How Aussies developed that annoying accent

"G'day how youse goin'?".

You can tell an Aussie the minute they open their mouths, however not all of them don the full bogan like Paul Hogan.

In the documentary, The Sounds of Aus, the Australian accent is seen as the most significant identifier of the Australian cultural DNA, and is arguably the most Aussie thing about our mates across the ditch.

The doco looks at the story of the Australian accent: How it came about, how it has evolved over two hundred years of colonial and cultural history, and how and why they speak the way they do.

In an article for news.com, Nadine Hayes writes:

I never thought too much about this subject until a Swedish friend of mine said she imagined our vernacular was concocted by a bunch of drunk sailors. I hope she wasn't referring to Captain Cook, I can't imagine him standing with a bunch of tinnies in his budgie smugglers shouting, "Ahoy mates there's Botany Bay, reckon that's a great place for a barbie!"

Captain Cook and the First Fleet actually brought with them, in sober fashion, settlers with a mixture of English and Irish accents.

It's thought the settlers' children were the ones that created the unique accent we recognise today.

Some find the Aussie accent amusing, others find it downright annoying. I mean why is it that our inflections go up at the end of every sentence? Is it because we're too insecure to make that statement? Perhaps we're looking for affirmation? Are we trying to be inclusive? Maybe in our Aussie bizarreness, it's all of these things.

I know - it's because the sun's too bright.

And what's with asking questions that don't need answering, like "how great was the weather today?" People just look at you like, what the hell am I supposed to do with that?

We're a pretty laidback bunch, and this is reflected in the laziness of our language. We often forget Rs and Gs at the end of words, like 'rippa' and 'fishin'. Let's face it, we don't open our mouths much and that's not to avoid eating the flies.

There is no such thing as the perfect Australian accent, and our accent doesn't vary as greatly from state to state the way it does in other countries.

We do as a nation tend to abbreviate just about everything though, with a little 'bogan speak' thrown in.

If you don't believe me here's some of our faves ...

G'day - hello
Reckon - absolutely
Tradie - tradesman
Snag - sausage
Sanga - sandwich
Trackies - Track suit
Boardies - board shorts
Vegies - vegetables
Rellies /rellos - relatives
Barbie - barbecue
Bogan - unsophisticated
Fair Go - be fair
Accadacca - ACDC
Arvo - afternoon
Servo - Service Station
Agro - aggressive
Preggers - pregnant
Mozzie - Mosquito
Sunnies - Sunglasses
Sickie - sick day
Exxy - Expensive
Chook - Chicken
Dunny - toilet