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Dept. of Linguistics, University of Sydney

Hypocoristics of Place-names in Australian English

"They were all getting off at Goondiwindi, another dragon for my tongue. As with Dirranbandi, some chose the first syllable, others the second; some rounded the Goondi and others flattened it to Gundy. I found again that the locals called it Gundy, which comes easiest to the tongue and is unmistakeable to the ear. There and then I learned that Australia is a great place for using the diminutive suffix. Thus, Brissie was Brisbane, Gundy was Goondiwindi; Dirranbandi became Dirran or Douran (blackfellow), and even Australia was Aussie, or Ossie."

(Smith, G.A.W. 1976. Once a Green Jackaroo.
Seal Books, Rigby: Sydney.p.61)

Australian English speakers have many ways of making up nicknames for places. David Nash and Jane Simpson have collected several hundred nicknames, which you'll see below. But, as the quotation from Smith shows, there are questions about the meaning, form and use of hypocoristics. Here are some.

Question 1. Is the use of nicknames a marker of Australian English?
We suspect that all English-speaking countries have some nicknames for places. But perhaps Australian English speakers use them more often? Some ways of making nicknames, such as adding -o: Chippo/Chippendale, may be specifically Australian.

Question 2. What are the meanings associated with using a nickname?
One suggestion is that using a nickname is a way of expressing familiarity with a place, perhaps "I want you to know that I know things about this place". Or, as one consultant said " You live there, you're proud of it, and you want to show you're familiar with it " (Anna Choy p.c.). And as another said, "You wouldn't use it if you thought the other person didn't know it." (unless you wanted to exclude them).

Question 3. What ways are there to form nicknames?
Here are some of the ways we have found:

  1. Make a word that ends in -ie: Lonnie/Launceston

  2. Make a word that ends in -o: Rotto/Rottnest Island

  3. Make a word that ends in -ers: Tuggers/Tuggeranong

  4. Make a word that ends in -s: Utopes/Utopia

  5. Make a word that ends in -er: The Ekka/the Exhibition

  6. Take the first word: The Mount/Mount Gambier

  7. Take the last word: The Bay/Holdfast Bay

  8. Take the first syllable: Shep/Shepparton

  9. Take the last syllables and add "The": The Curry/Cloncurry

  10. Take the acronym: FNQ/Far North Queensland

Question 4. Do people use more than one nickname for the same place?
This seems quite rare.

Question 5. What kinds of places receive nicknames?
Pubs often get nicknames, as do schools. However we have found very few nicknames for farms.

Question 6. Are there differences between states?
We have found many nicknames for suburbs of Sydney, but few for suburbs of Adelaide. We have almost no data from Tasmania, but that's because we don't know many Tasmanians.

Question 7. Does everyone use nicknames, or do particular groups use particular nickname?
For example, we are told that surfies use a lot of nicknames for beaches which end in -ie: Whalie/Whale Beach.

If you have ideas about the answers, please e-mail:
Jane Simpson
University of Sydney

For more information: Jane Simpson, to appear. 'Hypocoristics of place-names in Australian English' in Varieties of English: Australian English, edited by Peter Collins and David Blair, Amsterdam, Philadelphia: Benjamins.