Hi! Holger,   
      
   On 10/23/2014 09:09 AM, you wrote:   
      
    HG> Good Afternoon Paul,   
      
   Thanks.  It was a good afternoon.  How was yours?   
      
    HG>> Cheerio, as they say in England,   
    PQ>> I use it often on the phone here.  That and the 'cheers'.   
      
    HG> I haven't talked so much with australasian people that I would know but   
    HG> the people on the British Isles do say cheerio.   
      
   Around grade 7 or 8, our English teacher did a snappy test of his students'   
   voices.  It was a characterization thing, discerning how much the Aussie   
   accent might have degraded even at our early age.   
      
   Long version: The class makeup was somewhat skewed by ethnic diversity   
   however, as many class members were born to immigrants from post-WWII Europe   
   and other pre-Soviet countries displaced by the Russian hordes. E.g., I shared   
   a desk with a bloke named Steinitz and the class bully was a fellow by the   
   name of Horbowski.  So, most classmates spoke some form of English mixed with   
   the accent of their parents' country of origin (since their home is where they   
   gained their initial language skills, and had the most interpersonal   
   contact).  Very few were classified as actually speaking Australian "strine".   
      
   Short version: I was near the 'norm' as I was born to Irish catholics. :)  In   
   any case, the teacher characterized my voice as 'educated Australian' which I   
   have found to be the most common accent here over the last 50 years.   
      
    HG> Have a nice whatever,   
      
   Nearly Saturday.  :)  And, not long till the Gold Coast 600(?) starts...   
      
   Cheers,   
   Paul.   
      
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