And the reason for the above? Rob's family will be visiting from Cairns in Australia, so I thought that I would help them to feel at home by slipping a few phrases into the conversation so they don't feel too confused by our South African slang!! I googled (what else?) and found a few very helpful sites and lists, so I decided to share a few with you all. Interestingly, there are a lot of words and phrases that we share with them, so that will make life a lot easier!! (Although, some, on the other hand, are vastly different i.e 'root')
This may be a tad small to read actually! |
And here begins the lesson....
Arvo: afternoon
Barbie: barbeque
Bogan: redneck, an uncultured person. According to the Australian show Bogan Hunters, a real bogan sports a flanno (flannel shirt), a mullet, missing teeth, homemade tattoos (preferably of the Australian Flag or the Southern Cross), and has an excess of Australia paraphernalia. This "species of local wildlife" can be found by following their easily distinguishable tracks from burnouts or the smell of marijuana. (Hmmm, I know where we can see plenty of these people!)
Bottle-O: bottle shop, liquor store
Chockers: very full
Esky: cooler, insulated food and drink container
Fair Dinkum: true, real, genuine
Grommet: young surfer
Mozzie: mosquito
Pash: a long passionate kiss. A pash rash is red irritated skin as the result of a heavy make-out session with someone with a beard.
No worries mate! |
Ripper: really great
Roo: kangaroo. A baby roo, still in the pouch, is known as a Joey
Root: sexual intercourse. This one can get really get foreigners in trouble. There are numerous stories about Americans coming to Australia telling people how they love to "root for their team." If you come to Australia, you would want to use the word "barrack" instead. On the same note, a "wombat" is someone who eats roots and leaves.
Servo: gas station. In Australia, a gas station is called a petrol station. If you ask for gas, don’t be surprised if someone farts. (That happens here all the time, the fart bit!)
She’ll be right: everything will be all right
Sickie: sick day. If you take a day off work when you are not actually sick it’s called chucking a sickie.
Slab: 24-pack of beer
Sook: to sulk. If someone calls you a sook, it is because they think you are whinging
Stubbie holder: koozie or cooler. A stubbie holder is a polystyrene insulated holder for a stubbie, which is a 375ml bottle of beer.
Sweet as: sweet, awesome. Aussies will often put ‘as’ at the end of adjectives to give it emphasis. Other examples include lazy as, lovely as, fast as and common as.
Ta: thank you
Togs: swim suit
Tradie: a tradesman. Most of the tradies have nicknames too, including brickie (bricklayer), truckie (truckdriver), sparky (electrician), garbo (garbage collector) and chippie (carpenter).
Ute: Utility vehicle, pickup truck
Whinge: whine
So, its going to be ripper to have Rob's rellies from Oz for a bit. They had the bonzer idea to visit for his birthday, so let's hope they don't come a gutser when they are here. If the weather is fair dinkum, we shall have a barbie one arvo, which makes me think, strewth I hope we have enough tucker and stubbies to go round! And while we are waiting for the grub, we'll have a good yabber! I must remember to buy some chockies for afters.
And we shall celebrate Rob's 70th in style.
After all, his blood is worth bottling!
Hooroo for now mates.
2 comments:
Dare I say ogod!!!!!
Good on 'yer Sheila!!
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