FOCUS ON LANGUAGE

A BRIEF GUIDE

To key Australian slang words and phrases

“A” is for:
Aussie – the term Australians and foreigners use to describe the people down under.

“B” is for:
back o’bourke – in the middle of nowhere in the remote countryside;
banana bender – the term for residents of the tropical Queensland State, which once had a reputation for backwardness (supposedly the only skill of Queenslanders was to put the bend in a banana);
Bunyip – Australia’s version of the Yeti of Snowman;
bush – anywhere away from the city in Australia’s vast countryside.

“C” is for:
Captain Cook – Popular rhyming slang connected with the English explorer who discovered Sydney (“Take a Captain Cook” means to take a look);
chunder – vomit, or as it is also known in Australia, a technicolored yawn;
cooee – a bush signal that you are lost.

“D” is for:
dinkum, fair dinkum, dinky di – they all mean the same, which is honest, genuine, truthful, the real thing;
don’t come the raw prawn – don’t try to fool me;
drongo – an unintelligent and worthless person.

“E” is for:
earbash – to talk nonstop.

“F” is for:
fair go – to give someone a break, a fair hearing;
fair crack of the whip – a fair go.

“G” is for:
galah – a noisy parrot and used to describe someone who is noisy and makes no sense;
g’day – a traditional Australian greeting.

“H” is for:
hoon – a hooligan.

“I” is for
icy-pole – frozen lolly water or ice cream on a stick.

“J” is for:
joumo – a journalist.

“K” is for:
king hit – a punch delivered without warning.

“L” is for:
lair – a show-off;
larrikin – a ruffian.
lamington – sponge cake covered in chocolate icing and coconut.

“M” is for:
mate – the word heard most often, which can refer to men and women and is similar to saying, “Hello Sir;”
Mexicans – a term used by Queenslanders to describe other Australians who head north to take advantage in retirement in all-year warm weather.

“N” is for:
never-never – the remotest part of the countryside.

“O” is for:
ocker – a boorish Australian;
Outback – a remote part of the bush.
Oz – the term for Australia.

“P” is for:
Рот – an English person.
push – a gang of larrikins or ruffians.

“Q” is for:
Queenslander – a style of tropical homes.

“R” is for:
rat’s coffin – a meat pie, but don’t worry, there’s no rat meat in them.

“S” is for:
sheila – Australian for woman as in, “She’s a good sheila”;
strine – Australian slang.

“T” is for:
tucker – food;
two pot screamer – someone unable to hold their drink;
two-up – an Australian gambling game played with coins.

“U” is for:
ute – a pickup truck.

“V” is for:
vegemite – a sandwich spread, which many Australians carry around the world with them.

“W” is for:
walkabout – an aboriginal term meaning to wander;
whingeing Рот – the worst sort of Pom.

“X” is for:
XXXX – Four X, a popular Australian beer.

“Y” is for:
yakka – work;
yobbo – an uncouth and aggressive person;

“Z” is for:
zack – a five-cent coin.

By Brian Williams

COLLOQUIAL SAYNINGS

Match each colloquial saying with its meaning.

A. To ‘stir the possum’
B. To ‘have kangaroos in the top paddock’
C. ‘There’s no flies on him’
D. ‘Fair crack of the whip’
E. ‘Stop dragging the chain’
F. ‘emu parade’
G. ‘fit as a mallee bull’
H. ‘knuckle sandwich’
I. ‘not a brass razoo’
J. ‘Sydney or the bush’
K. ‘She’s Molly-dooked’
L. ‘Rafferty’s Rules’
M. ‘Up a gumtree’
N. To ‘have white ants in the billy’
O. ‘Don’t come the raw prawn with me’
P. ‘The Coathanger’
Q. ‘as bald as a bandicoot’
R. ‘It’s a bobby dazzler’
S. ‘To cop the crow’

1. to have a clean-up
2. left-handed
3. a punch in the mouth
4. no money at all
5. to be crazy
6. all or nothing
7. no rules at all
8. to liven things up
9. to be crazy
10. stop working or moving slowly
11. Be fair!
12. Sydney Harbour Bridge
13. It’s excellent or striking
14. very strong
15. in all sorts of trouble
16. You can’t trick him.
17. Don’t try and deceive me.
18. to get the worst part of the deal
19. with no hair at all

Answers:

A-8; B-5 or 9; C-16; D-11; E-10; F-1; G-14; H-3; I-4; J-6; K-2; L-7;M-15; N-5 or 9; O-17; P-12; Q-19; R-13 S-18