Register Log In Wordsmith.org Forums General Topics Miscellany NZ and OZ Search Advanced Forum Search Forums Calendar Active Threads

Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 NZ and OZ #56280 02/11/02 02:35 AM Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 688 A Angel OP addict OP Angel addict A Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 688 OK, we all know that NZ is New Zealand. This makes sense to me. But how did OZ come to mean Austrailia? Is it short for Old Zealand? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56281 02/11/02 03:16 AM Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 477 Sydney, Australia H hev addict hev addict H Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 477 Sydney, Australia OK, we all know that NZ is New Zealand. This makes sense to me. But how did OZ come to mean Austrailia? Is it short for Old Zealand? Oh, Angel, this is my kind of topic - anything which drags Aus and NZ into a topic together has got to be fun... C'mon stales, doc, MaxQ, CK ... bring out yer versions of the story. While the K1W1s would love you to believe that they are the new and improved version of Aus, this is not to be believed. I'm hazarding a guess at the official origins of it, but I suspect that despite being pronounced 'Oss-TRAY-li-a' in most places in the world, in Strine (English with Australian accent - read drawl - and attitude) it is more likely to be pronounced "Oz-trayl-ya". Australia is abbreviated to Aus, which has evolved into Oz. The other correlation is from "Wizard of Oz" ... I'm sure. We may not have a wizard here, but there has to be some explanation for how John Howard manages to stay our Prime Minister! Hereby handing over the banner to stales, doc_comfort? Any better explanations? Hev Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56282 02/11/02 03:20 AM Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 2,605 K Keiva Carpal Tunnel Keiva Carpal Tunnel K Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 2,605 Hev -- it seems like just yesterday you were a newbie! A toast! Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56283 02/11/02 03:37 AM Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 477 Sydney, Australia H hev addict hev addict H Joined: Jan 2002 Posts: 477 Sydney, Australia A toast! Cheers, Keiva! If only career progression happened this quickly! Think I should just jump to addict status, because it far more adequately describes my state! Love it here.. Hev Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter . #56284 02/11/02 04:55 AM Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 3,409 M Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel Max Quordlepleen Carpal Tunnel M Joined: Aug 2000 Posts: 3,409 Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56285 02/11/02 05:30 AM Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 688 A Angel OP addict OP Angel addict A Joined: Dec 2001 Posts: 688 I HATE the way so many USns pronounce Aussie - the "ss" should be pronounced as "zz", not "ss". Is there a reason the "ss" is pronounced "zz"? And does this mean that Australia is supposed to be pronounced Auztrailia? Does this "zz" sound occur in other Australian pronunciations where an "ss" is present, or does it just happen in the word Aussie? [truly confused-e] Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56286 02/11/02 05:55 AM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 618 Australia D doc_comfort addict doc_comfort addict D Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 618 Australia Brissie (Brisbane) - zz Swimming Cossie (costume) - zz And to further confuse, mozzie (mosquito). Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56287 02/11/02 10:43 AM Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 460 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia P paulb addict paulb addict P Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 460 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia … and Tassie - zz Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56288 02/11/02 11:39 AM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Aussie - the "ss" should be pronounced as "zz", not "ss". does this mean that Australia is supposed to be pronounced Auztrailia? If it were Ausie, maybe we'd let you get away with this gross violation of proper English pronunciation rules but the double ess requires you to retain the unvoiced sibilant. As for the pronunciation of the name of the country, it's properly Australia because the sibilant is followed by an unvoiced plosive. Or do y'all pronounce it Auzdralia? Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: NZ and OZ #56289 02/11/02 12:47 PM Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 866 Perth, Western Australia stales old hand stales old hand Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 866 Perth, Western Australia Damn it's good to have Hev around - she saves me so much work! What she said. And congratulations on your further ascendency m'girl....sulking because nobody complimented him upon his Addiction - all to busy with slings and arrows it would seem Those of you that still wonder may rest assured that it's a magical place and thus there's merit in it being named after Dorothy's destination. (Though we would have called her "Dot". Why? Because it's shorter than "Dorothy") And - also what MaxQ said about Ossssie - PLEASE - IT's OZZIE!!! Why? Because it's shorter than "Australian". Faldage - re "Auzdralia". You sort of got the first bit right - but we never pronounce the end of a word properly. Why? Because they're all too long.. We simply call the place "Oz" or "(unspellable grunt)-straya" stales Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Website Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,913 Posts229,326 Members9,182 Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011 Newest Members Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV 9,182 Registered Users Who's Online Now 0 members (), 739 guests, and 1 robot. Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 29 A C Bowden 13 ddrinnan 1 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 tsuwm 10,542 wofahulicodoc 10,539 LukeJavan8 9,916 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

Default Style BlackNTan Drab eBay GooG v2 infopop new dark new light original dark original stock rounded corners Slate snow sunny dropshadow theblues Touch Of Grey UBB.threads UBB.threads - Dark UBB.threads - Light UBBCentral UBBCentral - Crimson UBBCentral - Lime UBBCentral - Marshmallow UBBCentral - Mocha UBBCentral - Zen UBBT77 UBBT77 - Dark ubbthreads ubbthreads-dark Forum Rules · Mark All Read Contact Us · Forum Help · Wordsmith.org