Let me set the scene for you: Its a winter afternoon during lockdown last year, and Im about to co-present a paper online for the Forum of Englishes in Australia. Theres just one problem Ive noticed my desk is on fire.
The fireplace behind me has issued a few sparks onto some papers, and Im frantically snuffing them out with a mousepad and I find myself saying: Hang on, just a bit of an issue.
A fire during a Zoom presentation ranks somewhere between not ideal and catastrophic, so its not surprising that among the first words in my mouth are a bit a phrase typically used for mitigation. And as Kate Burridge and I have recently discovered, one thats used in characteristically Australian ways.
A bit is a discourse marker one of those hard-working little linguistic scraps like you know or I mean, which help manage the flow of discourse, perhaps through interpersonal work, or signposting the structure of a conversation.
Linguists such as Anna Wierzbicka have observed that discourse markers such as a bit, or its well-known cousin yeah-no are a reflection of tightly-held cultural values.
And for Australians, one of those core cultural precepts is do not whinge (even about your recent draft being set on fire).
Our recent analysis of corpus data on a bit reveals a grim catalogue of woes that Australian English speakers have mitigated with a bit.
These range from a little bit of a car accident, a bit of a headache, a bit of a blood clot, and even a plane crash (which was described as a bit of a frightening experience.) My desk inferno hardly seems to rate, which I reckon is a bit rough!
A bit of a babe and a hell of an understatement
A bit is a classic hedge reducing the force of statements that speakers and listeners may find undesirable or unpleasant.
Hedges such as a bit are an integral part of our everyday conversational routines surrounding ill health or misfortune. But funnily enough, Australian speakers do not only mitigate overtly negative statements, but even seemingly positive ones. For instance, our data reveals examples such as calling someone a bit of a local hero, and plenty of instances of a bit of a legend. Tall poppy syndrome means the issuing of compliments can be a fraught business in fact, in need of mitigation!
But thats not all that a bit does theres a rich vein of humour in this little discourse marker.
A common use of a bit is an ironic understatement, which draws attention to something that is very obvious this is then used for humorous effect.
One speaker in his early 20s described his university career as half a decade, mate, yeah its a bit long!.
Even more vividly, one example we found described Nigella Lawson as being a bit of a babe and as the photographic evidence demonstrates, this is quite the understatement.
Have you got a lot on? Or just a bit on?
This ironic use even made an appearance in the media not too long ago, As multiple states and territories across Australia were simultaneously entering lockdown due to fresh COVID-19 outbreaks, Dean Bilton, who was running the ABC live blog during the afternoon of 30 June, 2021, received a comment about his apparent overuse of the phrase theres a bit on. He responded as follows:
Q: How many times can we say theres a bit on in the blog today? Is there a quota we need to reach? Happy to help. A bit on
A: Youre right, there have been a bit of bit ons on today. Ill look to dial it back, but are there any other phrases that sum up the mood of Oh cool, everything is melting down all at once and we dont even have time to address another one before another one comes and melts all over us so succinctly?
As Dean playfully suggests here, this ironic use also shades into playing down ones troubles.
Linguist Karin Aijmer has described discourse markers as being slippery customers, and a bit is certainly no exception it evokes particular pragmatic effects in turn, and likes to defy categorisation.
If the ABCs live blog is any indication, it seems speakers of Australian English are increasingly aware of this multifaceted potential of a bit, and its frequency in the community. In fact, were so aware of a bit that speakers and writers can even be criticised for its overuse definitely a benchmark for success in a discourse marker!
Oh, and the presentation went well, by the way some might even say it was lit.