Common Australian Phrases

Sometimes when you hear an Australian in conversation, it can sound very strange. Australian’s love their words and have a unique turn of phrase. Unfortunately, this can confuse visitors to no end. The following is a selection of “Aussieisms” that are used frequently by Australians, and I have also included a sentence to explain how the word is used. I hope you have fun with these.

A banjo is a shovel.
Pass the banjo bluey.

To Barge in means to intrude.
Let’s not barge in on the newlyweds.

A beak is a magistrate.
Who is the beak in this case?

The Big smoke refers to the city.
I’m heading from the country to the big smoke.

A big wig is an authoritative person.
The mayor thinks he is a big wig.

Billy is a bushman’s kettle.
I’ll put the billy on and we’ll have a cuppa.

To be blotto means to be drunk.
I got completely blotto last night.

To blubber is to cry.
I’m trying really hard not to blubber during this movie.

A blue means a fight or misunderstanding.
We had a terrible blue last night.

Bluey refers to a man who has red hair.
Hey Bluey, how ya goin’?

Bonzer means the best, very good.
It was a bonzer party.

Brass refers to coins or money.
Have you got any brass on you?

A bumper is the butt end of a cigarette.
The homeless man found a bumper on the footpath.

To camp out means to sleep in the open.
We had to camped out in the backyard.

Chew it over means to contemplate.
Bill and Bob chewed over the days events.

Check out means to have a look at.
Hey Fred, come and check this out.

To chuck means to throw.
I’m going to chuck out all my old boots.

Clobber refers to a suit of clothes.
He looks pretty spiffy in his clobber.

To croak means to die.
Poor old fella, croaked over night.

To come a cropper means to fall.
And then I came a cropper straight into the creek.

A dag is a funny fellow.
Oh Bruce, you are such a dag.

The dial refers to the face.
Keep that smile on your dial.

Diddle means to cheat.
He diddled four people out of their refund.

Dinkum means fair and honest.
Fair dinkum, it’s really true.

A divvy is a portion of something.
We’re going to divvy up the apple pie.

To doll up means to dress fashionably.
And then she came all dolled up for the party.

A dud is a failure.
This new car is a dud.

An eye-full means to have a look.
Cop an eye-full of that sheila.

To be floored means to be knocked down.
Bruce floored Barry at the pub.

Footpath refers to the pavement.
They skipped along the footpath.

A fluke is to be lucky.
Pat’s tennis ace was a fluke.

To fudge means to cheat.
He’s going to fudge the test.

A furphy is a wild rumour.
I think he’s spreading a furphy.

These are just some of the inventive and clever uses of the English language, Aussie style.