Australian language:Whilst the modern Australian language is to a great degree, the result of the much vaunted Australian multiculturalism, the predominant language in Australia is still English. There are, however, over eighty languages spoken throughout the land, many of them European, many of the Aboriginals still retain their own native languages and the Australian language per se has adopted many words from both of these sources. As with other countries, the Australian language has it's own distinct and sometimes colourful local variations and while it’s helpful to understand the variants, it’s not necessary to survive your stay here. Some people may even take delight in the discomfort of a foreign visitor struggling to make sense of a conversation, but as a whole, we are a pretty friendly bunch and most of the time we do go out of our way to steer tourists in the right direction. Unlike other countries where there are often a great number of regional accents, for the most part, in Australia the only accents you will find here are those of the upper, middle and working classes, sometimes exaggerated if you are at a social function, but even here you should not find a problem. Aussie Slang.Be warned, unless you are absolutely sure of a phrase, do not use it, slang used in America or England may not mean the same as over here, in fact quite the opposite is often the case in the Australian language with much resultant embarrassment, so be careful.Another thing to remember is that the Australian language, (Aussiepeak or ‘Strine’ as it is often called) contains a number of mild expletives such as ‘bloody’ as in ‘bloody hell’ or ‘bastard’, often used as a slang term of endearment, and the visitor shouldn’t get offended when they’re used. With all of its unique and mostly delightful idioms, the Australian language remains basically English. Here’s an example of the confusion that can be created that I’ve borrowed from somewhere else: Let's say you’re an American male on a visit to Australia and you meet this dinki-di Aussie sheila. You click, and she wonders if you can meet her later, say at 5pm, near the lifts by the chemist’s on the first floor of the Oz Building. "No worries, mate," you say, having already picked up that Aussie expression. And, yes, you know that lifts are elevators and the chemist’s is the pharmacy or drugstore. A really good start to what could develop into something great. And so at 5 o’clock... Before it’s 5pm you rush into the Oz Building, which you discover to be a shopping centre. You had a map and it was easy to find. The elevators are there all right but there’s no drugstore. Well, even a true blue Aussie sheila can get her bearings wrong. So you wait by the elevators, and the minutes tick by. By 6pm you just know you’ve been stood up... But what about her? Well, she was there before 5pm. She was waiting near the lifts by the chemist’s on the first floor but when you didn’t arrive by 6pm, she just knew she’d been stood up. Unfortunately, the American knows the ground floor of a building as the first floor while any Australian knows that the first floor of a building is the first floor up from the ground floor, or what the American would know as the second floor. The moral of this little story is: if you don’t know a little bit of the local Australian language you’ll miss out on some good things...... A recent development is using level instead of floor, hence Level 1, Level 2, and so on, to avoid confusion. (Of course, Level 1 may not be the ground floor either, particularly in buildings with underground levels.) It’s as well to remember that there are a number of Australian words and phrases, for which Americans, or people influenced by the American language, use different terms. Below you’ll find a list of the more common ‘Australian-isms’ that you’re likely to encounter on your trip to Oz.....................enjoy. aggro - aggressive amber fluid - beer ant's pants - height of fashion, or to think highly of yourself arvo - afternoon Aussie - Australian av-a-go-yer-mug - traditional rallying call, particularly at cricket matches ay (pronounced “AY” not “I”) - pardon me back o'Bourke - back of beyond, middle of nowhere barbie - barbecue barking up the wrong tree - labouring under a misapprehension barrack - cheer on a team at sporting event, support your team battler - trier, struggler beanie – knitted skull cap, ski hat beat around the bush - not getting to the point beaut, beauty, bewdie - great, fantastic belt up - stop talking! bench - table top better half - husband or wife bikie - motor cyclist billabong - water hole in dried-up river bed billy - tin container used to boil tea in the bush biscuit - cookie black stump - where the 'back o'Bourke' begins block - do your block: get angry bloke - man blower - telephone: on the blower blowies - blow flies bludge - do nothing bludger - lazy person, one who won't work blue - argument or fight: have a blue bluey - swag, nickname for a red-haired person bonzer - great, ripper boogie board - half sized surf board boomer - very big, large male kangaroo boomerang - curved flat wooden weapon used by Aborigines for hunting booze - alcohol booze bus - police van used for random breath-testing for alcohol bottle shop / bottlo- liquor shop bottler - something that has gone the way you want: you little bottler brass - money brekkie - breakfast brown-eye - to show one's bottom, mooning Buckley's - no chance at all bundy - Bundaberg rum, also time-clock for employees bung on - put on bunyip - Australian yetti, or bigfoot burl - have a try: give it a burl bush - country, away from the city bushranger - Australia's equivalent of outlaw of American Wild West bush tucker - native foods, usually in the outback BYO - bring your own (booze) to a restaurant cask - wine box (an Australian invention) cheerio - good bye chock-a-block - full chin wag - to have a good chat chips - french fries choof off - to go chook - chicken cobber -mate coldie - a cold beer come good - turn out all right corroboree - Aboriginal festival dance cozzie - swimming costume crook - ill, badly made, substandard to go crook – to go mad at, get annoyed cuppa - cup of tea cut lunch - sandwiches dag, daggy - mildly abusive term for socially inept person, nerd, nerdy damper - bush loaf made from flour and water, cooked in camp oven deli - delicatessen didgeridoo - cylindrical wooden Aboriginal musical instrument digger - Australian soldier dill - idiot dinkum, fair dinkum - honest, genuine dinky-di - the real thing dob in - to tell on someone docket - receipt, bill dole - unemployment payment don't come the raw prawn - don't try and fool me dunny - toilet earbash - talk nonstop esky - insulated box for keeping beer etc cool fair go! - give us a chance fairy floss - cotton candy fanny - crude term for female genitalia flat chat, flat out - going very fast footy - football full as a boot - drunk funny farm - mental institution galah - noisy parrot, hence 'noisy idiot' game - brave gander - look: have a gander garbo - person who collects your garbage gas bag - talk a lot give it away - give up g'day - good day, traditional Australian greeting good oh - OK good on ya - well done grazier - large-scale sheep or cattle farmer grog - alcohol grizzle - complain hang on a tick - wait a minute hoon - idiot, hooligan, loud show-off hoo-roo - good bye how are ya - standard greeting how ya going - how are you doing howzat - asking how something is idiot box - television iffy - risky or suspect: something a bit iffy irrits - irritating: you give me the irrits jack of it - fed up with it, had enough (of a situation) jiffy - short time: see you in a jiffy job you - hit you or punch you: I'll job you journo - journalist jumper - sweater keen - very interested Kiwi - person from New Zealand knickers - underwear knock - criticise, deride knock off work - time to go home
lift - elevator lollies - sweets, candy lurk - a scheme manchester - household linen mate - friend, general term of familiarity, whether you know the person or not middy - 285 ml beer glass missus - your wife mobile phone - cellular phone mozzies - mosquitoes nappy - diaper Never-Never - mythical, remote, isolated place in the outback nick - steal nick off - go away! get lost! no hoper - hopeless case nose - on the nose: something stinks no worries - she'll be right, that's OK ocker - uncultivated, uncultured, boorish Australian off-sider - assistant or partner off the beaten track - on an unused road, in a remote areaoldies - parents once over - looking something or someone over, checking it out outback - remote part of the bush, back o'Bourke Oz - Australia Ozzie - Australian paddock - field pavlova - meringue and cream dessert perve - to gaze with lust pinch - steal piss - beer pissed - drunk pissed off - annoyed piss in your pocket - brown-nose piss-weak - no good, gutless Pom, Pommie - English person pokies - poker machines postie - mail man prang - motor vehicle accident pub - hotel pull your head in - mind your own business! push bike - bicycle put up or shut up - prove you can do it or keep quiet! rack off - get lost! Rafferty's rules - no rules, a mess randy - sexually excited, horny ratbag - friendly term of abuse rapt - delighted, enraptured reckon! - you bet! Absolutely! rego - registration: car registration rip off, ripped off - you have been cheated ripper - good, also: little ripper rip snorter - something that is great root - have sexual intercourse rooted - tired ropable - very angry or bad-tempered rubber - eraser rubbish - deride, tease: to rubbish sacked - fired from work Salvo - member of the Salvation Army sandshoes - sneakers, joggers sanger - sandwich scallops - fried potato cake in New South Wales, shellfish elsewhere schooner - large beer glass semi-trailer - articulated truck session - lengthy period of heavy drinking sheila - woman (can be somewhat derogatory) she'll be right - no worries, everything will be fine shonky - unreliable, suspect shoot through - leave in a hurry shout - buy round of drinks, or pay for someone shove off - go away! sickie - day off work ill (or malingering) sloppy joe - cotton fleecy-lined sweater smoko - tea break, go and have a cigarette snag - sausage Speedo's - male swimming costume spit the dummy - throw a tantrum stickybeak - nosey person stir - tease or joke with person strides - trousers Strine - conversation with a lot of Aussie slang stubby - small bottle of beer stuffed - very tired, had too much to eat sunbake - sunbathe (not recommended, dangerous in much of Oz) surfies - surfing fanatics take-away food - fast food, to-go food tall poppies - achievers tea - evening meal, dinner tinny - can of beer too right! - absolutely! tracks - make tracks: leave to go home truckie - truck driver true blue - dinkum tucker - food two-pot screamer - person with low tolerance for alcohol two-up - traditional heads/tails gambling game uni - university up yourself - have a high opinion of yourself ute - utility, pick-up truck vegies - vegetables verbal diarrhoea - talking non-stop, usually nonsense wag - to skip school or work: to wag school walkabout - lengthy walk away from it all weatherboard - wooden house wharfie - dock worker whinge - complain, moan wobbly - disturbing, unpredictable behaviour, temper tantrum: throw a wobbly Wog - derogatory term for foreigner Woop Woop - Australian slang for the middle of nowhere in the Outback wowser - spoilsport, puritan, old-fashioned write-off - car involved in an crash that is not worth repairing yabbie - small freshwater crayfish yacking - talking non-stop yahoo - noisy and unruly person yakka - work yobbo - uncouth, aggressive person yonks - ages, a long time youse - the plural of you zonked - really tired zebra crossing - painted pedestrian crossing on street
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