The Basics of Aussie Slang
Australian
culture and customs are unique, but not as unique as the Australian language.
Our
own style of English is so full of colloquial expressions, slang words and
slang phrases it is enough to confuse other speakers of English quite
easily.
So
just so you don't look like a complete drongo, here are enough
Aussie words to help you get by in Australian society! Now, the accent, well
thats another story...
The
really basic basics.
-
G’day
is hullo, pronounced Gidday which is a shortened form of Good Day,
and used mostly in informal situations. More formally we would say
Hullo, Good Morning, Good Afternoon, or the likes.
-
Goodbye
is, um, er, Goodbye. Although some people say Hooroo, pronounced ‘ooroo.
-
Bloke
is an Aussie male who generally is a hard worker and does the right
thing. Eg., "Bill’s a Good Bloke".
-
Mate
is Friend, mainly for males. Everyone in Australia is mate, so we
would often say "G’day mate" or "Thanks mate".
-
Onya
means Well Done, a shortened form of Good On You. The best "Aussieism"
in my opinion.
Abbreviations
For
some reason Australians shorten words wherever possible, particularly
peoples names. They are generally shortened to one syllable if possible,
and then have a suffix added to the end. Here are a few examples:-
A
Cup of Tea or Coffee becomes a Cuppa.
Angela
becomes Angie.
Australian becomes Aussie
Barbecue become Barbie
Elizabeth becomes Lizzie
Football becomes Footy, pronounced with a soft "T" somewhere
between T & D.
Burgess
becomes Burgo
Johnathon becomes Johnno
Smoko means a break from work for a smoke, which now means a tea break
even if you don’t smoke.
Marion
become Mazza or Maz
Sharon become Shazza or Shaz
Warwick (me) becomes Wozza (which I hate) or Woz.
Oh,
and by the way, what's a drongo?
a
stupid, inept, awkward or embarrassing person, a dimwit or slow-witted
person
