Thanks for the translations, Auntie. I was able to guess by context what 'get a hiding' was, but it wasn't a familiar expression.

'Gave me a fright' isn't really used in the US but I'm familiar with it from other sources.

'Damper' was new to me too, though my ears perked up at the mention of a campfire. If Wikipedia's correct, it's not quite the same as what Americans think of as a flapjack, which is often just another expression for a pancake.

wagga: I am aware of the CWA but not that women particularly.

coracle: I haven' watched that movie in about ten years but I remember being slightly confused about that scene. I have used both phrases in the past. My mother however always says " you gave me a fright".

As for accent videos. I created this audio the other day with one of my friends. We were given a random topic(mine teenages) and had 5 minuets to think about it and a one take recording ranting about the topic and here it is. This is the reason i trip on the word endure and stutter in a few places.

http://www.chirbit.com/yoshirama

Talking of accents reminds me of something I have noticed here. I often fall into a slight Irish accent whenever I take a listen to some of my favorite Celtic music. The Mrs. looks at me kind of funny, but says little. I would like to say that it's my Irish roots sprouting, but I doubt genetics shows up like that.
So here's a question, does anyone else around this blue globe have the same habit when they hear other accents, be it in music, movies, or even talking to someone from another land?

Talking of accents reminds me of something I have noticed here. I often fall into a slight Irish accent whenever I take a listen to some of my favorite Celtic music. The Mrs. looks at me kind of funny, but says little. I would like to say that it's my Irish roots sprouting, but I doubt genetics shows up like that.
So here's a question, does anyone else around this blue globe have the same habit when they hear other accents, be it in music, movies, or even talking to someone from another land?

I actually grew up around four different accents. So my "natural accent" is a hodgepodge of many things, and will often switch from one accent to another of it's own accord.

~Riella

When I have been watching a lot of British television I start pronouncing the "ance" such as glance and dance the British way but than I go back.

So here's a question, does anyone else around this blue globe have the same habit when they hear other accents, be it in music, movies, or even talking to someone from another land?

I've lived in the American South since I was...9 or 10, I think. It was a while back . Suffice it to say that "Yankees" are not particularly endeared here (for a variety of reasons, some unfortunately valid, many others not). I learned to drop my New York accent within my first horrible year of school. Ever since then I speak with little or no accent, at least to my ears. But...when I get upset or angry my New York accent starts to creep back in and I end up sounding like a New York City cab driver on a rant.

I have lived in the American South all of my life, with the exception of a year or so in high school when I lived in Illinois. Most people outside the South think I have a Southern accent, while in the South they think I have little or none.

I do find that I tend to start using different accents if I am around people from another area (for instance, my Southern accent deepens considerably when I'm around certain branches of my family) or I'm watching a great deal of British film and TV. Most of the time I use any accent other than my normal one, though, I am using an affectation. The most unusual time I find myself using another accent is singing at church. Some of the hymns and songs we sing cause me to start singing in a British accent.

So here's a question, does anyone else around this blue globe have the same habit when they hear other accents, be it in music, movies, or even talking to someone from another land?

I'm Norwegian and I learnt English at school. Then at college I got to do a one year course of English Language and Literature at an English university, so my accent would be English / British more than anything else.

A couple of years later I went to the wedding of one of my university friends. I was to get a lift to her town from London with one of her friends living in London - a Scottish lady. I turned up at her flat and we chatted while she got ready to go - and then we chatted along during the car ride - and before we had been together for an hour, I caught myself copying her Scottish accent. I had to deliberately stop myself, and I actually think that if I had wanted to, I could have switched accents completely there and then.

Perhaps the Norwegian background is closer to Scottish and the accent is therefore more likely to come over for a Norwegian than the southern English accents

(I don't have much of a Norwegian accent when speaking English, but naturally it's not easy to place me within Britain either, and I've actually been asked on a couple of occasions whether I'm Australian )

I'm not at all sure what my accent is (thankfully I DON'T have that DREADFUL slavic/Russian accent ) I was once told that I've got a slight tint of a Texan accent when I say certain words, but I have a hard time believing that. Generally, my English is more American than British because I studying using an American program, but recently I have been picking up on the British English because of all the English classical literature I've become obsessed with And I'll admit, when I've watched too many BBC period drama films, I do tend to get a slight bit of a British accent, but I lose it REALLY fast.
Narnian_Archer is great at faking accents. She can hear a song, or watch a movie or something else and just put on almost an identical accent as the one she just heard. It's actually pretty cool (Like one time we had been watching The Crocodile Hunter and she put on an Australian accent and started behaving like Steve Irwin and we were just all rolling on the floor with laughter )

wild rose, I think I know of more people from out of Australia who watch the crocodile hunter programs. I may of watched one or two episodes at school. I use to watch some of those Bindi Erwin programs when I was 11/12 however. Speaking of crocodiles, I have never watched crocodile dundee and when people did that knife joke in comedy programs from over seas or generally in the public I had no idea what they were talking about.

My friend from Kenya has a mixture of British and American accent. She kind of switches between one and the other. She must of used a mixed program/s when studying English.

I moved to Queensland when I had just turned seven and left when I was 10.5. Queensland why must you change the name of things?(I am sure America has a few states that just decide to change the name of things). So I had to learn words such as togs, port and bubblier tray(Meaning in order bathers, back pack and drink fountain). There were a few others and when I first moved to the West I would occasionally use these alternative names and with port especially I got some weird looks.

Sometimes I have to admit to amusement with a sibling of mine who spent many years in Texas. though he has now been back in Minnesota for some five years now he still has that drawl in his speech. It comes out real deep when we are having some discussion, or all out debate, ( sibling competition can extend into many fields).

Is there any one dish which anyone would consider their country's "signature" dish? In the US it's probably the cheeseburger, or maybe pizza. What would it be in Australia, Russia, and Norway? And Varna, if you say "Lutefisk" I will sob uncontrollably

To be honest shadowlander I wouldn't have a clue. Possibly pavlova but those from new zealand would disagree. Anyway it is still nice.

Maybe the meat pie - that's pretty much a signature dish (or at least food) in Australia.

The signature dish of India is daal and chapati. Daal is spiced lentil soup, and Chapati is the Indian, whole-wheat equivalent of a corn tortilla.
And for special occasions, there is, of course, biriyani and the ever-popular chicken tikka.

The signature dish of Kenya is sukumawiki and Ugali. The former is collard greens cooked in various ways, and the latter is the Kenyan equivalent of corn mush.
For special occasions, the specialty is nyama choma--roasted goat.
Most of them are pretty healthy. There are quite a few Indian snack staples that are pure lipid-drenched goodness, though - both savory and sweet.