[Idiom] Aussie idiom

[Pirimillo]

Hello,

What does a person mean when they say "you have a rear way of playing with words"?

 

[susiedq]

Are you sure it wasn't "real way of playing with words."?

 

[Raymott]

Hello,

What does a person mean when they say "you have a rear way of playing with words"?

Are you sure it's an Aussie idiom? I've never heard it, and it doesn't sound Aussie.
What's your source?

 

[emsr2d2]

Are you sure it's an Aussie idiom? I've never heard it, and it doesn't sound Aussie.
What's your source?

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".

 

[BobK]

: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

 

[Raymott]

Similarly, the word 'contrary' - [...] is common in Australian English.
b

I would not have said so. Can you present anything to convince me it's common here?

 

[BobK]

I would not have said so. Can you present anything to convince me it's common here?

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.

b

 

[Pirimillo]

Hello,

I could have been a typo be the 'sender'. I think I have it figured out.
Thanks to all of you.