When I sat down to watch the Australian drama Bump on the day of its release, I was excited to hear the term "uce" peppering the dialogue between two teenage characters.
Key points:
- Australian series Bump mirrors contemporary youth culture and the Samoan slang term "uce" is centre stage
- The term "uce", coined by the Samoan diaspora in New Zealand and the US, is growing in Australian usage
"Uce" comes from the Samoan word uso, and is used when a man addresses another man as his brother, or a woman addresses another woman as her sister
This slang term of endearment, coined by the Samoan diaspora in the US and New Zealand a couple of decades ago, has made its way across the Tasman and into mainstream conversation.
Anything that positively reflects my family on the small screen is a cause for celebration.
Bump may be set in inner-city Sydney, but it mirrors contemporary youth culture found across the country.
Ioane Sa'ula plays the character Vince, and the teenager from Griffith, in NSW, is the reason why this 10-part series has a Polynesian flavour.
"[Uce] wasn't on the script at all, until we all had dinner with Claudia [Karvan] and I told her that I'd probably be more comfortable if I said this," Sa'ula said.
Karvan, who created the program with writer Kelsey Munro, agreed.
"Some of my close mates are non-Samoans and it's always fun to teach them some slang from Samoa, and I see them use it so it's becoming their natural way of speaking."
How slang terms spread
A few years back, "uce" was relegated to mainly the sporting fraternity, and satirical outfit The Betoota Advocate, nailed it with this headline:
"Club captain comfortable enough with Polynesian teammates to start saying 'uce.'"
Someone who has put this under the microscope is Lefaoali'i Dion Enari, a PhD candidate at Bond University on the Gold Coast.
He's exploring the perceptions of Samoan culture held by the Samoan community in Australia, and he's noted how widely Samoan slang has been adopted, even hearing it used on The Bachelorette TV show.
"One of the contestants said the term that we hear a lot from Samoan and Pasefika youth — 'unluggy uce', which is slang for 'unlucky uso,'" Lefaoali'i laughed.
So, what does it mean?
"I see the term used more as a hip way of calling your friend a brother or a sister," Lefaoali'i said.
"Uce" comes from the Samoan word "uso" and is used when a man addresses another man as his brother, or a woman addresses another woman as her sister.
It has been lost a little in translation, with some people mistakenly believing it means brother.
"A lot of females are using the term to refer to their brothers as 'uso' and think they're meaning brother, but that's actually incorrect," Lefaoali'i said.
To use the dialect correctly, a woman addresses her brother as "tuagane" and a brother addresses his sister as "tuafafine".
Lefaoali'i said for some Samoan young people in Australia, English is their first language, so they may use "uce" or "uso" incorrectly.
It also opens up conversations.
"A lot of non-Samoans who use our words are quite inquisitive and ask questions as to the meaning, so it causes our Samoan people to then go back and analyse the origins and meaning of words," he said.
Even the locals use it now
When I lived in Samoa many moons ago, no-one used this slang — but times have definitely changed.
George Ng Lam is on a three-year visa to work at an abattoir in Rockhampton, far from his villages of Alamagoto, Mulifanua and Vaivase-Tai.
"When we have a get-together with the boys from Samoa or from New Zealand or wherever, we always say 'uce' instead of 'uso,'" he said.
"We always use that back home."
My 16-year-old son, Nicholas Mata'uiau, who was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia nine years ago, is sticking to tradition.
"I don't really use the word 'uce' — I use 'uso,'" Nicholas said.
That's probably because his parents are a bit old-school.
And he uses it more when he comes across other kids of Pacific Island heritage.
"It's good, but it's odd sometimes because being at a predominantly white town, there's hardly any islanders and you can't really say those sorts of words," he said.
He doesn't mind non-Samoans using the language, unless "they're taking the piss out of you".
'It makes you feel accepted'
Samoans make up about 1 to 2 per cent of the Australian population, but "uce" is increasingly being used in everyday conversations.
Lefaoali'i puts it down to the number of high-profile Samoans in Australian sporting teams, including players in the NRL and rugby union.
"We also have a high representation in popular culture with The Rock and in entertainment with people like Jay Laga'aia," Lefaoali'i said.
He said characters who reflected Pasefika youth, like Sa'ula's character Vince in Bump, provided role models.
"I think it's extremely important to see our languages, our slang and ourselves in the mainstream fabric because it's empowering," he said.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAxLTI4L3NhbW9hbi1zbGFuZy1vbi1idW1wLWhhcy1nb25lLW1haW5zdHJlYW0taW4tYm9vc3QtZm9yLWN1bHR1cmUvMTMwNzkzNjDSASdodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTMwNzkzNjA?oc=5
2021-01-27 20:59:00Z
CAIiEAjuleZBfflxh4FauC_0KKoqFggEKg4IACoGCAow3vI9MPeaCDDciw4
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar