The Fine Art of Speaking Australian

by Posted on

Sherry — we finally had rain!

Language is so fascinating, and it was so fun learning Australian on our trip this year. They change up soooooo many words!  

Electricians are sparkies, firemen are firies, and carpenters are chippies. We asked what plumbers were called – plumbies? Wateries? Nope. Just plain old plumbers. It was a bit of a letdown. People who work in the above trades are called tradies. They have a reputation of being terrible drivers but know where the best coffee shops are.

McDonalds is called Maccas – it’s even on billboards. Someone asked us what we called McDonalds and they laughed when we said, “McDonalds.”

They love a good nickname. Our friend Rowan, became Rowie, and then Boat because you row a boat. Shouldn’t it just go down to oar?

Greetings are shortened to: How’s goin’? And it becomes one word–howsgoing. In fact, lots of words become one word. The proper response to How’s goin’? Is: Goin’ good. (Also one word)

Like in England biscuits are cookies, but they can also be crackers. I asked what a cookie was and my friend told me they were very large biscuits.

Bogans are cloddish or uncultured people.

Brekky is breakfast.

Footy is Australian Rules Football or it can mean rugby league.

Mozzie (rhymes with Ozzie) is a mosquito.

Tasmania is Tassie pronounced Tazzie.

And Aussie is pronounced Ozzie.

You don’t pronounce the “r” in Melbourne

Brisbane sounds like Brisbun

Sledging is the fine art of next-level teasing.

French fries are skinny anything bigger is a hot chip or chip.

People say, “Yeah, nah” a lot!

No one says throw a shrimp on the barbie because shrimp are called prawns. I never heard anyone call Australia “Oz” although I did see it on one sign. And no one called a woman a “Shiela.” They do say “mate” all the time. It comes in handy when you can’t remember someone’s name.

They call this Ibis a bin chicken because it’s always picking stuff out of the trash!

And here are a few signs that amused me!

It’s a lovely, wonderous place. I hope you all get to go sometime. They even have pink lakes! It’s salt in the water.

Screenshot

Readers: Is there a phrase or sign that amuses you? Or a different way of saying something that makes you chuckle?

Unknown's avatar

Published by Sherry Harris

Sherry Harris is the author of the Agatha Award nominated Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mystery series and the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Mystery series.

26 Thoughts

  1. How fun, Sherry! Thanks for the translations. There are times I’ll be watching an Australian TV show and have no idea what’s being said, even though it’s in English!

    Like

  2. This is wonderful! What a fun post. My mother by grace was from Sydney. she’d lived here so long that she was what she called bilingual, but I picked up the trolley expression from her. There are a lot of terms in Ozzie that mean something entirely different in US speak and raise eyebrows on both continents in common use.

    Like

  5. I love this, Sherry! Unable to escape my linguistics training (and why would I want to?), I always pay close attention to how people talk. Did you ever find yourself unable to understand someone even when you asked?

    Like

  6. This was such a fun blog, dear Sherry! I am a linguist, so I always devour anything about languages. When I came to the US I was amused by “there you go”…what? Where am I going??? Thank you for the Friday treat! JOY Luis at ole dot travel

    Like

  7. My cousins from New Hampshire say “tonic” instead of soda. They thought it was funny that I said “tag sale” instead of “yard sale”!

    Like

  8. I met an Australian man in Peru. We spent an evening trying to figure out what each other was saying. We laughed about fanny pack vs. bum pack. We each thought the other was on the lewd side.

    Thanks for an entertaining post.

    Like

  12. Delightful post! Perhaps my favorite British saying is “Mind the Gap.” I even have it on a coffee cup, though it probably should be on a tea cup!

    Like

Comments are closed.