Hello, I regret to inform you that Americans are pissing all over our culture and making fun of the way we Aussies say no. Or, as they’re writing it on TikTok and Twitter: naur. Quite frankly, have they heard the way they say water—or, as I’m calling it: wartar.
What does naur mean?
Naur is, tragically, the new way to say no online, and mockingly based on the way we say the world in our thick Aussie dialect. Well, according to Americans and the rest of the world that is.
I first came across this cursed trend when Twitter user Derek Stonehammer (@reindeereks) tweeted a joke about how we Aussies would act if we were in one of Jigsaw’s murder puzzle games from Saw.
“Australians trapped in a Jigsaw trap would be like ‘oh naur, it’s Jigsaw,’” he wrote in a tweet that has over 66,000 likes. It also didn’t help that Australian Twitter user @thienpham_ betrayed his own kind for social media clout and read out the joke in a voice clip in the replies.
australians trapped in a jigsaw trap would be like “oh naur it’s jigsaur”
— derek (@reindeereks) June 6, 2021
@reindeereks you’re right pic.twitter.com/NjJWA08fch
— TEE& (@teepham_) June 6, 2021
Then, after some digging, I began to see it *everywhere*. Forget “besties” and “it’s the x for me,” TikTok and Twitter are now rampant with anti-Aussie slander and I will not tolerate it, thanks. My culture is not a costume.
thinking ab how it took every fiber in my being to stop myself from saying “naur” to the australian customer that came into my work the other day
— nathaniel B (@noleftairpod) June 9, 2021
Gonna delete but can someone pls explain, is NAUR supposed to be like Australian no? 😭
— Mike 4️⃣8️⃣1️⃣5️⃣1️⃣6️⃣2️⃣3️⃣4️⃣2️⃣ (@mikesmicYT) June 11, 2021
can i play this? pic.twitter.com/dJIp7QCNT2
— seynique (@seynique) June 8, 2021
https://twitter.com/forkenziept2/status/1402326964854300676
australian paramore fans be like naur hayley it aint fun
— sarah ☽ (@kissevermore) June 7, 2021
Even worse, over on TikTok people are making videos imitating our accent and naur thanks, mate. You can get rightfully fucked, aye?
“Here’s someone from Australia when their car gets towed: ‘naur, naur, not my kyar,’” said one TikToker.
“Girls, if you have to convince yourself that he is cute,” another said in their American accent before changing to the Aussie dialect: “naur… naur!”
Not Americans acting as if their varied accents don’t sound like caricatures of themselves or literal muppets.
https://www.tiktok.com/@theonapple/video/6914049188166667526?sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6970475862106916358&is_from_webapp=v1&is_copy_url=0
@starr OH NAURRR THE FARKIN TRAFFIC 😤🤬 #aussie #aussietok
https://www.tiktok.com/@jalanibaby/video/6914115691880697093?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESMgowKyIWfK%2FNWAkNf%2BO7HryeuxTO13i6m4dyGihECxXgsJUNtWyTtDlxD1xkoRYVgJ4iGgA%3D&checksum=da00e09d677b3c3a51f6f8eee3279b1d9e9c1ecfa08c2449cd14a691050ab17d&language=en&preview_pb=0&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAAnz95NaK9I6VEradCkrxvfsJKJrY9GfPkaEED1Z_1xl_OUgXaUPQMEf0fsVJMjVr7&share_app_id=1233&share_item_id=6914115691880697093&share_link_id=7D79ECF6-2635-4B75-96EF-04D922ED21A9&source=h5_m×tamp=1623467284&tt_from=copy&u_code=d7d904gai8559k&user_id=6718634810971685893&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=copy&_r=1
So, why are people on TikTok and Twitter imitating the way we say no?
It’s hard to exactly pinpoint where this fascination for mocking our country’s dialect came from.
Earlier this year, a clip from an old episode of Dr. Phil featuring an interview with Oli London, a British man who underwent plastic surgery to look like a K-Pop star, resurfaced. In it, he goes: “naur, it’s true, it’s true!”
https://twitter.com/REACTIONSAID/status/1391438432245886978
Elsewhere, K-Pop stans began saying it to parrot Bang Chan, an Aussie member of the group Stray Kids, and BLACKPINK’s Rosé’s thick Australian accents. RuPaul’s Drag Race queens Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova frequently put on stereotypically blokey (read: bogan) accents on their YouTube show UNHhhh after their time spent here on tour.
And, let’s not forget that people just can’t get enough of our dirty drag mongruls on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, or recently discovered H20 and won’t stop saying, “Cleorrr, naur!”
Anyway, while I’m not a fan of being the Tasmania of the TikTok community, I do love to get my coin. So, if anyone needs an *actual* Australian to impersonate, I’m officially available on Cameo. $25 for naur and $40 for wartah.
