​Australian Slang: expats need to know.


The Aussies have their own unique vernacular of some five thousand plus expressions, making them the world leaders in non standard linguistics. Or slang, to keep it simple. Here’s a few everyday phrases you’ll hear around the office:

Yeah – Nah.

Ask an Aussie a question, and don’t be surprised when you get a response of ‘Yeah – Nah.’ It’s like saying ‘maybe’ but can also be a form of verbal cuddling -agreeing to disagree with you but in a nice way.

‘Straylia

Since Australians love shortening words, it is no surprise that they’ve taken to cutting their own country down to size. The ‘Au’ bit of Australia is left silent pretty much across the board. Whilst you’re musing over to whether to use this, remember that the shortened form for a ‘Straylian is an ‘Aussie’ – always pronounced ‘Ozzie’.

The Bush

Most people would recognise this as the word for the great outdoors. Which is true. But Aussies would also consider a walk in the local park as a ‘bush walk’ even if it lasts for half an hour. They rarely venture into the real bush! This could have something to do with the various deadly snakes out there, and may also explain why so few Aussies have ever seen one. We’re pretty adventurous bush walkers and have seen six or seven snakes in our six years here. 

Feeling Crook

Nothing to do with breaking the law, generally used as an excuse not to go to work. Yep, it means not feeling well. Aussies have a very generous quota of sick days, and they like to use them all!

Hump Day

I was first introduced to this phrase by a young Malaysian girl in the office. ‘Happy Hump Day‘. She said with a smile. ‘Too much info‘, I replied, as she wandered off with a confused  look. I later realised that Hump Day is in fact generally a Wednesday, and is referred to as a good sign that the weekend is almost here. Which means drinking beer or watching footy is close.

Footy

The sport originally invented to give locals something to do on an Oval when the cricket season was over, somehow became the local religion. It seems nothing else matters to the majority of Aussies. Young or old. The first question you get asked when you move here is ‘who do you barrack for?’ Some states even dedicate a day off school for the championship game. ‘Footy’ is short for football, but which form of football depends on geography. You don’t follow? Then, wait ’til you see a game, you’ll be even more baffled.

Hoon

They’re all around you by day, indistinguishable from everyone else. ‘Hoon’ is Aussie for hooligan. Only spotted at night behind the wheel of a V8 Ute, blazing wheel spins, and racing through suburbia. Steer clear of them, and don’t be tempted to toot your horn. Road rage here is on a whole other level, hoons get as mad as a cut snake real quick. 

Gaytime

A colleague of mine stood up in a meeting and proudly proclaimed that he ‘used to love Gaytime when I was at school’. He did it without any hint of irony. Wow, the school system must really be liberal to have it on the timetable. Hang on a minute. Gaytime is actually a popular icy pole? What’s an icy pole? Oh, you mean ice lolly. No a lolly is a sweet. Holy crap, what’s any of it got to do with being gay? Nothing? Thank goodness for that.   

How Ya Goin’?

This is one phrase you need to adopt if you don’t want to stand out. It’s often used simply to start a conversation, and nobody really expects you to respond, with anything other than a simple ‘Hello.’ It’s the equivalent of ‘How are you today?’ or ‘Alright?’ in the UK or ‘What’s Up?’ in the states. To truly to say it like a ‘Straylian – it’s pronounced more like ‘how ya goyin’. More common, believe it or not, than ‘G’Day’, especially in the cities. This is a phrase that confuses a lot of non-english speakers, who have been known to answer it literally, and when asked ‘How ya goyin?’, they answer ‘In my car.’ 

Manchester 

Normally associated with a cool urban music scene, a dance club culture, or even mega rich and glamorous football clubs. Not here. Manchester = bed linen. And crap polyester bed linen at that. It’s true. 

Shortening Words

Aussies  wear boardies, eat bickies, drink coldies and have barbies. They are posties and pollies, ambos, vegos, Salvos, tradies and journos. Not all of the diminutives are exclusive to Australia, but with more than 4300 recorded in their lexicon, Aussies use more clipped words than any other English speakers. 

Good Onya.

‘Good Onya’ is the local way to say ‘good on you’ and is the equivalent of a simple phrase such as ‘nice one’ or ‘well done’. Much to annoyance of my wife, ‘good onya’ and ‘how ya goyin’ have both crept into my own vocabulary. 

She’ll Be Right.

If they’re not sure about something, but they hope it will work out ok, then the Aussies will always say “She’ll be right, mate.” Word of warning: it’s not often well thought through. If the last person on the Titanic had been an Australian, and seen all fifteen hundred people perish and was looking the iceberg right in the face, he or she would still say ‘she’ll be right mate.’ So yes, it’s generally used as an expression of hopeless optimism rather than one with insightful judgement.