G’day. This arvo I’m going to write about a bonza part of Aussie life. Stralian slang. Or as we like to call it, English.
On this blog and when I interact with other people from around the world, I’m surprised how much slang I use without even realising it. I’m often explaining some of the words I use because while it looks and sounds like English, without the context I can come off a bit strange.
Unless you are Australian, know someone who speaks in Aussie slang or have travelled extensively around this sunburnt land, this post might just scramble your brain a little bit. So cobber, grab a snag, whack on some dead horse and pick up a tinnie. Or grab a cuppa and a bikkie and relax.
I have to censor myself when I write. Sometimes phrases like ‘chuck a yuey’ don’t mean anything to anyone else. It means to perform a U-turn. I also try and avoid doing what most Australians seem to do, which is to shorten everything and then put an O on the end. Stephen becomes Stevo; bottle shop becomes bottleo and the service station is the servo.
In my latest novel, the word ‘mate’ appears far too many times and I hardly ever use it in the same context. It can be aggressive – ‘Mate!” It can be affectionate – ‘Maaaatee.” And aurally it’s hard to mix the two up but when you are reading it, the situation has to be well defined. Also, if you’ve never heard someone use mate when expressing emotion, it can be difficult to understand.
To ‘chuck a sickie’ is also something I’ve written that’s caused some confusion. This means to call in to work sick, even though you aren’t. Maybe you had too many goon bags the night before and you chucked your guts up all over your mate Davo’s thongs. They were his good ones, double pluggers, his Sheila gave them to him for Chrissie. So you call into work and chuck a sickie.
Aussies are a pretty laid back lot on the whole. We even have multiple phrases for ‘everything will be alright.’
- She’ll be right
- She’ll be apples
- No worries – I use this one a lot.
We also have a tendency to shorten everything. If you really listen to how Australians say Australia. More often than not they say Straya.
Below I’ve added a short list of the words I hear most of the time – it’s by no means complete:
G’day – Hello
Ambo – Ambulance
Arvo – Afternoon
Oz – Australia
Bonza – Awesome
Barbie – Barbeque
Bikkie – Sweet Biscuit
Brizzie – Brisbane
Cozzie – Swimming costume
Cobber – Friend or mate
Hard yakka – Hard work and also a brand of workwear
Snag – Sausage
Prezzie – Present
Goonbags – Cask wine
Lippy – Lipstick
Journo – Journalist
Maccas – McDonalds
Smoko – Smoking break
Cockie – Cockroach or a cockatoo
Daks – Trousers
Woolies – Woolworths
Tinnie – Beer can or a small boat
Doona – Quilt
Thongs – Flip flops
Stubbies – Small beer bottle or a pair of very short men’s shorts
I think it’s less laziness, and more that it’s sometime just too hot to pronounce full words. Maybe. Alright, perhaps we’re just lazy. Look, you won’t find people walking around just talking in full sentences of slang. Unless they are trying to over characterise an Aussie. Also, no one in Australia says, ‘Throw another shrimp on the Barbie’ We would say ‘Chuck another prawn on the Barbie.’ Shrimps are tiny, in Oz we eat big, meaty prawns!
My books are set in Australia so while I’m not writing in paragraphs of slang, sometimes I pull back on certain slang because not everyone will understand unless the meaning is absolutely clear. So instead of having a character go to ‘Woolies to pick up some dog’s eyes and dead horse.’ I would have them go to ‘the supermarket to buy meat pies and tomato sauce.’
I think all time my favourite Aussie slang is to say, ‘I’m on my Pat Malone.’ Which means I’m alone.
Share some slang specific to where you’re from! If you’re an Aussie and I’ve missed one of your favourites, then share that too! Or if you’ve heard something and you don’t know what it is, I can translate it for you. Have some fun with it!
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I will be in Oz soon and plan to say,”May I bring a tinnie on the tinnie?” And hope they don’t throw me, and the beer…(no, no not the tinnie! overboard. Laughing…..This list is great and I won’t try and say most of this, but I am sending it my cobber and he probably will. He as no shame….
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Go for it!! Anyone that tries to throw you overboard is a bludger! There’s another one for you.
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People from OS must have no clue what we are on about! My parents have some American friends who love the idea of “Breakkie” and “Smoko”.
Aussies…so unique! Gotta love us!
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Hello! Yes it must seem like a bit of jibberish, but that’s the fun of it!
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love this! I recognise lots of these words and phrases, proof that an adolescence spent watching Neighbours wasn’t entirely wasted! Funnily enough words like prezzie and bikkie are quite common in my hometown, Liverpool, as well.
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Thank you! Time spent watching Neighbours is never wasted! I never knew that but I’m getting that vibe from the comments which is great for me! Nice to know we arn’t so isolated!
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Slang is great in any country, its also fun to learn along with the swearwords, something I did when I was a kid in various places.
Nice list, and seems you have the lingo pegged, some awesome slang there.
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I did leave the swearing out…. 😝
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I reckon I can guess a fair few of them lol
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OMG Lisa I’m so glad that I read this post. Thanks for visiting my blog – you reminded me to come and visit yours 🙂 🙂 I’ve spent about 2 1/2 months in Australia, and this brought back many happy memories. I personally love TIM TAMS! Blessings your way Lisa.
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Thank you! And you’re more than welcome, I come over for some healing. I’m yet to meet someone who doesn’t love them…. I might have to pick up a packet on the way home….
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❤ Enjoy one for me if you do! Nice to connect, Lisa. ❤
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I remember growing up on neighbours, the Robinsons, Ramseys, Mrs Mangel and Bouncer the dog.
My favourite bits of Aussie lingo are fair dinkum, and let her rip (or you ripper).
We were lucky in England that the BBC managed to get Richie Benaud on their cricket commentary. Could’ve listened to him all day.
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Ha! Mrs Mangel! Yep I was a huge neighbors fan! Fair dinkum is something I hear a lot. It’s easy to forget that somethings arn’t universal when you hear them all the time.
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So, Australians do say “…on the barbie”. 😀 I always thought that phrase was just a Hollywood stereotype thing.
I really enjoyed your list of common words. Even though, I must say: Dog’s eyes and dead horse = meat pies and tomato sauce = the most awesome What did you just say? words ever.
“In my latest novel, the word ‘mate’ appears far too many times…” Do you feel like that word glows in the dark when you overuse it? I know when I commit word abuse, the overused word not only glows, but it’s also like someone’s shouting that word as I’m reading. 😆
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For sure we say on the barbie. Like for dinner we are having a barbie. I hear in a lot of US cooking shows that they ‘grill’ that is odd to me. A grills in the oven for toasted sandwiches. Yep. It does glow in the dark! Also I have a character constantly rolling his eyes and everyone nods. They all stand out. If people nodded as much as my characters do, then their heads would roll off!
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“If people nodded as much as my characters do, then their heads would roll off!” Hahaha! I know exactly how you feel.
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I’m quite familiar with “mate” and “cuppa”, as they’re commonly used in the UK as well (I lived there for several years). The first time I heard someone saying, “I’m going to have a lie-in tomorrow,” I wondered why (and how) in the world they were going to have a LION! 😀 “Blimey”, “crikey”, and “dodgy” became my favourite words.
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Ha! A lion! I snorted my tea through my nose. That’s great!! Oh yes I say dodgy about 20 times a day. I didn’t even think of that one. Its amazing how speech works. Blimey and crickey are 2 I did miss, but quintessentially Aussie! Excellent!
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Blimey! Hope you didn’t snort your whole cuppa! 😀 You use “dodgy” 20 times a day?! I’d like to work up to that. 🙂
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Imagine that! I certainly do. It’s surprisingly easy to work into everyday conversations. It’s in my writings a bit too. Which is a bit dodgy!
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Hahaha! It’s a little more tricky to work it into everyday conversations in Canada. 😉 As for “blimey”, I burst out laughing every time I heard someone saying that in the UK (no matter how serious the situation was).
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Yeah I can understand that! My dad says ‘Oh ear’ a lot and I can never help myself.
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‘Oh ear’? Is that supposed to mean ‘oh dear’?
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It’s used when you’re exasperated or don’t agree with something. ‘Oh ear!’ Or ‘oh ‘ere’ like of Bananas are dear you might say ‘oh ear’ I’m not buying those. Maybe another Aussie on here can shed some light?
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Thanks for the explanation! Another expression to add to my repertoire. 🙂
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Thanks for the homesick cure. Living in London and missing eating vegemite in thongs. Marmite just isn’t the same. That being said, I somehow picked up a lot of British sayings back in Straya too …
Loved the one about cockies – forgot we used the term for both.
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I’m so glad! It’s not just the Aussie accent. I think we have a way of speaking even if we arn’t talking in slang. I think you can pick it. Marmite. Urgh definitely not my thing either. Bit of toast, lots of butter and a little vegemite! I might have that for brekkie.
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Yeah it’s strange, I’ve been living in Airbnb for a while now and the visiting French and Italians have no problem talking to each other or the Brits- all in English, but when I speak? They look so puzzled … Combo of factors.
So jealous on the vegemite for brekkie! Enjoy 🙂
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Great post, Lisa. I love language, so it makes sense that this word-adventure would be fun. Since I write fantasy, I try to play with language and often make up my own words, including slang words and curses. It’s hard because the reader has to get the meaning without any hesitation. I can see why you didn’t go with “dog’s eyes and dead horse.” Ha ha.
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Oh gosh, me too! I often wonder about that in fantasy? Which I love by the way. I never quite got the hang of making made up word sound natural. When you write new words, Do they have origins in Latin or something? Or completely made up?
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I just go with the sound or use an attribute. I have an aligator type creature called a “crajek” and clear alcohol is called “spike.” When someone is drunk they’re “tippled.” It’s great fun, but there’s definitely a balance since I don’t want my readers to have to have to stop and translate. 😀
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Excellent advise! I love those too.
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Cute! I love the comment about prawns vs shrimp!
We hang u-turns and we hang louie’s (lefts). We hang a lot of turns.
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But why do you hang them? Thank goodness you added that Louie is left because thought what dos poor Louie do wrong?
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I do not know. So many phrases, I have no idea of the origin.
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I am well familiar with a lot if not all of those due to TV and friends over the years, and also a lot of it we use here in the North east of England -I like my choccy bikkies and chuck as opposed to throw or toss, which doesnt’ go down the same in the US I found, and loads of others. Loved that, but would you consider yourself a shiela? I am never clear is that that another colloq. or sexism?
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It depends on who says it and in what context. I’d be more offended is someone called me a chick then a Sheila. It’s not something that’s used day to day though unless your travelling ‘out the back of Bourke’ sorry couldn’t resist another one.
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I know that one, cos I googled lol.
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Nice post. I used to watch Heartbreak High and found the accents cool.
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Oh gosh Yes! I don’t care what anyone says that was a classic!
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Yeah it was cool!
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