An expat living in Australia revealed the common phrase Australians should never use when talking to an American: “oldies.”
Ellie Drabik said the everyday phrase “innocent” used by many Australians would cause extreme offence in the United States.
“My Americans, get ready for this, because this would never be accepted in America,” he said in a video.
‘People literally call older people “old people”… they talk about them and say that those are the old people or that’s where the old people go.’
Ellie added that the popular term, which “would send you to jail for bad manners in America”, did not appear to be offensive among Australians.
“In the United States, saying that you are old or that you are an elderly person would make people go into hysterics, it would be something that would be absolutely unacceptable, something that would not be right at all,” he added.
Ellie admitted that despite how insulting the expression would be in her home country, it was still her favorite local abbreviation.
Australians who responded to the video defended the popular term, insisting it was the best way to refer to older Australians and was intended as a sign of affection.
Ellie Drabik, an American living in Australia, was surprised to hear Australians refer to older people as “oldies.”
“Oldies is affectionate. ‘The elderly’ makes them sound old,” said one.
“Wow! I didn’t know that in other cultures they didn’t say that. We don’t want to offend anyone,” added another.
Many said they referred to their parents as “old man,” “old woman,” or simply “old people,” adding “old friend” when they couldn’t remember a name.
One older person said she was happy to be called “old” and another agreed it was a “term of endearment.”
“Old people also call themselves old,” said one man.
An Australian man bravely claimed that it didn’t matter whether the phrase was offensive or not.
“Most older people can’t hear us call them that, and those who can can’t remember us saying it five minutes later,” he joked.
This is not the first time that foreigners have been confronted with the Australian language.
American musician K. Flay was recently confused during a visit to Australia when everyone kept telling him “don’t worry.”
In an interview with Triple J, she said the expression “took her aback” and made her think she was offending the people who said it to her.
“We say don’t worry, but in a different context. ‘Don’t worry’ is like when you ask someone to do you a favor and they say, ‘Oh, don’t worry,'” he explained.
“You guys are saying there are no concerns when you basically haven’t asked me anything and I’m saying I wasn’t worried about it. You’re assuming there is concern.”
“Wait until someone says ‘No drama,'” someone laughed.
