Accents, Nicknames and Sayings

An Aussie work friend of mine was describing to a US colleague that there is a pattern in how Aussies make nicknames out of their friends. There are four categories:

1. The "a" ie Garry --> Gazza; Karen --> Kazza
   
2. The "ie / y" ie Stuart --> Stuey; Paul --> Paulie
3. The "o" ie Robert --> Robbo; Damien --> Daimo
4. The "completely random " ie Jo --> SaucyNugget
   

The funny thing was that this was quite a shock for our US friend, it must not be a prevalent here, the "completely random" category maybe, but the "a" version definitely not, most likely because their accents would not emphasise it.

On the other hand, I was a bit shocked hearing an Asian person I had just met cursing and talking as if he came straight out of a black movie! "Yo nigger....sup dog...that shit is wack!" (ok, that last one was my improv :)) I admit I say stuff like that once in a while for fun, but when it's part of someone's everyday speech, it seemed a bit out of hand.

Of course, that Asian-African thing is probably as weird to me as the Asian-Australian accent is to my new friends. As long as we both enjoy listening being entertained, it's all good.