How to Use Australian Slang

Actor Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan. His films made Aussie slang cool in the '80s.

People of a certain age know their Australian slang from three pop culture sources. The "Crocodile Dundee" movie series, Men at Work songs (especially "Down Under") and Foster's beer commercials. There are far more slang terms, of course, and proper ways to use them. For starters, pronounce them correctly. "Aussie" sounds like Oz-ee with a hard z sound, not Oss-ee.

Instructions

1. Start with your greeting. Australians love to say "G'day," which is a shortened version of "Good day." "G'day" is usually followed by "Howzitgoin?" which roughly translates to "how are you?"

2. Use a nickname if you can, even if it doesn't make sense on the surface. For example, redheads are called "blue" or "bluey." The easiest way to make an Australian nickname is to add "O" to the end, like "Dave-O" or "Johnno." It's also popular to add "azza" to the first sound in a name. So Jasmine becomes "Jazza," Shannon becomes "Shazza," and Aaron becomes "Azza."

3. Call everyone "mate," male or female. Groups of women are referred to as "guys" or "you guys."

4. Add "o" or "ee" sounds to ordinary words to sound more Australian. The bottle shop is called the "bottle-o," and afternoon is shortened to "arvo." Breakfast becomes "brekkie" and Firefighter becomes "Firey." Barbecue does become "Barbie," but Australians never throw a shrimp on one. They call those creatures prawns.

5. Memorize some slang terms from an aussie slang dictionary. Some examples are ace! (excellent), berk (idiot), bloke (fella), Captain Cook (take a look), chuck a wobbly (a fit of temper), ankle-biter (infant), good-on-ya (well done), kip (nap) and, with apologies to Foster's, the real slang in Australian for beer is amber fluid.

References

• Aussie-Slang Dictionary