Here’s a story I didn’t inlcude in my new book Yanks in the Outback: A story of Woomera, South Australia, the Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar (JDFN) and the First Gulf War.
Should I update the book to include this entry? Let me know …
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I learned a new Australian phrase today.
My lesson came when I visited the satellite operations center (SOC) and started talking to Australian Army Captain Ian Stamford.
“Ian, I talked to the DO (Director of Operations) and he wants me to get a basketball team together. It’s going to be the under 30’s vs the over 30s.” I was about to ask Ian to be on the team because we need his height; he’d make a great re-bounder.
But, before I could go any further, he looked at me in a doubtful manner then exclaimed,
“Fair Dinkum”
I was stopped. I felt like a small bird hitting a big tree at 100 miles per hour. I went splat.
I reached deep into the far corners of my mind to see if I could pull up any information on what I just heard him say. “Did he say ‘fair dinkum?’ Let’s see, I know what “fair” means but what about this “dinkum” thing? Where does that come in? Where have I heard that before? How do I piece together a meaning when I’ve never heard this before – ever?”
I was confused. I didn’t have any idea how to proceed; how to keep the conversation going; what to say next.
Somehow – almost without any thought; as if my my subconscious took over automatically – I blurted out, “Ian, we were having a nice conversation in English and then all of the sudden – you said something totally foreign! Did you just change languages on me? Have you switched to Swahili or some other east African dialect and didn’t let me know?
Ian stared at me in disbelief. “Come on, you never heard of ‘fair dinkum.’? How long have you been in Australia? And you never heard the phrase ‘fair dinkum?’ Have you been hiding under a rock?”
I blank stared back at Ian and then replied, “I’ve never heard it before. Sounds like you’re making it up; are you making it up?”
“Fair dinkum means ‘for real?’ or ‘are you serious’ or ‘no kidding’ as you Yanks say. It’s a very common Australian phrase and I’m surprised you’ve gone this long in country without hearing it. You must be living under a rock.” Ian explained in his Army no-nonsense manner.
I’m not sure if Ian will be joining our basketball team but I walked away feeling pretty silly just having learned another common Aussie phrase that everyone – except me – seems to know about.