Talk:Australian English

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Talk:Australian English
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Talk:Australian English vocabulary
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Talk:Variation in Australian English

User:Schestos - You added a table listing people by Nationality. What do you mean by nationality? Wouldn't most of those people be Australian citizens? If they are, their nationality is Australian. The link to Cultural Atlas doesn't explain it at all, nor does it show those number, so your addition is effectively unsourced. HiLo48 (talk) 06:02, 30 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Per the census question. Is nationality the wrong word? Would ancestry be better? Also you have to click on each country then scroll to population statistics. Schestos (talk) 06:39, 30 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Yes User:Schestos, I think ancestry would be better. HiLo48 (talk) 07:59, 30 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Fixed it. Schestos (talk) 08:27, 30 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

I have began formatting some of the information on this page in the user space (here). Mitchsavl (talk) 05:51, 14 December 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

I have finished organising some information into a table, would anyone be able to go check it out and verify it before I add it in? I have added some notes onto the able for terms I am personally unsure of. I will make sure to verify these terms before adding it. Mitchsavl (talk) 03:19, 31 December 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

I have now added the formatted table to the article. Mitchsavl (talk) 06:36, 4 January 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

I believe that donut and percent are more common than their counterparts doughnut and per cent. My reasoning:

• Donut is the preferred spelling in advertising. Coles uses this spelling in their self-made products. It's largely due to the influence of the fast-food chain Dunkin' Donuts.
• Per cent is predominantly British and is falling out of use. I know it's the recommended spelling in the official Australian style guide, but due to American influence the closed form percent is being adopted more and more. I myself was taken aback to see it recently when I was reading some previous-century literature.

What do we think? Should a mention of these be included in the article? Newbzy (talk) 07:45, 3 January 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

I think that a mention would be warranted, as the usage by the public and media in Australia is a better reflection of language within society than the standards used by the government. Mitchsavl (talk) 06:51, 4 January 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

Australian Maths teacher here. I don't care what the kids write, so long as they get the right answers. I just checked a couple of textbooks. They use "percentage" or the "%" symbol. The latter would be their version of percent. Just realised. I just wrote percent, not per cent. In words, "percent" would be my preference. I cannot remember when I last saw "doughnut". HiLo48 (talk) 07:34, 4 January 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

Right, I've added a sentence about this to the "spelling" section of the article. Thanks guys for joining the discussion Newbzy (talk) 07:26, 7 January 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

I've corrected some of the British terms - "public school" for example does not encompass the entire independent sector. However I don't have enough expertise to discuss the Australian or US usage, by and large. Some of the entries seem odd.

Many of the British terms are at least informal, and some are definitely slang, dialect or have fallen out of use. Cleg is apparently a dialect word in England, although I don't recall ever hearing it. While most would recognise "bobby" for policeman, except in the term "bobbies on the beat" (and tabloid headlines) I think it's rarely use. Australian "school holidays" does not appear to equivalent to "half term" (which is generally a week in the middle of the term as opposed to the longer Christmas Easter and Summer holidays) - this list gives Australian school holidays of about 3 x 2 weeks plus a long Summer/Christmas holiday.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough 19:11, 12 February 2026 (UTC).[reply ]

There are some homophones that are more commonly distinguished in British English, but which are sometimes merged in American English. I want to bring some of these up because I believe Australian English is deviating a little from British English here. Take the examples below - I've added notes about them:

• practise vs practice (using practice for everything is becoming increasingly common. A year ago, I could've died on a hill trying to convince someone that practise was as American as offense, defense and license.)
• kerb vs curb (using curb for both forms is considered American. I guess I never really saw kerb (for a street) in writing. It wasn't taught to me, as far as I can remember, and I would instinctively write curb for both.)
• grille vs grill (apparently using grill for both cooking and vents is becoming common globally, not just in American English)
• draught vs draft (not 100% on this one, I could see myself writing "there's a draft coming from the door" and "sleeping draft", but I'm aware draught should also be used for some stuff (not sure exactly for what tho). Draughts is always that spelling, but over here it's called checkers.)

On the other hand, these are some distinctions that I consider were definitely enforced for me.

• cheque vs check
• storey vs story
• tyre vs tire (mostly because of advertising and companies like Tyrepower and Bob Jane T-Marts)
• prise vs prize (bit niche. If anyone doesn't know, apparently prize is sometimes used for both forms)

Could anyone share what their experience with these words is, especially if you've had schooling or other extended time in Australia? I'm hoping that these could be mentioned in the article, depending on what people say. Newbzy (talk) 17:04, 19 April 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

I'm nearly 80 and I cannot recall ever seeing grille used in Australia. Can't remember seeing practise for a very long time. I think curb and draft have won. HiLo48 (talk) 00:47, 20 April 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

Thanks for sharing. Could I also ask, do you agree that the second set of distinctions I've listed are enforced in Australia, or do you find that those are sometimes blurred too? Newbzy (talk) 05:22, 21 April 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

Cheque and check are distinctly different words, the former referring to a financial instrument that is almost non-existent in Australia today.. No blurring ever occurs — Preceding unsigned comment added by HiLo48 (talk • contribs) 05:54, 21 April 2026 (UTC) [reply ]

In order:

• A practise is something practitioners have/do, but a child needs to practice playing piano. I think? 🤔 I'm suddenly second-guessing myself now... I want my doctor to practise medicine, not to practice medicine (hopefully they have already done that!).
• I know there's a difference between license and licence, but I can never remember which way around. It's one of those words that I have always had trouble with.
• I associate kerb with the edge/side of the footpath (i.e. the top edge bit of the gutter), but I regard it as an Americanism. On the other hand, I don't associate curb with infrastructure at all: it just means to control or restrain something, usually behaviour.
• Grille vs grill: uhhh... would you believe me if I said that it's never really come up?
• A draught is a somewhat old-timey word for drink (e.g. a sleeping draught in a fairytale), and a draft is a sneaky breeze or a way of selecting people (e.g. drafted into the army, a professional sport draft). I'm not sure where draught/draft horses fit in though.
• A cheque is a money thing, and a check is a way of confirming something.
• A two-storey building, and a narrator tells a story. But buildings and books both have stories.
• A car tyre, and babies tire easily.
• To prise something out, and to win a prize.

―Tosca-the-engineer (talk) 11:24, 24 April 2026 (UTC) [reply ]