Janet CollinsWho took the “mate” out of “no worries…”?
August 11th 2008 14:33
If you have spoken to a foreign student or traveller in recent times, you couldn’t have missed a penchant for the “no worries” but what happened to the “mate”?
It always used to be “no worries, mate”. But times change. In my travels I was always keen to pick up any of the local lingo and use it wherever I could, even if I did so awkwardly. It's almost the unwritten rule of travel and the need we have to fit in.
A few years ago I was having a discussion with a person who had immigrated to Australia some years earlier. He told me there was no real translation for “mate” as in certain cultures you didn’t assume someone to be a friend. It was rather impolite.
Not here. Australians called everyone “mate” at one time. It could be the tradesman, the shop owner, the person selling you a home or the business person. It didn’t matter.
“Thanks, mate”; “I’ll come back and fix that tomorrow, mate”; “I’ll have the cheque ready for you, mate” or “No worries, mate”. In fact, “mate” was almost the symbol of connection.
Unfortunately, this seems to be slowly creeping out of our language. It does amuse me though the enthusiasm many foreigners living here love using “no worries”.
It always used to be “no worries, mate”. But times change. In my travels I was always keen to pick up any of the local lingo and use it wherever I could, even if I did so awkwardly. It's almost the unwritten rule of travel and the need we have to fit in.
A few years ago I was having a discussion with a person who had immigrated to Australia some years earlier. He told me there was no real translation for “mate” as in certain cultures you didn’t assume someone to be a friend. It was rather impolite.
Not here. Australians called everyone “mate” at one time. It could be the tradesman, the shop owner, the person selling you a home or the business person. It didn’t matter.
“Thanks, mate”; “I’ll come back and fix that tomorrow, mate”; “I’ll have the cheque ready for you, mate” or “No worries, mate”. In fact, “mate” was almost the symbol of connection.
Unfortunately, this seems to be slowly creeping out of our language. It does amuse me though the enthusiasm many foreigners living here love using “no worries”.
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Comment by Tracy
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Comment by Cibbuano
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I'll be at some gov't department, there'll be some issue, and someone will say 'no worries'. Not for me - I have worries - but, they'd rather not worry about it.
Sometimes, the bus just doesn't arrive, and you have to wait an additional 1/2 hr. to catch one. 'No worries'.
Comment by colocountry
tut tut, methinks I detect some chagrin about our more newly arrived neighbours. I'm not worried about their "no worries' because generation after generation have joined the 'great unwashed' in our Great South Land since '..white sails in the sun.. [succeeded] ..white man, white gun' and they have embraced our Australian way of doing things. Now that Kevin 07 has apologised for the excessive application of Colonial indifference, we need to embrace the nations '.from all of the lands of the world [they] come" even if they initially seem indifferent to our way of doing things.
Col