BushArts.com - Aussie Speak
Speaking...
"Gedday mate! How they hangin? Fair dinkum, it's a stinker eh? She'll be apples. Chuck a few extra stubbies in the esky, grab some macca's, and head off to woop woop eh?".
Translation...
Hello! How are you? It is Genuinely hot. It will be alright. I will place some extra small bottles of beer in the portable cooler, eat some food from McDonalds restaurant, and travel far away.
Explanation...
Aussie speak! We don't really talk like that do we? Well... Just occasionally we might include a few "aussieisms" into our conversations, (always good to see the eyebrows lift in query), and for those that don't have a clue what we're on about, here's a brief list with explanations of some of the expressions an Australian may use.
- She'll be Apples ...It will be OK
- Ankle Biters ...Children
- Amber Fluid ...Beer
- Arvo ...Afternoon
- Australian Salute ...Swipe the Flies or insects away
- Back o' Bourke ...Way outback or Far far away
- Barbie ...Barbecue
- Bingle ...Motor Vehicle Accident
- Bloke ...Man
- Blue ...Fight
- Buckleys ...as in "buckleys and nunn"(an old department store) meaning "none" or no chance at all
- Cactus ...Dead
- Chunder ...Vomit
- Chuck ...Throw
- Come a gutser ...Fall over/down, crash
- Dog ...Ugly
- Esky ...Portable insulated cooler
- Fair Dinkum ...Genuine
- Fair Go ...Be fair
- Footy ...Football, code varies between states
- Gedday (G'Day) ...Good Day, as in "Hello"
- Hard Yakka ...Very hard work
- Hoon ...Acting the fool
- Knackered ...Tired, worn out
- Karcked it ...Dead
- Lizard Drinkin ...as in "Flat out like a Lizard Drinking"...or very Busy
- Mate ...Friend or Partner
- Maccas ...McDonalds Restaurants
- Mexican ...Anyone South of the Queensland state border
- Mug ...Face
- Onya ... Good on you
- Piece of piss ...easy
- Pigs Arse ...That is not true
- Piss ...Alcohol
- Rego ...Vehicle Registration
- Roo ...Kangaroo
- Rug up ...Get Warm
- Sanger ...Sandwich
- Sheila ...Female
- Sickie ...Day off
- Slab ...Box of beer
- Spud ...Not Good
- Stubby ...Small bottle of beer
- The Box ...Television
- Togs ...swimming costume
- Tits on a Bull ...as in as useful as, meaning "useless"
- Turps ...Alcohol
- White Pointers ...Nipples
- Wog ...Influenza
- Wombat ...A Wombat eats roots and leaves
- Woop Woop ...far away
So next time you here an Australian drop into "aussiespeak", perhaps you may have some idea of what really has been said.
Some variations will occur between different Australian states in translation, and most of the above can be used in more than one context. There are other sites out there with more involved listings, including the ruder ones, so for further resources in this topic, search on google.com using "Aussie Slang" as the search term. Keep in mind that many of the above have an original "Cockney" or old English heritage.
ps... we know of NO Australian to ever say they'll "chuck another shrimp on the barbie!", other than in American TV adverts.