A Sheila's Guide to Aussie Slang

One thing you will come to realise very quickly here in NYC is that the Aussie accent is loved...by e-ver-y-one!!! It's cray. I hate the sound of my accent and it's the reason why I have been travelling to the USA for the past 7 years...to hopefully lose it haha!

If my friends here on the island have no clue what I am talking about...they seriously just look at me blankly...so funny how we are so similar yet so different. I thought NYC was bad, but I recently went to Texas for the OU v Texas college footy game and OMJesus they seriously had no clue at all at what i was saying. It was like I was talking a totally different language. Très funny!!

Full House @ the OU/TX Game

Pappa Vlad and I in our pimpin Wrangler

I get asked like everyday to teach people some Aussie Slang...hence the inspiration for this blog post. 

Sheila's Guide to teaching Aussie Slang...

Arvo: afternoon

ABC - Australian Born Chinese.

Aggro -  Aggressive. 'There's no need to be so aggro.'

Aussie salute: brushing away flies with the hand

Avos: avocados

All froth and no beer -  No substance. 'I thought he was reliable but he was all froth and no beer.'

Apeshit -  An expression of extreme anger

Bull dust -  A lie. 

Bail out: depart, usually angrily

Barbie: barbecue 

Bangers and mash: sausages and mashed potato

Barrack: to cheer on 

Battler: someone working hard and only just making a living

Beaut: great, fantastic

Bikkie: biscuit (also "it cost big bikkies" - it was expensive)

Bizzo: business ("mind your own bizzo")

Bloke: man, guy

Bloody oath!: that's certainly true

Bogan : person who takes little pride in his appearance, spends his days slacking and drinking beer

Bludger: lazy person, layabout, somebody who always relies on other people to do things or lend him things

Bob's your uncle: It will be alright

Bonzer: great, ripper

Boogie board: a hybrid, half-sized surf board

Booze bus: police vehicle used for catching drunk drivers

Bottle-o: liquor shop

Brown-eyed mullet: a turd in the sea (where you're swimming!)

Buckley's chance: no chance ("New Zealand stands Buckley's of beating Australia at football")

Buck's night: stag party, male gathering the night before the wedding

Bullshit: To tell lies

Cark it: to die, cease functioning

Chewy: Chewing gum

Chokkie: chocolate

Chuck a sickie: take the day off sick from work when you're perfectly healthy

Chunder: vomit

Coldie: a beer

Cozzie: swimming costume

Derro -  Homeless person with addiction problems.

Dag: a funny person, nerd, goof

Deadset: true, the truth

Fair dinkum: true, real, genuine ("I'm a dinkum Aussie"; "is he fair dinkum?")

Dipstick: a loser, idiot

Drink with the flies: to drink alone

Drongo: a dope, stupid person

Spit the Dummy: get very upset at something

Dunny: outside lavatory, or toilet

Earbashing: nagging, non-stop chatter

Figjam: "F**k I'm good; just ask me". Nickname for people who have a high opinion of themselves.

Footy: Australian Rules football

Fruit loop: fool

Fried eggs -  Small breasts.

Garbo, garbologist: municipal garbage collector

G'Day, Gidday: hello!

Give it a burl: try it, have a go

Grog: liquor, beer ("bring your own grog, you bludger")

Hoon: hooligan

Hit the sack -  go to bed

Hooroo: goodbye 

Lippy: lipstick

Mate's rate: cheaper than usual for a "friend"

Mozzie: mosquito

Map of Tassie -  Woman's pubic hair. 

Have a Naughty: have sex

Ninkum poop: a fool

Not the full quid: not bright intellectually

Pash: passion, infatuation

Perve: looking lustfully at the opposite sex

Piker: Someone who doesn't want to fit in with others socially, leaves parties early

Rage: party

Ripper: great, fantastic

Root: synonym for f*ck in nearly all its senses: "I feel rooted"; "this washing machine is rooted"; "(s)he's a good root". A very useful word in fairly polite company.

Scratchy: instant lottery ticket

Servo: petrol station

Sheila: a woman

Sickie: day off sick from work (chuck a sickie=take the day off sick from work when you're perfectly healthy!)

Slab: a carton of 24 bottles or cans of beer

Smoko: smoke or coffee break

Snag: a sausage

Spit the dummy: get very upset at something

Stickybeak: nosy person

Strewth: exclamation, mild oath ("Strewth, that Chris is a bonzer bloke")

Shit house -  Very bad also toilet.

Shit shoveler -  Someone doing a badly paid unpleasant job.

Taswegian: a person from Tasmania

Technicolor yawn: vomit

Thingo: Wadjamacallit, thingummy, whatsit

Thick as a brick -  Dim witted person. 'Judy is as thick as a brick!'

Thongs: cheap rubber backless sandals

Thunder box: toilet

To have Tickets on oneself: to have a high opinion of oneself

Tinny: can of beer, small aluminium boat

Too right!: definitely!

Tucker: food 

Uni: university

Up oneself: have a high opinion of oneself - "he's really up himself"

Ute: utility vehicle

Veg out: relax in front of the TV (like a vegetable)

Vee dub: Volkswagen

Waggin' school: playing truant

Whinge: complain

Woop Woop: invented name for any small unimportant town - "he lives in Woop Woop"

Wowser: straight-laced person, prude, puritan, spoilsport

Wog: person of Mediterranean origin 

Youse: you

A Dummies Guide on how to be Australian Living in NYC

New York City…population 8.2 million…streuth that’s a lot!

The percentage of that amount that are Aussie would surprise you. There are so many Australians living in New York City that New York is more like a colony of Australia than a city in America. They say that every New Yorker has a drug dealer, a therapist and an Australian friend. You can’t go anywhere in New York without meeting an Australian (kinda sad), to the point where you have to wonder if we’re up to something shifty, like a very passive invasion.

If you’re an Australian in New York, greet non-Australians with “g’day”, even though you’ve never actually said it before in your life. Love the way non-Australians either look very confused or completely gleeful when they hear your purposeful Australian slang. Likewise, be more than willing to throw on your thickest Australian accent when probed at parties and say things like, “a dingo stole my baby!” and, “this here crocodile is a real big guy!” Feel pleased with yourself that everyone thinks this is hilarious, even though you’re debasing your culture by relying on untrue and cringeworthy stereotypes for shits and giggles.

The hot...Crocodile Dundee

Know every other Australian in New York…there a plenty of groups on LinkedIn for you to dabble in. Form communities with a like mind and start behaving like meerkats, all looking out for one another with everyone working together to strengthen the pack. Help each other network so that you all have fortuitously good apartments, jobs and friends. All use the same drug dealer. If you meet another Australian you don’t know yet, make it your business to know them. Add them on Facebook to find you already have 49 mutual friends. Give them your drug dealer’s phone number.

When you run into random Australians (for instance, the guy who serves you at the coffee shop), both speak to each other very slowly, and exchange knowing glances. Be very unsure whether you should ask them where they are from. Generally decide not to say anything but exchange a few more conspiratorial looks. If you do talk about Australia, automatically assume they are from Melbourne or Sydney. Be genuinely surprised when you meet people from Perth or Queensland. Be incredulous if you meet someone from South Australia or Tasmania. Call bullshit if you meet someone from Canberra.

Live in Williamsburg, Soho, Bowery or Chinatown. Bitch about the coffee for the first month you are here and develop a superiority complex about Australian coffee (east coast coffee, of course). Hang out at Ruby’s, Saturdays and Five Leaves. Think brunch sounds smug but do it anyway. Drink way too much, all the time. Be the life of the party, whether it’s at brunch or 4am at the Kenmare. Fulfill more untrue cultural stereotypes of Australians, and if you can, plank (ironically).

Pine for nature. Ache for the beach. Go to the beach. Complain that there aren’t enough waves. If you’re a girl, fail to identify with stereotypical New York girls. Talk about camping in Australia like it’s as natural as breathing, and scoff at girls who have never pitched a tent. Become tired by talking about boys and dating all the time. Grow to hate dating. If you’re a boy be genuinely confused about having to pay for girls all the time. Completely misunderstand and shun dating. 

That concludes this edition of Being Australian 101.