Australian English

Unique Australian traits

1. Fair dinkum can mean are you telling me the truth?, or this is the truth!, or even this is ridiculous! depending on context. G’day is well known as an Australian greeting.
2. Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (e.g. Dingo, kangaroo).
3. Australian English has a unique set of diminutives formed by adding -o or -ie to the ends of (often abbreviated words). Examples with the -o ending include abo (aborigine – now considered very offensive), arvo (afternoon), servo (service station) and ambo (ambulance officer). Examples of the -ie ending include barbie (barbeque), bikkie (biscuit) and blowie (blowfly). Occasionally, a -za diminutive is used, usually for personal names. Barry becomes Bazza, Karen becomes Kazza and Sharon becomes Shazza.
4. Some unusual words are in common spoken usage – e.g. “dacks” (trousers), “dag” (unfashionable person), “ute” (a utility truck).

Australian English vocabulary

• ace – excellent, very good • aggro – aggressive; • arvo –  afternoon • bag – an ugly woman; • bang – sexual intercourse • bickie – biscuit. • big bickies – lots of money • bizzo – business (“Mind your own bizzo.”) • bodgy – of inferior quality  • bottler – something excellent • cackleberry – egg  • chook – a chicken • Chrissie – Christmas • chunder – vomit. • cranky – in a bad mood, angry • crunk – to get drunk • cut – angry or upset • dinkum – honest • doco – documentary • drongo – foolish person • footpath –  sidewalk or pavement. • franger – condom • g’day – good day, hello • good onya – good for you, well done • hooroo – goodbye lingo – language or dialect • norgs – tits • paro/parro/ pissed – drunk • pig’s arse – I don’t agree with you • preggo – pregnant • pissing down – raining heavy • Poof – homosexual, gay or a fag • quack – a doctor • rage – party • reckon – think • righto – okay or that’s right. • root – having sex • scrag – an unattractive woman • servo –  petrol station / gas station • sheila – woman • sherbet – beer. • stoked – very pleased • stuffed – exhausted, tired • sweet – fine, good • togs – swimming costume • uni – university • unit – flat, apartment • wag –to play truant • wog – flu • yarn – to talk

Aussiespeak

Aussiespeak needs an understanding of the Australian language, its idioms, terms, words, phrases… 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 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.  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. 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: Know a little bit of the local language. There are a number of Australian words and phrases, for which Americans, or people influenced by the American language, use different terms. To better understand the Australian languge, here’s a list of some common Australian words and phrases. While some of these words and phrases may be colloquial in usage, they are commonly used in spoken or written Australian. Britons will find the Australian language easier as the United Kingdom and Australia do have many similar, even identical, words and phrases commonly used. Particularly for North Americans (Canadians included), here are some common Aussie words and phrases to know:

bottle shop. Liquor store. bushranger. Outlaw, highwayman. cut lunch. Sandwiches. grazier. Cattle or sheep farmer. holidays (sometimes colloguially shortened to hols). Vacation. knock. Criticise. lamington. Sponge cake covered in chocolate and coconut. lolly. Candy. milk bar. Usually a general store. pavlova. Meringue and cream dessert. pictures. The movies, cinema, as in Let’s go to the pictures. shopstealing. Shoplifting. sunbake. Sunbathe.