Next month, I’ll be knocking a major item off my international travel bucket list when I go down under. Susanne and I will be taking our honeymoon in Australia, hitting up as many of the local attractions as we can in the limited time that we are there.
I realize that saying I’m going to visit “Australia” is akin to saying I’m going to visit “Canada.” They’re both vast countries with vastly different things to see depending on where you are. Even so, we’re going to do our best. And while I don’t have to try and wing a foreign language like how I did in Taiwan, I also recognize that the vernacular Down Under can be a little different than what we speak around these parts.
It’s funny, because I still get odd looks from some of my American friends when I say I want a “pop,” because some of them are more inclined to call it a “soda” or, in some parts of the United States, a “coke” (even if it’s not cola). So, with that in mind, I thought I’d try to brush up on some of the Aussie-isms that I may encounter while traveling through Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney, and so on.
Yes, there is more to Australian slang than mate and crikey. Thankfully, since one of my co-workers back in the day is Australian, I’m already familiar with some of these terms. One thing that immediately jumps out is how they tend to like ending words in “y” or “ie” as in the case of “uni” (“yoo-nee” = university) or “footy” (“foot-ee” = Australian rules football, or football in general).
- dunny = toilet (usually outhouse, but not necessarily)
- arvo = afternoon
- barbie = bbq
- boot = trunk of car (same as UK)
- bonnet = hood of car(same as UK)
- windscreen = windshield
- jumper = sweater
- bluey = redhead (that’s a confusing one!)
- boomer = male kangaroo
- boozer = pub
- chewie = gum
- Back of Bourke = nowhere
- exy = expensive
- a fair go = a chance
- ute = utility vehicle (pickup truck)
- fourby = 4×4 (SUV)
- how you goin’? = how are you?
- good on ya = good for you
- she’ll be apples = don’t worry about it (or it will be fine)
- longneck = 750ml beer bottle
- mozzie = mosquito
- no worries = no problem (I use this too)
- in the nuddy = naked
- footpath = sidewalk
- Macka’s = McDonald’s
- oldies = parents
- sunnies = sunglasses
- Sheila = a woman
- tinny = can of beer
- yabber = talk a lot
Do you know any good Australian slang or lingo that might prove useful (or fun) during my trip? Let me know through the comments below.
I love Australia! I had my honeymoon in Sydney and Gold Coast.
I visited Movie World, Bondi Beach, the Blue Mountains, Sydney Opera House, and of course, climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge!
I love the weekend market in Sydney.
Amazing place, Australia!
Have fun too, Mr & Mrs Kwan!
I love the Aussie-isms! Probably the most popular one has to be barbie due to the popular expression about putting a shrimp on the barbie. A lot of those I didn’t know about. I particularly love boozer, tinny and yabber, lol.
-Jean
I’m sure you know this, but a lot of these Aussie-isms aren’t really used in practice. For example, I’ve never heard of “she’ll be apples”. Granted, I’m only 17, and spent the last 7 years of that outside of Australia, so there are a lot of slang words I haven’t heard.
One thing of note is that we’ll usually say “coke”, for a coke, and for Sprite or 7-Up, we say Lemonade.
Some of these, I would have never known were Australian slang: mozzy, sunnies, and “a fair go” especially.
Jumper is another one also used in the UK (there was some talk about this in relation to the first Harry Potter book, when it was getting translated).
I hope you two have a great honeymoon in Aus!
My Aussie friend has used “sunnies” with me on more than one occasion and I have heard “a fair go” from time to time too. It might be just a person-to-person thing. We have Canadian slang too, to be sure, but not everyone uses it to the same extent.
Oh, sorry, no. What I was saying is that I thought everyone called it that.
Sunnies, “fair go”, mozzy, I always thought that they were standard words.
Trolley’s another one I always thought was standard.
It’s amazing how these local dialects can become so standard one doesn’t even know that they’re dialectic words.
Nope, not particularly standard at all. Aside from my Aussie friend, I’ve never heard “sunnies” used by other English speakers. And I never heard mozzy ever until I started looking around the Internet for Aussie slang.
If someone said trolley to me, I think of a streetcar (cable car) and not of a shopping cart.
Huh, OK.
I think trolley may be part of British English too: I asked some British friends what they think of when I say trolley, and they understood it as either a shopping cart, or a pram. (In case pram is British and Aus English, that’s a baby stroller.)
They call a shopping cart a trolly and a flashlight a torch! have fun i am very jealous.
Ah yes, I know about torch. Did not know about trolley though. Thanks. 🙂
I also know that a lot of Aussie slang is the same as UK slang, like “hiring” a car rather than “renting” a car.
yep your right. I have a really good friend who lives in Adelaide. He was my best mate when we were working at a summer camp together. If you go to Adelaide you should let me know, He is the type to be friendly and show you around. His brother has a farm on Kangaroo island too.
I had to look up the “Pop” v “Soda” debate for you. Seems Pop is used in the Midwest and Northwest the most. I have always called it soda or Coke as I am from the East Coast, both north and south:
Pop vs Soda
Just finished watching president Obama in Australia giving a speech where he made an effort to use lots of Australian slang.
It was really fun.
Its going off like a frog in a sock, mate!…..Ive been flat out like a lizard drinking!
Squash means lime and lemonade, rather than cordial, and globes means light bulbs, too.
Dont whatever you do say ‘shrimp on the barbie’ unless you want a slap in the chops, they say prawns
So, i’m an Aussie, and I actually didn’t know that ute meant utility vehicle.
I always thought it was just a ute.
Wow.
Crying with laughter right now.
Hope you enjoyed your honeymoon!