went walkabout

[Jonathan Lighter]

He may well have been influenced by the dramatic use of the word in a
current Australian tourism commercial, whivj I have seen probably fifty
times, beginning late last year.

The heroine/shero is stressed out. Late that night some kind of Aboriginal
incubus-kid shows up near/in/on/over her bed and whispers deep in her ear
with dramatic pauses:

"Sometimes...we have to get lost to find ourselves....Sometimes...we gotta
go  _walkabout_!"

Next thing you know, the woman is in Oz having the time of her life.

But don't take my word for it:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-gQGMuxJ0vCc/incredible_australia_come_walkabout_commercial_directed_by_baz_luhrmann_for_tourism_australia/

JL
On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 3:56 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: went walkabout
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Like "Crocodile Dundee." I would think the term is familiar to most
> Americans.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Baker, John
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:08 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: went walkabout
>
>        It's a pretty well-known term - I'm familiar with it, and I've
> never been to Australia.  Bierbauer could have picked it up from a movie
> or novel.
>
>
>  John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Victor
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:56 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: went walkabout
>
> An expression that looks rather odd to me:
>
>  >>"The worry is that this is going to come back as the governor who
> _went walkabout_," says Bierbauer at University of South Carolina.
> http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/06/24/sanford-returns-home-t
> o-impeachment-rumblings/
>
>
> The problem is not the expression itself, but finding it in South
> Carolina.
>
> TheFreeDictionary lists it as Australian (as do other sources), with two
> of the possible meaning for "to go walkabout" being "to be lost or
> misplaced" and "to lose one's concentration", both likely applicable
> here.
>
> Of the first 30600 raw ghits, most of the front 30 refer to the same
> Google blog post ("Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave."). The only
> exception (aside from nonsense references) is this one.
>
>  >>Seal that went walkabout [story title]
> http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14119081.800-seal-that-went-walkab
> out.html
>
> The next non-Google-blog reference is also from the New Scientist: "How
> Earth's poles went walkabout".
>
> Of the next 60, most still refer to the same Google blog post, but there
> is a sprinkling of others--most appear to be UK.
>
> One slang dictionary lists "walkabout" as "an tour on foot by an
> important person (such as a visiting member of the royal family,
> politician or celebrity)". That's UK usage and does not apply here
> either.
>
> Most of the ghits for "go walkabout" (43600 raw) appear to be Australian
> (although some Google suggestions might be referring to Africa). Of the
> 47700 raw ghits for "gone walkabout" most also appear to be Australian
> references. The only exception that I thought I found:
>
>  >>Gone Walkabout: A Jesuit makes his way down
> under.http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=1172
> 3
>
> So this one is, again, Australian.
>
> The only thing left to do is to look up Charles Bierbauer ("dean of the
> University of South Carolina's communication department and a former
> political reporter"). Bierbauer was a 20-year correspondent for CNN,
> covering the span from Reagan to Clinton, but he was born in Allentown,
> PA. There seems to be no reason why he would have picked up Australian
> slang.
>
> So far, this remains a mystery to me. Any comments?
>
> VS-)
>
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