schools in the state, etc. etc. That said, I think that the idea is, if not simply dated, misleading. – coleopterist Oct 30 '12 at 04:27
  • We know that there are some differences – to include some spelling differences – between British English and American English, and that, because of those variations, different versions of dictionaries exist. That said, coupled with the fact that this assertion was taken from a modern textbook, I find nothing ridiculous about this question. It seems quite conceivable that a few words have NSW spellings, although I doubt many publishers would publish a NSW edition of their print dictionaries. – J.R. Oct 30 '12 at 05:09
  • But, Oztralia is not IN the English speaking world ! :-). [You have to know something about our countries' histories and ongoing relationships to understand that that, coming from a NuZilander , is an expression of fondness. ]
    • Not many peoples, from two semi adjoining countries, will happily answer when titled with the name of a joint military operation of just under 100 years ago.
     – Russell McMahon Oct 30 '12 at 06:03
  • I suspect that somebody stumbled across either My Personal Dictionary for New South Wales or even Dictionary of Sydney and didn't bother checking what it was. As far as I know, the Macquarie dictionary is used throughout Australia; and there is no other New South Welsh dictionary. –  Oct 30 '12 at 06:42
  • 1
    @FumbleFingers It doesn't take government edicts to enforce differences in language usage. The US has different spelling and vocabularly than the UK, not because either government has laws prescribing prison sentences for people who don't follow the rules for constructing sentences, or capital punishment for people who do not use the required capitalization, but simply because different conventions have arison in the two places. I don't know about NSW, but it would not be startling if they had different spelling, etc, from other English-speaking places. – Jay Oct 30 '12 at 06:42
  • @DavidWallace Yes, it was I that "stumbled across" the references. And yes, I did check what they were online. However, I did not check out the Macquarie dictionary. – Kris Oct 30 '12 at 07:45
  • I found that the My Personal Dictionary for New South Wales is also used for other states (obviously with the name changed) and the only difference is the handwriting font on the inside. – unitron6991 Nov 02 '12 at 01:53

3 Answers3

7

Whenever the term "official dictionary" is thrown around in Australia, it is usually in reference to the Macquarie dictionary which is considered the country's "national dictionary". The Macquarie was born in 1981 and continues to be based in Sydney, New South Wales. I suspect that the excerpt from the tenth edition of the book cited by the OP has not been updated since its first few editions; it is possible that the Macquarie was initially only prescribed in the state of NSW in the 1980s.

Both Oxford and Harper-Collins publish dictionaries for Australian English. While some terms can vary from state to state, spellings, as far as I know, do not. It is possible that in the early 1980s, the effects of spelling reform were still prevalent which could have led to inconsistencies. But I do not believe that any dictionaries bought into it.

coleopterist
  • 31,031
1

The official Australian language is Strine - fair dinkum.
Dictionaries can be hard to come by.

References below, cobber:

Oxford dictionary Strine
Extract slightly abridged ...

  • Strine Pronunciation: /strʌɪn/
    Definition of Strine
    noun
    [mass noun]
    the English language as spoken by Australians; the Australian accent, especially when considered pronounced or uneducated:
    I found myself speaking Strine within minutes of arrival
    arriving in Sydney, he applied for a job thinking that copywriter was Strine for copy typist
    [count noun] an Australian:
    iced beer stops up the nose—that’s why you Strines talk so funny

Global Citizens - A guide to Strine

Small sample:

  • Ace! - Excellent! Very good!
    Ankle biter - small child
    Aussie battler - the ordinary working person.
    Back of Bourke - a very long way away
    Back of beyond - any remote, inaccessible and sparsely populated area
    Barbie - barbecue
    Barney - noisy fight or argument.
    Bewdy - great, fantastic
    Bikkie - biscuit
    Billabong - an ox-bow river or watering hole
    Billy - large tin can used to boil water over a campfire for tea
    Bludger - lazy person, somebody who always relies on other people to do things or lend him/her things
    Blue - fight
    Clobber - clothing or equipment.
    Dag - a funny person, nerd, goof
    Daks - trousers
    Damper - bread made from flour and water
    Fair dinkum - true, genuine
    Flake - shark's flesh
    Furphy - a lie, a fib

Urban Dictionary Strine

Russell McMahon
  • 3,288
  • 1
    I'm an American, and I once wrote a couple of articles for an Australian science and nature magazine. They changed a number of my spellings and made a couple of grammatical changes to conform to Australian usage. I told my friends that it was my first foreign-language publication. :-) – Jay Oct 30 '12 at 06:46
  • If only you could tell how to pronounce Furphy. But seriously, there should be a one place where all this is set down officially, and maintained. – Kris Oct 30 '12 at 07:51
  • @Kris It rhymes with Murphy. –  Oct 30 '12 at 07:56
  • But not limited to NSW. – Barrie England Oct 30 '12 at 07:58
  • @DavidWallace Thanks. Murphy doesn't have two consonants of one sound, though. – Kris Oct 30 '12 at 08:00
  • This is an interesting list of Australian slang, but I wonder if there are any examples of spelling variations (unless bewdy is an alternate spelling of beauty, in which case, a least one of those on your list would qualify). – J.R. Oct 30 '12 at 11:05
  • @J.R. Yes, "bewdy" is indeed a regional pronunciation of "beauty", and would normally be spelt "beauty". I believe that Australians use UK spelling pretty consistently. I would be surprised if you could find any spelling variations at all in common Australian use. –  Oct 30 '12 at 17:20
0

No, NSW does not use a different dictionary.

Alan Wood
  • 99