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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1178673-ITS-THE-LANGUAGE-OF-HOME
by Meg
Rated: 13+ · Poetry · Opinion · #1178673
You say "tomato" and I say "tomarto"
IT'S THE LANGUAGE OF HOME.

Poems are written with words in each line,
Some meanings, not clear to those reading.
But words have a way of changing, each time
You move from the land of your breeding.

Here in Australia, it's English we speak,
But, State to State, many words change.
Where here in the North we say "stroller" or "pram",
Down South, it's a "pusher" ---that's strange.

Ask for some" sausage" when it's "devon" I need
If I shop way down south of the border.
I can't go and ask for a "carton" of beer,
It's a "slab" or a "box" I must order!

I swim in my "togs", but "bathers" are all
They wear to get wet, down the coast.
The lighting of streets by a "stobie pole" tall
Up here 's just a plain old "lamp post".

Do you see where I'm going with this language of ours?
And that's just Australia, I'm showing.
By the way, it's a "ute", not a "pick up" you drive,
Fueled with "petrol", not "gas", to get going.

If a "cookie's" a "biscuit", and a "biscuit's" a "scone",
Do all "patty cakes" come in a cup?
They're a "cup cake" you say, My mind's nearly gone!
"Jam's" "jelly", "jelly's" "jello", What's up????

I change baby's "nappy" -- A "diaper" you doff,
When she cries, it's a "dummy" will ease it.
"Pacifiers" right here, would do the same job,
Same thing -- different word, it will please it.

There are many more words that I could compare,
Things like "pancakes" or "flapjacks" and such.
A "sandpit" or "sandbox", a "spanner" or "wrench",
Oh, really, it's getting too much!

It's all English, I know, but the point that I make
Is, the language I speak, is my own.
If I use Aussie words that you don't understand,
Can't be helped, IT'S THE LANGUAGE OF HOME!
© Copyright 2006 Meg (agarn at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates have been granted non-exclusive rights to display this work.
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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1178673-ITS-THE-LANGUAGE-OF-HOME