Vegemite: A dark brown, gooey, salty vegetable yeast extract.The Lucky Country: Why, Australia, of course.Strine: Australian slang, from "Aus-strine", the way Aussies say Australian.general exclamation of disbelief or shock. Stone the crows: An exclamation of surprise.Spit The Dummie: A "dummie" is Australian for a child's pacifier.She'll be right: No problem, don't worry, mate.Shark biscuit: New surfers, grommets on boogie boards.Ripper: Pronounced "rippa" means beaut, tippy-tops, grouse.Ring, tingle: Phone someone up, as in "I'll give him a ring.".Right: Okay, as in "she'll be right, mate.".Reckon: Think, as in "Your shout or mine? What' ya reckon?".O.S.: Overseas, as in "she's gone O.S.".means "see ya later", make sure you don't say g'day when meaning goodbye - it's a dead giveaway you're not a true blue Aussie. "grouse birds (women), grouse band, in fact, grouse bloody gay and hearty (great party!)" Grouse: Rhymes with "house" - means outstanding, tremendous.
Indispensible during Aussie smalltalk - substitute "really, oh yeh, aha, etc." Good Onya: Omnipresent term of approval, sometimes ironic, offering various degrees of heartfelt congratulations depending on inflection.Good oil: Useful information, a good idea.Pronounced "gud-eye", usually followed by "mate" (mite) or a typically strung-together "howyagoinallright"(= how are you today, feeling pretty good?) G'day: Universal greeting, used anytime day or night, but never as a farewell.Galah: Noisy fool, named after the bird of the same name."Fair Dinkum, mate?" (you've got to be kidding, haven't you?) Often used by itself as a rhetorical question to express astonishment verging on disbelief. Fair Dinkum: Kosher, the real thing - as in "Fair Dinkum Aussie" (true blue Aussie original).
Australian lingo chook portable#
Australian lingo chook how to#
This guide should be viewed as an informal and fun introduction to some Australian idiosyncrasies, rather than a guide on how to communicate. So be warned when you are having a conversation with an Australian, you may not always be being asked a question – you may look a fool giving an answer.īe careful, an attempt to use some Australian slang will likely be viewed as an attempt to mock, rather than an attempt to speak the local dialect - However, it can never hurt to say "G'day, How are ya goin'" to an Aussie. Slang was almost always used by men because this lazy way of using the “Queens English” would have been considered very vulgar in its time.Īnother peculiarity is the tendency to speak with a rising intonation, which makes their sentences sound like questions. The origins are unclear, but it is fair to say there is a link through the original convicts from England. To add further frustration, some slang uses rhyming (just like English cockney slang) For example Captain Cook (referring to the English explorer who discovered Sydney) "Take a Captain Cook" means to take a look. To confuse things further, some Australians join several words together as one - like 'waddayareckon' (what do you reckon?) or owyagoin (how are you going?) and so on. The word derives from saying the word "Australian" through clenched teeth - a local accent that some scholars claim arose from the need to try and keep ones mouth closed when speaking, in order to keep the flies out…….įor those that are vacationing in Australia, true Aussie “Strine” can be quite difficult to understand, especially if you are in rural or outback Australia. Coastal Queensland & Great Barrier ReefĪustralian English is also referred to as "Strine".