"Get amongst/across/around this song" slang

[alias_sqbr]

There is a particular sort of slang phrase I hear frequently in promotions on Australian youth music radio station Triple J and absolutely nowhere else: lines like "get across the latest new music", "This Summer has a bunch of cool concerts! Get amongst it!", "get around this new single" etc.

"Across", and "around" seem to be used interchangeably, with "get across/around this" = "learn about this". "Amongst" is possibly more literal eg "get amongst this concert" = "be amongst the people at this concert".

Attempts to google these usages just got me dictionary entries about getting across bridges or ideas etc. I couldn't find anything in the text promotions on the Triple J site, either, so I might be misremembering the exact wording used.

Has anyone else encountered this kind of slang? Is/was it ever actually common amongst (Australian?) young people or does someone working in the triple J advertising department just have an odd way of speaking? Or have I just been living under a rock?

It doesn't bother me, I think it's kind of cute, I'm just curious.

Comments

[lilacsigil]

I've heard "get among/st it" and "get across it" but not "get around it". I agree that "get amongst" means to participate in something, not necessarily physically, and "get across" means to learn/understand something.

[alias_sqbr]

Ha ok so I just live under a rock. Who have you heard it from, just young and/or Australian people or other kinds of people?

[lilacsigil]

"Among" or "amongst" I've mostly heard in advertising, now that I think about it, but "across" is pretty widespread - I've heard it from people in their 20s-40s and also in work and educational contexts.

[caramarie]

Get amongst and get across sound normal to me, although not get around so much. The phrase 'get amongst it' is probably most used as an invitation to eat morning teas and things :p 'Get across' actually sounds kind of business-speaky to me ... like 'I need to get across all these documents', but that might just mean I am extremely Office Worker. It makes sense for music too!

[winterbird]

Ooooo yeah you're right I'm more familiar with 'get across' in a workplace setting! Whereas 'get amongst' and 'get after' is more common in leisure settings :D

[alias_sqbr]

Yeah Cam said he'd also heard it in office settings, and I haven't been in one of those since 2008.

[thawrecka]

I've heard 'get amongst it' and 'get across it' in day to day life, though buggered if I can think of where. I think they were more commonly used 10-15 years ago, so possibly the presenters of Triple J are the only ones keeping those phrases alive. But I know they were in use back when I lived in the west in my early-mid 20s.

[alias_sqbr]

Haha yeah it being a little time capsule of outdated slang I somehow missed at the time makes a lot of sense!

[winterbird]

Oh I've been hearing this for over a decade, though I do hear it more from Australians so it might have originated here (though I've also heard it from UK folk too). It's pretty common pub slang (which is maybe also why you haven't heard it before!)

It's definitely not just Triple J (I don't listen to them), and the whole 'get amongst it' and 'get around it' etc. is something you also hear at pubs when someone is buying around, in lieu of 'get into it' - 'get amongst it, boys' for example, is definitely a thing that exists re: kicking off a night or enjoying something. It has a rousing energy to it too, like, 'come on, get into it!' - but get amongst it / get around this instead. I *think* it might have some surfing roots.

'Get amongst this' re: a concert would mean like... participate unreservedly / get into it etc. And you can do it for a lot of things 'there's a new San Churro's in Ellenbrook, get amongst it!' just means... go do / enjoy that thing.

'Amongst' I think has been used the longest, that's been around for almost 15 years now, and across / around came later. Around I think from 'get your head around this' and across, who knows, lol - it's in the whole oeuvre of like 'get on it' (get on the beers lol) and 'get after it' etc. 'Get amongst it' is more commonly applied to groups or group participating which might be why you're hearing versions of that from a DJ addressing more than one person but imho, it's all pretty interchangeable slang!

I love that I have an icon for this

[alias_sqbr]

Hee, my email notification didn't show me your icon.

That's really interesting, and I guess I haven't been in pubs much for A While.

[princessofgeeks]

I noticed Jamie Oliver, the British TV chef, says "get amongst it" it when referring to either digging in to a meal or getting your hands into some cooking action.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm, maybe a UK/AU/NZ thing then.