Aussie Ears

While watching the magnificent tennis match in the Australian Open in which Roger Federer needed a fifth set to beat Janko Tipsarevic, I immediately realized my ears needed an Aussie tune up. The score could not possibly be 14-13 could it? Did my brain take a break and totally forget tennis scoring? A look up from my knitting reassured me that indeed, the score was 40-30 and I had relapsed into the Yankee habit of actually expecting every syllable in the word to be pronounced, and clearly to boot!

Before you protest, let me offer further evidence of the laziness of Australian pronunciation. Later in the match, one of the commentators was talking about Federer "hitting to the Jew side." Gasp! That cannot be what he said! How ignorant and rude! And what the hell does it mean?

Bless modern technology. I backed up the digital recorder, and put the sound on mute. The person/software doing the translation from word to closed captions offered up "hitting to the juice side." Okay, better than the Jew side, but I am still confused. Again, what the hell does it mean? Illumination - the game has progressed, the score is "Deuce" and the announcer clearly says "Juice."

I rest my case.