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Oz lingo made easy


heidim

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So I thought for all the newbies "crossing over to the other side", it may be helpful to have a local dictionary at hand. Other members, please add to the list, and newbies, please let us know if this is helpful.

Here goes:

Blue tac = prestik

Arvo = afternoon

Chook = chicken

Hot water system = geyser

Felt pens = Khoki pens

Capsicum = Peppers (like green peppers)

Brollie = Umbrella

Jumper = jersey/jacket

Thongs = plakkies

Togs and towel = swimwear and towel

White out = tippex

FIFO = Fly In Fly Out (some people work far from home and they fly to work - ex mines - one week and then stay home another)

Biccies = biscuits

Foxtel = DSTV

Bogan = somebody from the wrong side of the tracks

Edited by heidim
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Hi heidim,

Here are some more to add to your list.

Drongo - twit

galoot - twit

dob - pimp or tell on someone...also used to "volunteer" sopmeone to do a piece of work.

Chuck a sickie - pull a sick day off at home

Up the duff - taken ill (dubiously)

Snag - sausage

Root - err this one is err, adult rated. Instead of root you say "barrack" So the usage is "I barrack for the Wallabies" NOT Im "root"/rooting for the Wallabies. I learnt this one the hard way one day....

Eskie - cooler box

tradie - tradesperons like a roof tiler or sparky

ute - bakkie

I have experienced all these terms in the 4 years I've been here and their context, some funny, some not. You will also need to be careful, the First People are not referred to as 'abos' as this is classed as racist and avoided. The correct term I learnt was "Aboriginal peoples: I learnt this during a cultural visit to some caves that were used 10 000 years ago...fascinating it was.

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I had a hard time finding prestik until I finally learned it was called Blue Tac. Then our geyser broke. Called up two plumbers and asked to fix it and they responded they don't do it. Eventually called estate agent and she said she had no idea what I was talking about - never heard of a geyser. Got the right lingo and the geyser (NOT THE HOT WATER SYSTEM!) got fixed! :-)

Would've saved a lot of hassle if I knew some of this stuff beforehand!

Edited by heidim
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tea = if at work means a meeting/gathering with party pies (small pies) and sausage rolls but no tea

tea = if at home means dinner but no tea

!! - just don't get that

Edited by Sunnyskies
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The best one I've heard was when you drink too much and throw up, it is called a "technicolor yawn"

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...Up the duff - taken ill (dubiously)

...

"Up the duff" means pregnant Surferman...as in "do ya reckon she's up the duff ?" :)

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or chunk or chunder

Err oops, thanks Fish. Well, i cant use that one then at work, can I? Darn it. :jester:

Yeah, I had visions of you asking an ill colleague whether they were up the duff...might not have gone down too well :)

Edited by Fish
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Good thing I had no had a chance to trot out my finest Ozzie slang yet, except at the drongos who text and drive, it's a frigging plague in Perth.

Watch this dude, there are 8 in the series, just watch you dont tear a stomach muscle. :jester:

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"Up the duff" means pregnant Surferman...as in "do ya reckon she's up the duff ?" :)

I thought that may be a West Coast thang!

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One of my temps sent me an sms asking if he could have a yarn. I thought he wanted a day off or something. Turns out......he wanted a chat with me?

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Not quite on topic, but something that threw me the first couple of times soon after arriving -

when paying at Coles/Woolies etc, the cashiers ask (very quickly and obviously in an aussie accent which at that stage I wasn't at all used to) "Flybuys?" (for Coles) and then "Cashout?". I had no idea what they were saying not to mention, what the hell was a Flybuy???

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leeferg1 I'm so with you on the "Cashout?". One of my most embarrassing moments. First time I thought they meant do I want to "check out". So I replied yes to "cashout". When asked how much cash out? Well let's just say my reply was something in the line of "the whole trolley please!".


And then Trevor Noah informed me about "bum a fag" = take a smoke

Edited by heidim
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leeferg1 I'm so with you on the "Cashout?". One of my most embarrassing moments. First time I thought they meant do I want to "check out". So I replied yes to "cashout". When asked how much cash out? Well let's just say my reply was something in the line of "the whole trolley please!".

And then Trevor Noah informed me about "bum a fag" = take a smoke

Yes, to bum something is to ask/get something for free. eg. Can I bum a lift to work with you ? Can I bum a beer ?

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Flybuys ..... Cashout ...... Please explain:)

Flybuys is a reward scheme. You swipe your Flybuys card when buying your shopping at Coles and accrue points for ever dollar you spend.

Cashout is the term for withdrawing extra cash out with your shopping above what your actual shopping cost. The normal ATM machines charge $2.50 per withdrawal so many get "cash out" at the checkout in the supermarket for free instead.

Edited by Fish
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Oh fish fish fish. After all this time you still don't get it right! Flybuys is the self checkout. If they ask Flybuys, they wanna know if you want to make use of the self check out facility rather than the till. You "fly by while you buy" because self checkout is quicker . Right? . :whome:

Flybuys = clicks clubcard (it only applies to the Coles group)

Cashout = drawing money from the teller behind the till like you would at PicknPay

You also get everyday rewards = clicks clubcard (for the woollies group)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Oh I forgot about a doona. For the life of my I couldn't understand what a doona is! Took me about a year.

So a duvet in Oz is called a doona.

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Funny thing with a doona is that it often isn't used with a duvet cover. In many place I've stayed it sort of gets put between 2 sheets with some clever tucking so you don't see the doona.

Doona gets it's name from a brand of duvets that was popular. The brand was subsequently acquired by Tontine (a well known brand for pillows and duvets).

Also linen is called Manchester. Not sure why but I would hazard a guess because maybe Manchester in the UK used to make it in times gone by - Manchester used to be the global centre of the cotton trade.

Edited by Sunnyskies
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