Guest Author - Tania Nadarajan

Australia’s official language is English, but like most English speaking countries, the language has evolved to become quite different from English spoken elsewhere. In fact, Australian English is commonly said to be so unique and distinct that it is baffling even to other English speakers.

What makes our language so confusing?

Our accent, rightly or wrongly, have been labelled peculiar, and our pronunciation considered strange. Having started off as a convict settlement, Australian English was initially shaped by the lowest class of British convicts, with a strong Cockney accent. The language was subsequently influenced by European and Asian waves of immigration, both countries whereby English was not the first language. Heavily influenced by these external sources, the strine language (Australian English) with its unique accent and vernacular was born.

Australians also have a propensity to pepper the language with so much slang that it becomes hard for an outsider to make sense of it. The famous Australian tendency is to cut corners by shortening words and then combining them together so they seem almost like one.

Commonly abbreviated words include arvo (afternoon), barbie (barbeque), servo (service station), mozzie (mosquito), sunnies (sunglasses), brekky (breakfast), footy (football), pressie (present/gift), Brissie (Brisbane), Tassie (Tasmania), Aussie (Australia), uni (University), chockie (chocolate), bickie (biscuit), rego (car registration), journo (journalist) and trackies (track suits).

Commonly strung together phrases include gidday (good day), have a cuppa (have a cup of coffee), avagoodweegend (have a good weekend), jeet jet (did you eat yet), waddayareckon (what do you reckon), owyagoin (how are you going), howzat (how’s that).

Strangely enough, while Australians shorten a lot of words, they also like to lengthen words or names with one syllable. For instance Tom becomes Tommo, John becomes Johnno, Jack becomes Jacko, Dave becomes Davo.

The main idea I guess is to make words sound as informal as we can. This reflects the very casual Australian culture and the desire to use words to indicate familiarity.

For more on our vernacular vocabulary and distinctively Australian phrases, arm yourself with this list. Though not exhaustive, it is a good start with many commonly used phrases.

Amber fluid – beer
Banger – a sausage
Bloody Oath – damn right, an affirmative to a statement.
Buckley’s – something that has little or no chance of success. You’ve got buckley’s of getting there before 8am. Also used in buckley’s chance and buckley’s hope.
Cark it – to die, stop working or cease functioning.
Chockers – completely full. This restaurant is chockers tonight.
El cheapo – something that is cheap. The el cheapo chair broke when I sat on it.
Fair dinkum – true, real genuine. Used in “fair dinkum?” – really? A fair dinkum sale – a real sale. Fair dinkum Aussie – a true blue Aussie.
Far out – an exclamation made when something is strikingly unconventional and out of the norm.
Full on – intense. His gym session was full on.
Good oh! – an expression of satisfaction.
Good on ya – well done, good for you. An expression of congratulations or approval.
Grog – beer or alcohol.
Holey Doley – used when something happens out of the ordinary.
How ya goin – how are you?
Hooroo – another way of saying goodbye.
Later – a common way of saying farewell, as in Later, dudes
Mate’s rate – cheaper than usual price for a friend.
No worries / no wuckin furries / no wuckers – not a problem, don’t worry about it, everything will be alright.
Pig’s arse – no way, I don’t agree with you.
Pom – an English person.
Poofteenth – a very tiny amount, a smidgen.
Ratbag – a worthless, despicable, unreliable person.
Sanger – sandwich.
She’ll be right – it will turn out ok.
Shout – to shout someone a drink is to buy someone a drink.
Spewin – very angry
Ta – thank you.
Wanker – a pretentious person.
Woop woop – small, unimportant town. This place is out in woop woop.
Yobbo – an uncultivated Australian.
You bewdy – exclamation showing approval.