Aussie speak

I'm really starting to get a feel for the way the English language is spoken here. For starters, everything is abbreviated. Australians don't like to waste energy on long-winded, multi-syllabic words when they could be drinking a middy at the pub. For instance, arvo means afternoon, and and it's brekkie, not breakfast. McDonald's even has a Deluxe Brekkie Roll. Students attend uni, you avoid mozzies with bug spray, and if you're Tasmanian, you're a tazzie. Another thing Australians love to say is "How ya goin'?" instead of "How ya doing'?" This took me some time to get used to, since I think they are asking me where I'm headed, not how I feel. They also like to end phone conversations with "Cheers, ta!" This is always said at least an octave above normal pitch, with women as well as men. At the local pub, they drink middies or schooners, not pints (these are for foreigners) and they wouldn't be caught dead drinking Fosters. They say capsicum, not pepper. At the Australian Open last week, there was a big outcry over the use of capsicum spray by the local police. Another thing I've noticed that Aussies like to do is come up with little rhyming and alliterative phrases. There's an insurance ad on TV right now and they go on and on about 'puffin muffins', 'tossin' possums' and 'wrestling rhinos'. It's very entertaining.