It's impossible to escape it. You no matter where you go people are mumbling under their breathe, shouting from the rooftops, or just speaking in a normal voice. There's nothing special or unique about the delivery. It's the content that's important. "Sweet as!" and "nice one!" are repeated on loop ALL. THE. TIME.
What do these charming phrases mean? After six months of analysis, I'm still not sure. What I've been able to work out so far is that people use them when they're describe an action, event, or person that has been deemed good. For example:
1. "Oh, my friend is visiting next week." Response: "Nice one!" Reaction: "Huh? Oh yeah, she is a nice...one...person. Wait, no, yeah, it's a nice...one...thing that she's coming. I'm sorry, what just happened?
2. "I learned the Kylie dance to "Get Outta My Way" and did it on stage at Stonewall." Response: "Sweet As!" Reaction: "Sweet as what? What's sweet? Wait, what is it sweet as? I am sweet as something or the dance is sweet as something or doing at the club is sweet as something? What's sweet and what is it sweet as?"
When delivered in the Aussie tongue with that down under twang, it's rather exciting when someone directs one of these two gems at you, even if the point, meaning, and/or intent are unclear. I've learned the best response is simply, "YEAH! Sweet as!" or "YEAH! Nice one is right!" I've included pictures of my friend Adam, who is easily the happiest human being on the face of the earth. He uses both of these statements on a regular basis.
The real kicker is this Kiwi New Zealand slang. For example, the all too common "Yeah, Nah" and "Nah, Yeah." The teaser is that these two stament mean ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THINGS. Stay tuned.
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Kyle Taylor
kyletaylor.com
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