I have an honest question for which I’d love to know your thoughts. If you’ve not realised yet, I am an Australian author of near-science, techno-medical YA thrillers set IN Australia, and not ONE of my books contains a “g’day”. I’d not really thought about this, as it’s not a word that I use in my vocabulary, until recently …

Yesterday I was watching a live online discussion when the question was thrown out to the chat, “Do Australians really say, “g’day’?” To my surprise many claiming to be Australians said, “Yes.” I started counting in my head the few people I know who actually use this saying and, not to be disrespectful, most of them I realised were … mature … more mature than me, at least.

To be fair, I’m not a teenager anymore (shhh), but I do not use this greeting (unless satirically playing up to preconceived expectations, perhaps). Also, when Australians use this saying, the “g” is not thick and hard, the way most non-Australians say it. It’s more like a passing note, barely emphasised when playing.

This was the first time I’d ever felt compelled to add my opinion to a live, online chat. I could feel the, “Nooooo, we don’t!” building in me. My mind filled with visions of international tourists staggering into an airport after a long-haul flight wearily matching colloquial dialect with bold, “G’days”, only to be stared at and greeted with a polite, amused, “Hello.”

So, I cast it to the masses (well, the two or three who might read this blog and respond, lol). Am I an Australian anomaly? (Be kind!) In your experience is this something Australians say more often than I believe they do? Could it be an age/era-related usage? Or locale-linked?

Feel free to share your thoughts. You can even drop in a, “G’day,” if it makes you feel better. 😉