I don't quite get the connection?
Aussie = alternate spelling Ozzy. Shortened = Oz.
Ozzy is how you Americans are supposed to say Aussie. (like Ozzy Osbourne) not Ossy like I hear on American news programs all the time :flipoff:
Same goes for our famous large bird the Emu. Its pronounced Eeem-you not Eee-moo :kiss3:
Oh.... I thought the famous large 'bird' was dame Edna ! ;)
I always pronounced it "Aw-stray-lee-ah" and so "aw-see".
Far be it from me to tell a peoples how to pronounce themselves, so Ozzy it is from now on. :thumb:
Accent really does play a major role in pronunciation, so you can't rightly blame anyone. I pronounce Honda "Hahn-duh". I've heard Britains pronounce it "Hawn-dah". Which is right? Only the man who has the name can say.
Like, we've all seen .gif file extensions, right? How is it pronounced? G like "Guss" and "if" makes "gif", right? Nope. According to the person who developed the format, it's a "jif"... Like the peanut-butter.
The famous American M1-Garand rifle. "Gah-rand", right? Nope. "Gare-and" like the word "errand" with a G in front.
Jif eh? ... I've always said the guss one... Was he French? Lol
Honda ... Hon like Bon .. Hon Duh!
A gerrand? ... Sounds like a Nz'er bro!
Some others ...
Nissan ... I say it like piss ... Niss -un ... Heard a lot of Yankees say nee-sarn though..
Ostrich ... Short O like orange .. Rest of it like fridge kinda ...O- Strij
Heard a hell funny one on QI (British panel/talking heads/comedy?) show .. one night
Something like this ... "If I was in Malaysia or nearby ... And someone offered me Oleng Tsu .... What would I receive if I said yes?" ...... After some deliberation it was revealed.... (Found the YT vid! ... About 3:25 but the whole thing is amusing)
This will answer all your questions about Aissie/Oz/Ozzie Slang
http://www.byronit.com/slang.htm
And if you are really bored here is some more below
Aussie Glossary
Aussie Words Definitions Comments
a over t Arse over tit, head over heels
A'sia Australasia (Australia plus New Zealand)
abo Derogatory slang for Aborigine
act Pretending to be something you're not
aerial pingpong Australian Rules football
agates Testicles
aggro Aggressive
alf Stupid person
alligator Freshwater crocodile (So those early pommies were no naturalists!)
amber fluid Beer
ankle biter Small child
antipodes Places on exactly opposite sides of the earth
ANZAC Soldier from Australia New Zealand Army Corps
apple eater Resident of Tasmania
apples, she'll be It'll be alright
arvo Afternoon
Aussie (pronounced "ozzie") Australian
Aussie salute Brushing away flies with the hand
avagoyermug Traditional rallying call, often heard at cricket matches (contraction of "Have
avos Avocados
award wage Minimum pay rate
B & S Bachelors and Spinsters Ball - a dance cum piss-up Sorry, the perils of a Latin education (cum = with, in Latin)
B-bows (Old fashioned) hand shears The spring between the 2 blades is shaped like a letter B
back of beyond Far away in the outback
back of Bourke The middle of nowhere
backblocks The remote interior of the country
bag Lady who is not particularly pleasant
bail (somebody) up To corner somebody physically
bail out Depart, usually angrily
bail up Hold up, rob, earbash Comes from dairy farming - 'crushing' cows for milking
ball-tearer Wonderful thing
banana bender Resident of Queensland
bandicoot Australian marsupial - pointy nose, size of large rat Adoption of Indian (Telegu) word 'pandikokku' = 'pig-rat' = bandicota indica
barbie (barbecue) Like a cook out Spanish origin, 'barbacoa, from Arawak language
Barcoo Far outback (Barcoo R. region of western Queensland)
barney Fight or scuffle
barrack To cheer on a team at a sporting event Can also mean: banter, provocative or derisive language - cognate ... but to ... not derived from borak?
bastard General form of address which can mean practically anything from highest praise
bathers Swimming costume (Victoria and South Australia)
battler Hard trier, struggler
bear Colonial era: (native) bear = koala Koala is a marsupial, not a bear
beaut, beauty, bewdie Very good
belt up! Shut up!
berko Angry
bible basher Minister, or any proselytising Christian
bickie Dollar
big mobs Large amount, heaps
big-note oneself Brag, boast
bikies Motorcyclists
bikkie Biscuit (also "it cost big bikkies" - it was expensive)
billabong An ox-bow river or watering hole East coast Aboriginal languages = dead water
billy Large tin can used to boil water over a campfire for tea
bities Biting insects
bitumen Surfaced road
bitzer Mongrel dog (bits of this and bits of that)
bizzo Business ("mind your own bizzo")
black stump, beyond the A long way away, the back of nowhere
black velvet (Originally illicit) relations of white male and black female
block Block has a few meanings but the more Aussie one is your head
bloke Person, usually a male
bloody All-purpose intensifying adjective
bloody oath! That's certainly true
blooming Low level intensive (not quite bloody!)
blow in the bag Have a breathalyzer test
blowie Blow fly
bludge Not doing anything or getting things from others
bludger Lazy person
blue A fight
blue a cheque Spend your wages in a glorious booze-up (NOT = blew!) Thus "Blued his cheque" not "Blew his cheque"
blue, make a Make a mistake
bluey A swag, blanket roll Army blankets were grey-blue wool
bluey Blue cattle dog (named after its subtle markings)
bluey Traffic ticket or redhead person
board The timber floor on which sheep are shorn in a shearing shed
bodgy Of inferior quality This is from earlier word 'bodger' - self-employed woodworker
bonzer Great, ripper
boobook Australian bird - ninox novaeseelaniae - in the owl family, but more like a stur
boogie board A hybrid, half-sized surf board
boomer Very large; a particularly large male kangaroo
boomerang Curved flat wooden instrument used by Aborigines for hunting Throwing stick: hunting boomerangs don't return. Returning type a thrown to scare birds down to the ground where they are caught.
booze Alcohol, usually beer
booze bus Police vehicle used for catching drunk drivers
boozer A pub Also a drinker
borak (Borack, borax) nonsense, emphatic negation Pidgin, from Wathwurung burag ... not from barrack...?
bored shitless Very bored
boss of the board Shearing contractor or supervisor
bottle shop Liquor shop
bottle-o Liquor shop Also a dealer in second hand bottles
bottler Something excellent
bottling, his blood's worth He's an excellent, helpful bloke
bowyang (boyang) Cord, thong or strap round trouser leg, below knee Brit. Dialect 'booyang'
brass razoo, he hasn't got a He's very poor
breaker Specialist horse tamer/trainer Pen-name of poet Harry 'Breaker' Morant
brekkie Breakfast
brick shaZam! house, built like a Big strong bloke
brizzie Brisbane, state capital of Queensland
brolga Australian native crane - elaborate courtship dance resemble 'quadrille', square
brown-eyed mullet A turd in the sea (where you're swimming!)
brownie (browny) Sweetened currant bread - a 'bush' treat
brumby A wild horse
buck's night Stag party, male gathering the night before the wedding
Buckley's No chance at all
Buckley's, Buckley's chance No chance ("New Zealand stands Buckley's of beating Australia at football")
bug (Moreton Bay bug) Small crab
bull bar Stout bar fixed to the front of a vehicle to protect it against hitting kangaroo Or bulls!
bull dust Fine and sometimes deep dust on outback roads
bullamanka Imaginary place even beyond back of Bourke, way beyond the black stump
bullock Ox A castrated bull used as a draught animal
bullocky, bullockie Bullock driver - carter operating with a team of bullocks and a dray
bun in the oven Pregnant
bundy Short for Bundaberg, Queensland, and the brand of rum that's made there
bung Crook, broken Eastern Aboriginal = dead
bunny Rabbit, a mug, a swindler's victim 3rd sense cognate with 18th c. London sense of 'coney'
bunyip Mythical outback creature Inhabits swamps and billabongs
burl Have a try, as in "give it a burl" Scots dialect: burl = twirl, spin ... Aussie usage via two-up call 'give it a burl' = have a bet, chance your arm
bush Somewhere in the country or away from the city It's all either "Sydney ... or the bush"
bush telegraph Gossip network
bush tucker Native foods, usually in the outback
bushbash Force one's way through pathless bush
bushie Someone who lives in the Bush
bushranger Highwayman, outlaw Originally (c. 1788) a 'trusty' convict given a gun and told to go an shoot something for food .. Oddly enough, a lot of them did not come back - at least until they ran out of powder and shot!
bushwhacker Someone living rough in the Bush Not an ambusher - the US sense
butcher's To look
BYO Bring Your Own (booze to a restaurant, meat to a barbecue, etc
caaarn! Traditional rallying cry at football games (contraction of "Come on!")
cabbage tree hat Hat sewn from coil of plaited cabbage tree palm leaf Proverbially tough and long-lasting ... very expensive ... the badge of the native-born colonial
camp oven Large, cast-iron pot with a lid, for cooking on an open fire
Captain Cook To have a look
cark it To die, cease functioning
cask Wine box Australian "invention" - first ones were a collapsing sack inside a tinplate cylinder painted with a cask stave pattern (c. 1966/7?)
cheque Payment for the season's/job's work (US 'check')
chiko roll Australian junk food
choke a darkie Defecate
chokkie Chocolate
chook A chicken (adult domestic fowl / hen)
chrissie Christmas
Christmas See Bourke Street
chuck a sickie Take the day off sick from work when you're perfectly healthy
chuck a u-ey Make a U-turn
chunder Vomit, drive the porcelain bus, kerbside quiche, pavement pizza, liquid laugh, r
clay pan Dry salt lake bed
Clayton's Fake, substitute
cleanskin Unbranded cattle
click Kilometre - "it's 10 clicks away"
cliner Girlfriend of a city larrikin, c. 1900 (from German 'kleine')
clip Entirety of the season's wool shorn from sheep
clobber Clothes; to hit
cobber Friend
cobbler Tough, old, wrinkled sheep you shear last (if at all) / the last sheep in a run Cobblers' last - sort of rhyming slang
cockie Farmer
cockroach A person from New South Wales
cocky Small-scale farmer Earlier: 'cockatoo farmer'
coldie A beer
colonial experience man (Usually) English apprentice grazier - working for keep, but learning the coloni
combo White man cohabiting with Aboriginal woman (Illegal, in early 20th c., under "Native Protection Act")
come a gutser Make a bad mistake, have an accident
come good Turn out all right
compo Workers' Compensation pay
conk To hit someone (archaic)
cooee Bush greeting
cooee, not within Figuratively a long way away, far off - England weren't within cooee of beating
coolabah Type of box eucalyptus tree Not actually providing much shade (Paterson's irony)
coolgardie safe Box for storing perishable foods, cooled by non-mechanical evaporation
copper Policeman
cornstalk (Old - colonial period) name for New South Wales resident - refers to height of
corroboree Aboriginal meeting, with ceremonial dancing
counter lunch Pub lunch
counter meal, countery Pub meal
cove The boss of a station (~ ranch) - the cove in charge ... A bit more polite than the Cockney sense of 'rogue'
cow Also means anything that is difficult
cow cocky Small-scale cattle farmer
cozzie Swimming costume (New South Wales)
cradle (noun & verb) (wash auriferous soil in) riffled tub on curved feet to separate out the gold
cranky In a bad mood, angry Varies state to state + means 'crazy', 'eccentric' in Tasmania
cream (verb) Defeat by a large margin
creek A (usually) seasonal watercourse Not the Scots sense of a bay or inlet on a coast - close to the US sense
crook Ill, badly made, substandard
crow eater A person from South Australia
cut lunch Sandwiches
cut snake, mad as a Very angry
dag A funny person, nerd, goof
dag, daggy Dirty lump of wool at the back end of a sheep, also an affectionate or mildly ab
daks Trousers
damper Bush loaf made from flour and water cooked in a camp oven
Darling pea Staggers (usually the stock) from eating poisonous plant Appears in 'All For My Grog'
dead horse Tomato sauce
deadset True, the truth
deli Delicatessen
demon Policeman, detective Originally a Tasmanian (Vandemonian) ex-convict recruited into the colonial police force
dero Tramp, hobo, homeless person (from "derelict")
didgeridoo Cylindrical musical instrument played usually by Aboriginal men Women are forbidden to play didge in Aboriginal culture because the muscular contractions of playing can cause abortion ... !
digger A soldier - typically from Australia or New Zealand Term is a goldrush legacy
dill Idiot
dillybag Small bag to carry things
dingo Australian native dog, (tranf.) an untrustworthy person or coward
dinkum, fair dinkum Genuine or honest
dinky-di The real thing, genuine
dipstick A loser, idiot
divvy van Police divisional van
do your nana Lose your rag, spit the dummy, lose your temper
dob (somebody) in Inform on somebody
docket A bill, receipt
doco Documentary
dog Unattractive woman
dole bludger Somebody on social assistance when unjustified
don't come the raw prawn Don't try to fool me
donah A girl, to a city larrikin, c. 1900 (from Portugese 'dona' ?)
donger pee pee
donk Car or boat engine
doodle pee pee
doozey Something very pleasant
doughboy Flour dumpling British dialect / navy slang
down south The rest of Australia, according to someone north of Brisbane, Queensland
Down Under Australia and New Zealand
drink with the flies To drink alone
drinking down the cheque Drinking alcohol ontil all the wages have been squandered
drive the porcelain bus Vomit
drongo Worthless or stupid person North Australian bird that flies south (towards colder regions!) in summer ...?
drover Person driving large herds of cattle or sheep across Australia
drum Information, tip-off ("I'll give you the drum")
drum (hump the) (Carry a) swag
Dry, the Dry season in the north, April to November
duco Car paint Brand name
duffer, cattle Rustler
dukies (and duchesses) Pickpockets Earn their living with their 'dooks'
dummy, spit the Get very upset at something
dungarees Workingman's clothes/overalls Named for a coarse Indian calico (Hindi 'dungri') ... a social indicator in colonial days
dunny Outdoor lavatory
dunny budgies Blow flies
dunny rat, cunning as a Very cunning
durry Cigarette
earbash Non-stop talk
eastern states The rest of Australia, according to someone in Western Australia
Enzedder New zealander
esky Large insulated box for keeping beer cool
evo Evening
ewe Female sheep, corruption is 'yoe' or similar
exy Expensive
fair crack of the whip! Fair go!
fair dinkum Genuine or honest
fair go A chance ("give a bloke a fair go")
fairy floss Candy floss, cotton candy
FIGJAM F*ck I'm good; just ask me
financial To be flush with cash
FJ Most revered Holden car
flake Shark meat, used in fish and chips
flaming All-purpose intensifying adjective (A safer "f" word)
flash Very fancy, overly fashionable ('lairy') "Flash as a rat with a gold tooth"
flat out As fast as possible
floater Meat pie floating in pea soup, viewed by Australians either as a great delicacy or as a great emetic
flog Sell; steal This once meant to pawn, back in the '50s/early '60s - I remember people baulking at my use of the sense steal ...
footy Australian Rules football
fossick To hunt for gemstones Or gold ... or any other mineral ...
fossicking Searching, rummaging ("fossicking through the kitchen drawers")
freckle Anus
from arsehole to breakfast All over the place
fruit loop Fool
full Drunk
furphy A rumour or a false story
g'day A greeting
gaffer (Lesser) Boss ... usually a supervisor or shed boss N. English dialect - US usage is head lighting tech on film set ... thus "gaffer tape" - specially made to hang film lights from rough surfaces
galah Noisy parrot, thus noisy idiot
game Brave
gander Have a look
gaol Australian and British variant spelling of "jail"
garbo Garbage collector
garbo, garbologist Municipal garbage collector
gibber, gibby Stony desert (that's originally a 'gibber plain' or 'gibber country - 'gibber' i Sydney region Aboriginal word for stone (Dharuk - 'giba')
gidgee Rough, dry country, characterized by tough acacia scrub called gidgee Aboriginal (Yuwaalaraay) word for 'spear wood'
give it a burl Try it, have a go
give it away Give up
goanna Australian monitor lizard Adaptation of S. American 'iguana'
going "troppo" Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane
good oil, good gits Useful information, a good idea, the truth Good guts?
good on ya! Well done!
good on you Good for you, well done
good possie Advantageous position
grazier Large-scale sheep or cattle farmer
greenhide Tough, untanned leather Equivalent to US "rawhide"
greenie Environmentalist
grizzle To complain
grog General term for alcohol, but typically beer Interestingly, it was originally RN term for rum, watered down to prevent sailors saving their ration up for a bender (after Admiral Grogham)
grouse Very good, unreal
gum sucker Resident of Victoria
gumtree Eucalyptus Smoothbarked eucalypt, not a stringybark or messmate
gun Champion (shearer)
Gunyah Aboriginal temporary shelter (also gunya, guneah, gunney &c) Aboriginal (Dharuk): 'ganya'
gutzer Some plans don't work out or to have an accident (to come a gutzer)
gyno Gynaecologist
handle Beer glass with a handle
hard yacka Hard work
hatter Person living alone and rough in the bush - maybe crazy "Mad as a HATTER"
heaps A lot
hire To rent, as "to hire a car"
his nibs The boss
homestead Residance of a station (ranch or farm) owner or manager
hooley Wild party
hooly-dooly An expression of surprise
hoon Idiot, hooligan, yahoo
hooroo Goodbye
hotel Often just a pub
hottie Hot water bottle
how are ya? Standard greeting
hq Second most revered Holden car
hump To carry
humping bluey Carrying a swag, travelling rough and light (looking for work - or tucker)
humpy Temporary, makeshift dwelling (originally Aboriginal shelter, gunyah) Aboriginal (Jagara): 'yumbi
icy pole Popsicle, lollypop Ice block, where I came from
identity Celebrity
iffy Doubtful, questionable
illywacker A con man who preyed on the gullible at country shows/fairs
in full feather In fine health
in yer boot! An expression of disagreement (archaic)
it's a goer Something that will definitely occur
Jack Shay (Jack Shea) Quart pot, metal drinking vessel / container Rhymes (to the Irish) with tea (pot)
jack-in-the-box Person who can't sit still
jackaroo A male station hand (a station is a big farm/grazing property) In station life, Jackaroo has long meant an Englishman getting 'colonial experience' (often not paid ... but ate with the magager, not the men!) [Originally, ie very early colonial, it meant a white man living beyond the boundary of settlement - possibly Aboriginal word 'dhugai-iu', (Jagara)]
jillaroo A female station hand
jingoes! Exclamation of wonder
jocks Men's or boys' underpants
Joe Blake Snake (rhyming)
Joe Bloggs The average citizen
joey Baby kangaroo, still in the pouch Originally baby possum - trans. to kangaroo, then any young marsupial ... eventually comes to mean child!
johnny cake Small, thin, loaf of damper (bush bread) Trans. from US flat oat cake
journo Journalist
jumbuck Sheep Probably an Aboriginal word for 'cloud' or 'mist' (a distant mob of sheep?)
jumped-up Full of self-importance; arrogant
kanga or kangaroo Shoe
keen as mustard Enthusiastic
kelpie Australian sheepdog originally bred from Scottish collie Breed is descended from champion short-haired collie named 'Kelpie'
kerb Alternative Australian and British spelling of "curb"
kerbside quiche Vomit
kerfuffle Argument
kero Kerosene
kick To share or join in
kick-in To provide your share
kindie Kindergarten
king brown Type of venomous snake or tall bottle of beer
kip Sleep or nap
kiwi New zealander
knackered Worn out, rooted
knackers Testicles (also love spuds, nuts, nads)
knock To criticise
knock back Refusal (noun), refuse (transitive verb)
knocker One who criticises
kombi Multi-purpose van-like vehicle, often modified so the back seats were folded dow
koori Aborigine (mostly south of the Murray River) Also all of NSW (except for Yuin in south east) ... Murri -then Bama to north in Queensland - Yura, then Nunga to west, in South Australia
lair Layabout, hooligan
lairise To behave in a vulgar, flamboyant manner
lamb-brained Stupid
lamington Sponge cake cut into squares, covered in chocolate and coconut
larrikin Ruffian or hoodlum, but viewed with some admiration
lay-by To put a deposit on an article so a shop will hold it
licensed Legally permitted to sell alcoholic drinks
like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge Lonely and vulnerable
lingo The language
lippy Lipstick
liquid laugh Vomit
lob, lob in Drop in to see someone ("the rellies have lobbed")
lollies Candy or sweets
lolly Money
London to a brick Absolute certainty ("it's London to a brick that taxes won't go down")
loo Lavatory or toilet English, 19th c. (Water)loo
lot The whole thing
lubra Aboriginal woman Aboriginal word (se Tasmania) 'lubara'
lucky country, the Australia, where else?
lurk Scheme, sometimes viewed with envy
ma stater Resident of New South Wales
mad Crazy (seldom means anger)
Mallee Remote bushland of Victoria, low scrub
manchester Household linen
mate This usually means a friend but it can be used to talk about or to anyone - even
mate's rate, mate's discount Cheaper than usual for a "friend"
matey with Familiar or friendly with
matilda The belongings of a swagman, wrapped in a blanket or bedroll
meat safe Ventilated fly-proof cage for storing meat carcasses without refrigeration
merino Breed of sheep with fine strands of fleece
metho Methylated spirits Denatured alcohol/rubbing alcohol
Mexican A person from south of the (Queensland) border
mickey mouse Excellent, very good
middy 285 ml beer glass (New South Wales)
milk bar Corner general store Not NSW usage - corner shop had to have milk licence, but a 'milk bar' was principally a (milk & soft) drink shop ... almost = US "drug store"
milko Milkman
mob Family or herd (?) of kangaroos / herd of sheep or cattle (transference ?)
mob Group of person or things (not necessarily unruly)
moke Horse (not a good one!) Original meaning was donkey
mole (native) Platypus ... to a Pom who isn't any sort of naturalist
moleskin(s) Trousers of moleskin (untwilled cotton fustian fabric) Typical sailors' wear on British sailing ships
moll Girl(friend), disreputable girl, tart, Dona
mongrel Despicable person
mopoke Australian bird ninox novaeseelaniae - in the owl family, but more like a sturdy
mozzie Mosquito
muddy Mud crab (a great delicacy)
mug Friendly insult ("have a go, yer mug"), gullible person
mug One's face
mull Grass (the kind you smoke)
mull up Roll a joint and smoke it
murphy Potato
naff Ridiculous, useless
nana Banana
nark Spoilsport
narked Annoyed
naughty, have a Have sex
neddies Horses
Never Never The Outback, centre of Australia
new chum New arrival or immigrant
nick To steal
nick out Go somewhere for short period of time
nipper Young surf lifesaver Also any youngster (generally male)
nit Fool or idiot Also nitwit
no hoper Hopeless case
no shortage of oscar To be flush with money
no worries! Everything will be fine!
no-hoper Somebody who'll never do well
nobbler Glass or drink of liquor
noise off Speak loudly
north island Mainland Australia, according to someone in Tasmania
northern summer Summer in the Northern Hemisphere
not the full quid Not bright intellectually
nuddy, in the Naked
nulla-nulla Wooden club used by Aborigines
num-nums Tasty food
ocker Uncultivated or boorish Australian
off-sider Assistant or partner
oil Information
old man Large (animal) as in 'old man kangaroo ... by tranference (and pidgin use?) = large Old Man Plain', in "Across the Western Plains", means 'the big, wide plain'.
oldies Parents - "I'll have to ask my oldies"
on a good lurk To have a good job
open slather Without restrictions
OS Overseas
outback The bush, or uncivilised uninhabited region
overlander A drover, herding cattle or sheep hundreds of miles over land
owyergoin How are you going? Often used with "g'day" and "Mate"
oy! An ocker's call; hey!
oyo On your own (flat or apartment)
Oz Australia, as in Oz-tralia
packed out Filled to capacity
packet Large some of money, an envelope
paddock Field or meadow In Australia, that COULD be 1000 square miles!
pademelon, paddymelon Small (potorid) wallaby ... Aboriginal word (Dharuk - 'badimaliyan') Confused with inedible African cucurbit, growing feral in Australia - 'Paddymelon'
pally On friendly terms with
paper yabber Letter
parcel Package
pash Passion, infatuation
pastoralist Large-scale grazier
patent pill machine Revolver Image goes back to loading a cap-and-ball revolver
pav Pavlova - a rich, creamy Australian dessert
pavement pizza Vomit
pavlova Traditional Australian meringue and cream dessert, named after Russian ballerina
pearler Excellent (Purler?)
peel Shear (a sheep) "Peel the wooly overcoats of those monkeys!)
peeler policeman (Anglo-Irish, from Sir Rober Peel)
pen Shearing position or job (= 'stand')
perve (noun & verb) Looking lustfully at the opposite sex
pester Annoy or bother someone (Standard English?)
petrol Gasoline
piccaninny Native child (International colonial) W. Indian creole from Spanish 'pequeno'
piece of piss Easy task
piffle Nonsense
pig's arse! I don't agree with you
piker Someone who doesn't want to fit in with others socially, leaves parties early
pinch To arrest
pineapple, rough end of Stick, sharp end of; misfortune
pink (verb) Shear closely (so close that the pink skin shows through the wool)
pinkie Wine - local - young (bit short of the Beaujolais mystique) Term occurrs in song 'Ard tac', inter alia
pint pot Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy Sometimes fits snugly inside the quart pot - horsemen's model is oval to pack better in saddlebag
piss Alcohol, usually beer
piss turn, piss up Boozy party
piss weak No good, gutless
pissed Drunk
pissed off Annoyed
pivot on Consider
plant the foot (to the floorboards) Drive fast
plonk Cheap wine (contemptuous contraction of "vin blanc")
plurry (alledged) pidgin for "bloody" The Oxford blames this one on the New Zealanders and Maoris?
poddy dodger Cattle rustler Strictly, someone pinching unbranded calves from careless neighbours
poker machine, pokies Slot machine or fruit machine but with playing card pips
polly Politician
pom, pommy English person Imperfect rhyming slang = pomegranate - 'immy-granate'
pommy bastard An Englishman
poofter Homosexual
port Suitcase (portmanteau) Not a Sydney term - common everywhere else
possie Position
postie Postman, mailman
pot 285 ml glass of beer (Victoria and Queensland) And the Sydney Journalist's Club
pozzy Position - get a good pozzy at the football stadium
prad A horse (From Dutch 'paard')
prang Accident or crash
prezzy Present, gift
prog Food Old Englis, ex Norse
pub Any hotel
puddle Wash soil in tubs or troughs for gold ('often preparatory to cradling')
push Group or gang of people, such as shearers
putt-putt Any small vehicle
QANTAS Acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service
quack Doctor, especially if not very good
quart pot Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy
quick smart In a hurry
quid, make a Earn a living - "are you making a quid?"
quid, not the full Of low IQ
quids A lot of money
rabbiter Person trapping, poisoning or shooting rabbits for pay, bounty or skins
rage Party
rainbow sneeze Vomit
rapt Delighted, enraptured
ratbag Someone who does not behave properly
raw prawn, to come the To bullshit, to be generally disagreeable
razoo Fictitious coin, as "I haven't a brass razoo"
reckon! You bet! Absolutely!
red poppy The one at the top whom Aussies like to give a hard time Tall poppy (syndrome)?
rego Registration, as in car rego
rellie Family relative
remittance man (Generally) Englishman whose family are prepared to pay him to not to come home
rhino Money (real money, not the cockies' 'shinplasters'!)
ridgy-didge Original, genuine
right Okay ("she'll be right, mate")
ring-in Impostor, unauthorised
ringer Fastest sheep shearer
ringer (Queensland) Stockman, cattle drover (required to "ring, mill & circle cattle")
ripper Great, fantastic
road train Big truck with many trailers
roly-poly Australian tumbleweed (roley-poley, rolly-polly)
roo Kangaroo
roo bar Metal frame on front of vehicles to protect against kangaroo strikes
root Have sexual intercourse
rooted Tired
ropable Very ill-tempered or angry
rotten Drunk ("I went out last night and got rotten")
rouseabout, rousie General stationhand / non-shearing shed-hand
RS Lousy (rat shaZam!)
rubbish To criticize or tease
rug up Dress for warmth
rum cull Rich fool, an easy mark 17/18th c. London street slang
run A station - a large country agricultural property
ryebuck Genuine, fair dinkum
sack To dismiss from a job
sack Bed: "Hit the sack" = go to bed Also (usually a sleeping bag) "fart sack"
safe Storage box/cupboard for food See also Coolgardie safe
salute, aussie Brushing flies away
salvo Member of the Salvation Army
sandgroper Resident of Western Australia; sand-burrowing desert insect
sanger A sandwich
Sawbees Brand of hand-shears used for shearing sheep Spelling?
scallops Fried potato cakes (Queensland and New South Wales), shellfish (elsewhere) The shellfish often distinguished as "Tasmanian" scallops" ... except in Tasmania or Victoria
scheme System or method (no negative connotation) Or project ... I worked on the Snowy Mts Scheme in the '60s
school Group of drinkers, each of whom buys a round
schooner Large beer glass (New South Wales, South Australia)
scratchy Instant lottery ticket
screamer Party lover; "two pot screamer" - somebody who gets drunk on very little alcohol
scrub Can be the same as the bush or it can mean areas in the country without many tall trees
sea wasp Deadly box jellyfish
sealed road Surfaced road
see you in the soup See you around
selector Farmer who was able to freely choose a small parcel of Government land
semitrailer Articulated truck
septic Disparaging term for an American ("septic tank" rhymes with "Yank")
servo Petrol station
session Lengthy period of heavy drinking
SFA Sweet f%$k All, precious little Actually started as Sweet Fanny Adams: Frances Adams, murdered and chopped up, c. 1870 (RN term for canned meat!)
shark biscuit Somebody new to surfing
she'll be right! Everything will be fine!
she-oak Tree (wood of which) vaguely resembling a European oak, the 'she' meaning inferi Dead right - but don't try to explain that to a feminist ...
shed Shearing shed - major structure on large wool property Rung the shed', means shearing top tally for that property, that season
sheila Female or woman
shellacking Complete defeat
shinplasters Cheque for wages (surreptiously baked to make paper brittle) . Workers often wrapped them around their ankles, under their socks, to keep them moist and intact
shirty To get upset or angry
shivoo Rowdy party (archaic)
shonky Unreliable
shoot through To leave or disappear in a hurry
shout Turn to buy - a round of drinks usually ("it's your shout")
shove off! Go away!
sickie Day off work ill, or malingering
silk shirt on a pig Something wasted
silvertail Well off, usually English, settler (European silvertail pigeon, contrasted with
sink the boot Go in hard
skint Broke
skite Boast, brag
sky pilot Minister, bush missionary (early 20th c.)
slab 24 cans (tinnies) of beer, shrink-wrapped as a unit
sleepout House verandah converted to a bedroom
slog Hard work
smoko Smoke or tea break
snag Sausage
snagger Inexpert, slow or worn out shearer
sook Person or animal who is soft, tame, inoffensive
spag bol Spaghetti bolognese
sparrow-fart Dawn, first light
spider (19th c.) Brandy mixed with lemonade
spider (20th c.) Aerated soft drink plus ice cream (~ US 'soda'?) NOT Sydney - lime soft drink + ice cream = 'Ice cream, lime & soda', no other spiders served
spieler Carnival spruiker - con artist - swindler (Originally a US term)
spit the dummy Get very upset at something
sport More general way to refer to someone rather than a mate
sprung Caught doing something wrong
spunk A good looking person (of either sex)
square Honest, respectable
square face Gin (comes in square bottles)
square off Apologise and make reparations
square up Prepare to fight (as in boxing)
squatter Large landowner who originally occupied land as a tenant of the government
squattocracy Australian "old money" folk, who made their fortunes by being first on the scene
stand Shearing position, shearing job
station A big farm/grazing property
sticky beak Nosy person
stinger Deadly box jellyfish
stockman Station hand (rural worker) herding cattle
stockwhip Plaited leather lash on a (usually) cane handle used by stockmen and drovers Plaiting and whipcraft are important Australian bush skills
stood Shouted, paid for as a gift
strewth! It's the truth! An exclamation, often of surprise
strides Daks, trousers
strike a light! An exclamation, of surprise or as an intensifive
strine Australian slang and pronunciation (Or-strine = Australian ... badly nasalised!)
stringybark Shaggy-barked eucalypt, its timber (proverbially tough) or its bark used as roof
stubby 375 ml bottle of beer
stubby holder Polystyrene insulated holder for a stubby
stuff Money, the payment for a job (Capt. Of the Push / Cockies of Bungaree)
stuffed, I feel I'm tired
stuffed, I'll be Expression of surprise
sunbake Sunbathe
sunnies Sunglasses
surfies People who go surfing - usually more often than they go to work!
surfy Surfing fanatic
swag Canvas-covered bedroll used in the outback or for camping (modern usage) Traditionally, a swagman's belongings wrapped in a blanket and carried over or around the shoulders
swaggie Swagman Confuses non-Australians, since swag means 'loot from a crime' ... so, it was a convict colony ... ? (It also means something rolled up.)
swagman Vagabond, rural tramp
swimmers Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria)
t'other side The northern island (mainland Australia) to a Tasmanian Of course, they're 'down under down under ..."
tack (hard) Work (hard) Trans. From sailor's 'hard tack' - tough, hard biscuit?
take away food Take-out food
tall poppies Achievers, often a disparaging term Tall poppy (syndrome)?
tally The number of shorn sheep attributed to individual shearers in a day Transf. - a good result
tank Dam or reservoir, as well as constructed water storage container
tar Stockholm tar, applied as first aid to sheep cut during shearing
tar boy Shearing shed hand patching up cut sheep
tariff Rate
tart Once a contraction of 'sweetheart', now more derogatory
Taswegian A person from Tasmania
tea Evening meal
technicolour yawn Vomit
tee up Organise or arrange
telly The television
thingo Thing, whatchamacallit, whomajigger, hooza meebob, doo velacki, thingamajig, wha
this arvo This afternoon
thongs Rubber sandals, flip-flops
ticker Watch
tickets, to have on oneself To have a high opinion of oneself
tiger cat Carnivorous marsupial, about domestic cat size Related to extinct Tasmamian Tiger
tinny Can of beer, small aluminium boat
toad-skin £1 banknote, from its green colour Australian banknotes are each of different colours (and sizes)
togs Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria)
tongs (Old-fashioned) Hand shears Suggested by spring hinge (B-bow)?
too right! Absolutely!
top end Far north of Australia
top ender Resident of the Northern Territory
trap Policeman, (later) mounted trooper
triangle Flogging frame In convict settlements, 1788 - (~) 1860
trooper Policeman (usually) on horseback
trots Runny stools, the shits
truckie Truck driver
true blue Dinkum, patriotic
tucker Food
tucker-bag Food bag
turps Turpentine or alcoholic drink So-called 'Methylated Spirits' no longer is denatured with methyl alcohol, which is merely poisonous ... now uses turpentine, which is sickening
turps, hit the Go on a drinking binge
twit Fool or idiot
two-pot screamer Someone who can't hold his liquor
two-up Traditional Australian heads/tails gambling game, played with 2 coins
tyre Australian and British spelling of "tire"
underdaks Underwear
uni University
unit Flat, apartment
up a gumtree In a quandary
up north New South Wales and Queensland, according to someone in Victoria
up oneself Have a high opinion of oneself - "he's really up himself"
up the duff Pregnant
ute Utility truck or vehicle Australian 'invention' - Ford Australia (1928?)
vedgies Vegetables
vee dub Volkswagen
veg out Relax in front of the TV (like a vegetable)
Vegemite Popular vegetable extract used as sandwich spread Yeast extract - made from the 'lees' of beer-making!
vejjo Vegetarian
velvet Highly profitable or advantageous
waddy Wooden club (waddi, waddie, wody, woodah &c) Aboriginal word (Dharuk): wadi = tree, stick of wood
waffle Nonsense
wag To skip school or work
waggin' school Playing truant
waler Bloke from New South Wales (also NSW breed of tough bush horse) Not 'whaler'
walkabout Lengthy walk away from it all
walkabout, it's gone It's lost, can't be found
wallaby track, on the To wander from place to place in search of work (archaic)
walloper Copper, policeman
waltz matilda To carry a swag Auf den walz (mit Mathilde) Mathilde is blanket roll or tool roll in German
wattle Acacia, common Australian species of (typically) shrub The original wattle - so named because it was used to build wattle & daub dwellings in Sydney's first settlement, was not acacia, but callicoma serratifolia, which had yellow globular flowers and serrated leaves. Early settlers were no botanists and they thought similar acacias were same genus ...
weatherboard Wooden house Strictly: a specific pattern of lapped horizontal wooden cladding
West Island Australia, to a New Zealander
Wet, the Rainy season in northern Australia
wether Castrated male sheep
whack Fair share, agreed deal Turns up in a few songs - old English word
wharfie Dockworker (Stevedore)
whinge Complain and carry on unnecessarily
whips (of) Lots (of)
white ant (noun) Termite
white ant (verb) Undermine or sabotage
white pointers Topless (female) sunbathers or type of large shark
whomajigger Term for person or thing whose actual name one can't remember
willy-nilly Small dust twister or erratic More commonly "willy willy" - a couple of citiatons of williy nilly in Aus. Nat'l Dict. Aboriginal words (Yinji-Barndi) - 'wili wili'
Wimmera West Victorian region (characterised by wimmera rye grass)
wobbly Disturbing, unpredictable behaviour, as in "throw a wobbly"
wog Flu or trivial illness
wog Mediterranean or Middle European migrant - derogatory
Wolseleys Machine shears (inventor, Fred Wolseley, went on to make cars ... in England) (Assisted by his shears mechanic ... Herbert Austin ... who then made his own cars!)
wombat Somebody who eats, roots and leaves (see also root)
woomera Stick used by Aborigines to throw spears
woop woop Invented name for any small unimportant town - "he lives in Woop Woop"
wowser Straight-laced person, prude, puritan, spoilsport
XXXX Pronounced Four X, brand of beer made in Queensland And there's no truth to the story that Queenslanders just can't spell BEER
yabber Talk (a lot) Probably Aboriginal ... and/or pidgin from jabber
yabby Small freshwater crayfish
yahoo Noisy and unruly person
yahooing Boisterous behaviour
yakka, yakker Hard work, an Aboriginal term (Yagari language -'yaga')
yank American regardless of location
yank tank An American car
yankee shout A round of drinks in which everyone pays his own
yeo Ewe, female sheep Scots dialect ... also ewie or yowie (not the aboriginal forest monster!)
yewy U-turn in traffic ("chuck a yewy at the next traffic lights") I've always spelled it: U-ey ... but I'm a bit of a pedant!
yobbo Uncouth, aggressive person Old Cockney 'backspell' slang: yob = boy
yonks Ages, a long time
youse Plural of you (by the grammatically challenged)
zarucker Police trooper (Appears in Manifold's "The Death of Ned Kelly"_
zebra crossing Broad-striped pedestrian roadway crossing
zed Australian and British pronunciation of "Z"
zeds Pertaining to sleep (zzz)
zonked Exhausted, rooted
Oz???...were it all so simple. Sure, it's to do with colloquial language and the way Skippies say Ozstralia for Australia and how you can get Oz out of that. But it's more complex....it's about the fantasy of the place, it's about Ross Wilson
....it's about intellectual links to Baum's Wizard, and Marvellous Land of Oz, it's about how we're all Munchkins here, it's about Sydney really being The Emerald City and how we all have our personal antipodean Yellow Brick Roads leading to a magic place we could never have imagined (bit like Albion Park), and how the upside-down country is full of Nome Kings furging up our dreams.......Oz...it's just a state of mind, you know...as the bloke from Woy Woy might well have said.
PS Come and get it quick, 'cos it's sad but 'ol Oz ain't going to be here much longer...
Interesting find :embarrassed:
Coda's list can't be all true.
That's one old school song.
Is there really a yellow brick road meaning behind calling it Oz? The land of mystery and strange animals?
Quote from: Watcher on April 02, 2014, 02:54:44 AM
I always pronounced it "Aw-stray-lee-ah" and so "aw-see".
Far be it from me to tell a peoples how to pronounce themselves, so Ozzy it is from now on. :thumb:
Accent really does play a major role in pronunciation, so you can't rightly blame anyone. I pronounce Honda "Hahn-duh". I've heard Britains pronounce it "Hawn-dah". Which is right? Only the man who has the name can say.
Like, we've all seen .gif file extensions, right? How is it pronounced? G like "Guss" and "if" makes "gif", right? Nope. According to the person who developed the format, it's a "jif"... Like the peanut-butter.
The famous American M1-Garand rifle. "Gah-rand", right? Nope. "Gare-and" like the word "errand" with a G in front.
2nd the accents. like Canadians pronounce about, ive heard aboat or aboot. whats right in one place may not be in another
Quote from: john on April 02, 2014, 07:38:06 AM
Coda's list can't be all true.
It is absolutely 100% true John :thumb:
Quote from: codajastal on April 02, 2014, 04:22:07 PM
Quote from: john on April 02, 2014, 07:38:06 AM
Coda's list can't be all true.
It is absolutely 100% true John :thumb:
Banana bender is not on that list. You surely must have heard that one a few hundred times.
(thinly veiled poke)
Because, like The Wizard of Oz, Australia is f%$king weird and everyone is on drugs.
....and more, drift back into the 60s and Richard Nedville and Oz magazine and the incipient hippy movements and a time when language was definitely a joyous thing to toy with...
http://visualmelt.com/OZ-Magazine-covers
...and then the Oz movie of about 1976....(off ya go to YT)....all lending strength to an understanding of this fantasy outpost of the British Empire as being a wonderful magical place called Oz.....
and, oh so sad, the phantasmagorical substance of the Oz construct begins to slip and slide away in a modern world of sloppy politicians and internet and globalization and a migrant intake flushed with their own level of multicultural understandings - together with an unstoppable flood of Euro eco refugees - so that never on a Summer's day do you hear Codsie's archival Australian lingo spouted on the street....now it's a interminable babble of non-intergratable world language......and Oz shimmers and fades into a postmodern dog-eat-dog irrelevancy.
PS...dammit! even the Oz magazine archives have seemingly vanished on the net...case proven.
John...do come visit afore its all gone.
Quote from: john on April 02, 2014, 05:50:24 PM
Quote from: codajastal on April 02, 2014, 04:22:07 PM
Quote from: john on April 02, 2014, 07:38:06 AM
Coda's list can't be all true.
It is absolutely 100% true John :thumb:
Banana bender is not on that list. You surely must have heard that one a few hundred times.
(thinly veiled poke)
Umm yes it is John, Put on your glasses old man
Quote from: codajastal on April 02, 2014, 10:42:29 PM
Umm yes it is John, Put on your glasses old man
Oh damn. I guess I am going blind.
I think globalization and our plugged-in society has eroded some of the local culture found in places. And that is sad. I believe society in our country has become more homogenous, so I suppose noworries has a point.
The real question is do you others see the same thing down there?
"Yer in!!!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PfDro1UGUo
Quote from: noworries on April 02, 2014, 05:53:48 AM
as the bloke from Woy Woy might well have said.
PS Come and get it quick, 'cos it's sad but 'ol Oz ain't going to be here much longer...
Haha. I'm from Umina just next to Woy Woy. Nothing significant just sayin.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: pomme123 on April 04, 2014, 06:20:53 AM
Quote from: noworries on April 02, 2014, 05:53:48 AM
as the bloke from Woy Woy might well have said.
PS Come and get it quick, 'cos it's sad but 'ol Oz ain't going to be here much longer...
Haha. I'm from Umina just next to Woy Woy. Nothing significant just sayin.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
You just gave me an idea. I'm thinking about starting a picture thread. One photo from your home town or city or area. It would be cool to see what it looks like where we all live. I will have an opportunity to snap a photo later this morning to kick off the thread. Our dog park looks over the south valley where I live.
Personally I would love to see where you, coda, janx, noworries live -at at least what it looks like in the area. You should see the photos Kerry has posted from his back yard... breathtaking.
Ah. Woy Woy. It's lovely to live in Woy Woy. Almost as fina as Umina.
Anyway the lad from Woy Woy's Mum(who's a bit of a dab hand with the Super8, even if she says so herself) has a real grip on the way Oz is going with all the new chums flooding in on 457s and Stoooodent (in yer boot!) Visas and Working (like 3 jobs at a time) Holiday Visas and Partner (she's a lovely girl, true, met her and her Mum last week in the Soi 6 School Girl Sports Bar bar in Phuket) Visas and bumping up in leaky boats at The Island an' all that....(only joking, of course, we're all true adherents to the wonderful world of multiculturalism and the UN initiatives and all that, here).
Yeh, John, the snaps of our shacks sounds like a bonzer thread. I'll get the Box Brownie from Auntie Shelia and take a few real nice domestic portraits for us. I'll have to clean up the front yard a bit, though. :-)
No not the house or the yard -why do yard work anyway? Maybe just a pic of the area -something to give a feel for what it's like generally. The pics I took overlooking the development and beyond didn't come out very good. I'll have to do another tomorrow morning.
This is where I live
(http://unirea.org.au/images/AutsonSlideshowA/Gold%20Coast%20-%20Queensland.png)
Quote from: john on April 04, 2014, 10:53:39 PM
No not the house or the yard -why do yard work anyway? Maybe just a pic of the area -something to give a feel for what it's like generally. The pics I took overlooking the development and beyond didn't come out very good. I'll have to do another tomorrow morning.
I lived on deer vally @ 28th st roughly. then went to Peoria, across st from my fgreat uncle. for april fools one day I grabbed a mower from a local pawnshop. and brought to his house. his yard was gravel ;) ( painted grass green )