The Flies, the Flies

People have wondered why Australians turned out speaking the way they do.  Why do the Ozzies mumble their sentences? Why do they not enunciate their words clearly, like the Americans and Canadians do?  After all, the Aussies, like the Americans, are sons of the same English fathers (and Scots, and Irish, and Italians). What happened?

Received wisdom is that it's because of the flies. 

Australia in summer is a land ridden with aggressive, moisture-seeking, super-sized flies who like to gang up on people.

Woe to you when you are walking with both hands holding your shopping bags, defenseless and unable to wave them off, for that's when they try the hardest to insert themselves into your mouth, your nostrils, your ears, with such tenacity you will want to give up and cry.  They will buzz around you for kilometers.

These are not the flies of other countries. Those leave you alone and even steer clear of people. 

People simply had to learn to speak without opening their mouths. 

And that's the truth. Or the most interesting explanation anyway.

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