Slang'in it Around Australia

There are many things that you should know before landing in Australia. If you have planned your trip in advance, you’ll already know much about the main tourist attractions this country has to offer. Besides this, you should know that Australian English is nothing like the one you may have learned back home, or even heard at the movies.

Any traveler who thinks that ‘Aussies speak’ is simply a weird-sounding variety of English would not be too far from the truth. However, many words in Australia have completely different meanings to their British English equivalent. Some words have been shortened to such an extent they are almost not recognisable, and others have simply been mutated beyond recognition!

A dictionary of the Aussie language may be helpful when travelling!

So, if you’d like to pass as a local, open up your ears and forget everything you were taught at school. It’s not going to be easy, but give it a try. Aussies love it when you use their local words. The most important thing is to speak slightly nasally. Try to shorten any word that has more than two syllables and if you are female, make sure the last word of each sentence is said with a half octave raise of the voice!

The following words are some of the slang that you will hear wherever you go. Try to make them part of your vocabulary, and show the Aussies that you are really ‘into’ their culture. They will look at you in awe!

• Arvo: afternoon
• Bloke: man
• Bludger: lazy person
• Bogan: unsophisticated person
• Boomer: big person
• Booze bus: police van used for random breath testing for alcohol
• Brekky: breakfast
• Chook: chicken
• Mate/cobber: friend
• G’day: good day
• Grog:  general term for alcoholic drinks
• Hoon: idiot
• Journo: journalist
• Loo: toilet
• Mozzies: mosquitoes
• No worries!: No problem!
• Outback: remote part of the bush
• Pom: English person
• Roos: kangaroos
• Saltie: saltwater crocodile.

If you want to get a bit more involved with the aussie slang take a look to the following web pages:

http://home.st.net.au/~dunn/ozatwar/aussieslang.htm
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html
http://www.aussieslang.com/slang/australian-slang-a.asp