[Idiom] Aussie idiom
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Raymott
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Are you sure it's an Aussie idiom? I've never heard it, and it doesn't sound Aussie.
What's your source?
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I don't know about an idiom, but I think the word might have been "rare", not "rear" or "real".
She has a rare talent.
You have a rare way of dealing with things.
It just means "unusual" or "uncommon". I don't think it's particularly Australian though, unless there's a user from Australia here who can think of a particularly Aussie idiom using "rare".
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:up: That's much more likely - 'rare' meaning 'extraordinary/unusual'.
I agree that it's not particularly Australian, but I've often noticed that languages in a colonial context can be both conservative and innovative - and 'rare' in that sense is almost archaic in Br Eng. Similarly, the word 'contrary' - meaning something like 'argumentative' (which in the UK is known chiefly in the nursery rhyme 'Mary Mary/Quite contrary) - is common in Australian English. In Br Eng, we tend to say 'headstrong', 'opinionated', (informally) 'bloody-minded, 'mischievous', 'argumentative', 'curmudgeonly', 'hard to get on with, 'obstructive, 'obstreperous''.... or whatever near-synonym is most appropriate.
b
I agree that it's not particularly Australian, but I've often noticed that languages in a colonial context can be both conservative and innovative - and 'rare' in that sense is almost archaic in Br Eng. Similarly, the word 'contrary' - meaning something like 'argumentative' (which in the UK is known chiefly in the nursery rhyme 'Mary Mary/Quite contrary) - is common in Australian English. In Br Eng, we tend to say 'headstrong', 'opinionated', (informally) 'bloody-minded, 'mischievous', 'argumentative', 'curmudgeonly', 'hard to get on with, 'obstructive, 'obstreperous''.... or whatever near-synonym is most appropriate.
b
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Raymott
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I would not have said so. Can you present anything to convince me it's common here?
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Only anecdotal evidence. Several Australians that I know use it. Perhaps what I've noticed is a common trait among Australians who have emigrated, or perhaps I'm just wrong.
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