The American Soldier's Guide to Australia...

[Shangas]

A few years ago, while studying history in university, our lecturer amused us by reading a few passages from a small booklet that he'd managed to get a copy of. It was a booklet of information issued to American servicemen who were on leave in Australia during the Second World War. It explained Australian culture, geography, history, currency and probably most importantly of all...Australian SLANG...to the poor and clueless Yanks who were to descend upon our unfortunate southern nation throughout the later years of the War.

I recently tracked down the booklet in question and found it as an e-text online. I present it for your perusal, information, interest and at times...yes, even amusement...

Presenting...

The Pocket Guide to Australia (dated 1943):

http://www.scribd.com/doc/29729334/WWII-1943-Australia-Pocket-Guide

The section on Australian Vs. American slang may be found on the last three pages.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

That's very cool! I really like the illustrations too, very "Ripley's".

 

[Shangas]

I'm giving this booklet my first proper read ever since I found it a few hours ago. It's just hilarious to see what Americans write about Australia...for other Americans to read...who have never been to Australia!

Of course, some of the stuff is dated, a bit slanted and to a certain extent, racially sensitive, but damn it if this isn't one of the funniest things to read in the world! lol I can't imagine what it must be like to be a 24-year-old American soldier on a ship, steaming for a month from San Francisco or New York, to Melbourne, to a country he knew NOTHING about, and only this tiny, 50-odd page "survivor's guide" in his hand as his only help to him the moment he got off the ship at the Port of Melbourne...

 

[Edward]

It certainly is very much of its time (I'm intrigued that the term "Abo" is given in quotation marks, whereas "Jap" is not.... certainly a subtext there!), not only in terms of the language or sensibilities, but the overall vibe... I suppose it is simply a product from the days of a 'bigger' world, one without television, media saturation, or anything like the kind of information access the average person has nowadays.

Do GIs nowadays still receive a modern equivalent when they are entering a very different culture, such as the Middle East, for instance? I can imagine advice on local sensibilities and customs would be useful for those headed into a predominantly Muslim culture for the first time, for instance; perhaps, then, the basic idea isn't so dated, simply the notion of it being applied to that corner of the English-speaking (well, sort of.... ) world.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Yes...

...Do GIs nowadays still receive a modern equivalent when they are entering a very different culture, such as the Middle East, for instance? I can imagine advice on local sensibilities and customs would be useful for those headed into a predominantly Muslim culture for the first time, for instance; perhaps, then, the basic idea isn't so dated, simply the notion of it being applied to that corner of the English-speaking (well, sort of.... ) world.

... they do. They also get things designed to go on Ipods -- and classroom training. The orientation these days is towards tactical utility. Understand too that we don't have a draft military anymore. Our people these days are primarily long service professionals who may have done several mideast tours and might have also been stationed in Japan, Korea, Europe, or elsewhere. The green kid from Hoboken isn't who is going over there.

 

[Smithy]

Thanks for posting that Shangas, I thoroughly enjoyed it, parts of it were hilarious

 

[Shangas]

There are some pretty interesting things in there, yes.

They mention that Gen. J. Monash, one of Australia's leading military men, was born a German Jew.

That Cricket is boring as watching paint dry (I agree).

That AFL has a whole heap of rules.

That the majority of Australia is made up of white anglo saxons (which, at the time, was true).

That we have a million slang terms for half a million things and a million more being made every second. (also true).

I think it's quite unfortunate that they didn't mention all the deadly animals we have here. It'd give those yankee boys something to be afraid of...

 

[Edward]

... they do. They also get things designed to go on Ipods -- and classroom training. The orientation these days is towards tactical utility. Understand too that we don't have a draft military anymore. Our people these days are primarily long service professionals who may have done several mideast tours and might have also been stationed in Japan, Korea, Europe, or elsewhere. The green kid from Hoboken isn't who is going over there.

Of course, I hadn't thought of that, but it would definitely make a difference. If nothing else, with a smaller, professional military body that has been built up and trained during peacetime, it would be a much more manageable task to give them a full orientation package and not rely on a mass-printed book instead.

 

[SGT Rocket]

ohhhhh Maaaaaan

It certainly is very much of its time (I'm intrigued that the term "Abo" is given in quotation marks, whereas "Jap" is not.... certainly a subtext there!), not only in terms of the language or sensibilities, but the overall vibe... I suppose it is simply a product from the days of a 'bigger' world, one without television, media saturation, or anything like the kind of information access the average person has nowadays.

Do GIs nowadays still receive a modern equivalent when they are entering a very different culture, such as the Middle East, for instance? I can imagine advice on local sensibilities and customs would be useful for those headed into a predominantly Muslim culture for the first time, for instance; perhaps, then, the basic idea isn't so dated, simply the notion of it being applied to that corner of the English-speaking (well, sort of.... ) world.

I WISH we only got a 50 page booklet. We had class after class of local culture before deploying to Basrah, IZ. Shoot, we had to learn phrases, what the different parts of the family name meant, all about tribes and where they are located, some of their history and how they relate to each other and to the Sunni and Shia thing...

They told us all sorts of stuff about the right and left hand, how NOT to insult them, all sorts of stuff.

To boil it all down, it seemed like to be just use the golden rule, and don't do anything "clean" (like shake hands) with your right hand. EDIT, THAT WOULD BE THE LEFT HAND, WOOPS! TYPO!

There were also a lot of important classes on hand gestures. Not to recognize when the local's were giving you a F___ You, but when they were warning you about stuff. They would warn us if we were being watched, if there was an IED, and where some of the bad guys were. I don't really think I can say anything more... opsec and all.

But, yea, we get tons of classes before deploying, at least my unit did.

It was my first deployment, but the vast majority of us had been deployed before. Also I'm national guard, so our average age was about 32 (I'm 42) and most of us enlisted have a degree or were working on one via the army benefits. So we weren't soooo green.

 

[Story]

I wonder what the Japanese Soldier's Guide to Australia would have been?

/Rhetorical question.