Australian "Slang" Interpretation

Another one: I've heard "fanny" being used in a few American movies etc. Apparently it means bum in America. It means vagina here.

So yanks, probably best not to go around telling Aussies you've been "shaking your fanny" or anything.
 
What exactly do people mean when they call themselves " weirdos" ? Drew made it sound romantic when he said he and Tully were a couple of weirdos thrown together in the house. Jade said she was a weirdo when talking about a relationship.

I take a weirdo to be a very odd person, but maybe they just mean someone who doesn't fit in?

Is it a relationship thing?
 
Rose711 said:
What exactly do people mean when they call themselves " weirdos" ? Drew made it sound romantic when he said he and Tully were a couple of weirdos thrown together in the house. Jade said she was a weirdo when talking about a relationship.

I take a weirdo to be a very odd person, but maybe they just mean someone who doesn't fit in?

Is it a relationship thing?
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I think weirdo is the same.
 
Rose711 said:
What exactly do people mean when they call themselves " weirdos" ? Drew made it sound romantic when he said he and Tully were a couple of weirdos thrown together in the house. Jade said she was a weirdo when talking about a relationship.

I take a weirdo to be a very odd person, but maybe they just mean someone who doesn't fit in?

Is it a relationship thing?
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No, it's not a relationship thing. It is just someone who is a little (or a lot) weird; different than the masses in some way. It's generally more an affectionate term for someone who is a little different from the crowd.

Drew referred to him and Tully as weirdos because they are both a bit nerdy, into pokemon and such. I have no idea why Jade would think she is a weirdo.
 
qtkt said:
And if we don't shorten it with 'o', we shorten it with 'ie' breakie/breakfast; Brissie/Brisbane, Chrissy/Christmas, and on and on and on.
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My thesis is based around Aussie diminutives, our diminutive use is so productive it's nuts. So much fun to study. There is a whole lot of linguistic research being done into the use and production of them in Australian English, seeing if there are linguistic rules for their creation and use. Super interesting.
 
Winterbourne said:
And fairy bread is fresh white bread with butter or marg and 100s and 1000s on it. Hundreds and Thousands are technicolour grains of sugar used to decorate cakes. It is basically a crunchy sugar sandwich.

Oh, and since having left Australia I am starting to appreciate some things I never suspected - our bread, like Tip Top Sunblest, is the softest, freshest white sandwich bread I have found anywhere. In England and Europe (if you can find it) it tends to be like a day old Toast loaf, and it is never that super soft like a fresh Sunblest is. And in the States it is sweet, like, when it toasts it smells like raisin loaf. Other bread, like heavy bread, or whatever else of course can be great, but super soft white sandwich bread is best done back home, from what I've seen.

Oh, and nothing yet beats the texture of Allen's lollies.
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Speaking of kids party food, we can't forget the little boys with sauce.

In this context, 'little boys' are cocktail frankfurters.
 
And 'sauce' is ketchup.

ANd frankfurters are hot dog wieners.

And cocktail frankfurters are 2 inch long bright red links of hot dog wieners.
 
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Winterbourne said:
And fairy bread is fresh white bread with butter or marg and 100s and 1000s on it. Hundreds and Thousands are technicolour grains of sugar used to decorate cakes. It is basically a crunchy sugar sandwich.

Oh, and since having left Australia I am starting to appreciate some things I never suspected - our bread, like Tip Top Sunblest, is the softest, freshest white sandwich bread I have found anywhere. In England and Europe (if you can find it) it tends to be like a day old Toast loaf, and it is never that super soft like a fresh Sunblest is. And in the States it is sweet, like, when it toasts it smells like raisin loaf. Other bread, like heavy bread, or whatever else of course can be great, but super soft white sandwich bread is best done back home, from what I've seen.

Oh, and nothing yet beats the texture of Allen's lollies.
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And "100's and 1000's" are sprinkles or jimmies*

* from my 10 years working at Dunkin' Donuts days!
 
Even after living here for awhile now I still feel like a fraud when I say some Aussie words and there are others I'd just never use at all. Like servo... whenever I say it my brain still stumbles a bit because it's not a service station back home. It's a gas station. And we're not getting petrol, we're getting gas. And they don't even have people who pump your gas for you here so where's the service?! And a word like sauce for ketchup will just never make it into my vocabulary. Nature strip's another one.
 
Mrs Butterface said:
Even after living here for awhile now I still feel like a fraud when I say some Aussie words and there are others I'd just never use at all. Like servo... whenever I say it my brain still stumbles a bit because it's not a service station back home. It's a gas station. And we're not getting petrol, we're getting gas. And they don't even have people who pump your gas for you here so where's the service?! And a word like sauce for ketchup will just never make it into my vocabulary. Nature strip's another one.
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Because back in the old days they actually used to provide that service so I guess it's just a carry-over lol
 
Rose711 said:
I was wondering what they meant by saying that Ed and Jade were "dry rooting."

In the other thread someone mentioned "ratbag" I was shocked when Sonia referred to Mr. Clooney as a ratbag during Mikkayla's eviction.

I'm going to keep posting other words here.

In the other thread ( we got off topic at the end of the day 84 thread) someone asked about
White trash
Trailer trash
Hillbillies ( I think is old and not used, but I live in New York so may not be accurate- mostly people from rural Appalachian areas like Kentucky, tennessee)
Red neck

Main point is dont ever use these terms.

White trash is mostly uneducated poors.

Trailer trash I think of mostly people from the country areas.

Red neck- any conservative truck driving loud kind of person. Doesn't correspond to wealth or education level as do the others.

These are off the top of my head and I will try to improve them by finding examples.

Wait: thongs aren't underwear?
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Can I just ask with genuine curiousity why people from OS regard 'ratbag' as such a dire insult. Here it is more an affectionate term almost. In jest you might call your child a ratbag, and you'd smile as you say it. Am interested about the way this word is perceived overseas
 
Servo, service station, petrol station.

On the gas thing, if you say that in Aus people will think you are actually filling your car up with gas, Liquid Petroleum Gas, LPG. Wonderful stuff, makes the car so much cheaper to run.
 
ratbag
Definition
Slang

noun a despicable, disreputable or obnoxious person. This term of abuse originated in Australia where it derived either literally from a bag used by a rat-catcher or from the notion of a bag full of rats as the epitome of obnoxiousness. The word became popular in Britain in the early 1960s (helped in no small part by its frequent use in the popular radio comedy-series Hancock’s Half Hour) and is now often used with a degree of affection. In Australia it often denotes an eccentric.
 
Hahahaha oh man I use a lot of slang.
Well ok I think this is self explanatory but I do use it a lot 'Rocks in your head' = Nuts.
Soz = Sorry.
Wuss = Weak, cowardly.
Widow Maker = Gumtree.
Cadbury = Someone who gets drunk easily, hence the glass and a half thing (also used is Two Pot screamer).
Plonker = Idiot (pretty sure this is a pommy word though?).
 
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Winterbourne said:
I wonder if Australians are better at getting international slang than, perhaps Americans are, because of the constant exposure to cultures other than Australian. For example, Australian kids see Christmas cards with or tv specials with snow and learn young about the southern and northern hemispheres. I have adults in English classes here who lose their minds in classes if I talk about going swimming at Christmas. History at school tends to be European history, with an Australian unit chucked ('thrown') in. And TV is often American or British, and so the exposure to foreign slang in its natural context.
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We learn young about the southern and northern hemispheres too, but I think we are so focused on the northern part that some people kinda forget. A couple of weeks ago I had to explain to my seventeen year old cousin how it's Spring in Australia, while for us it's us Fall! It took me A LONG while to explain it to her, too! It was the funniest thing or the saddest thing ever.. LOL

Winterbourne said:
And fairy bread is fresh white bread with butter or marg and 100s and 1000s on it. Hundreds and Thousands are technicolour grains of sugar used to decorate cakes. It is basically a crunchy sugar sandwich.
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When I first heard 100s and 1000s on the ice cream challenged, I asked 100s and 1000s of whattttt??? Then i looked it up... :D
 
OCray said:
We learn young about the southern and northern hemispheres too, but I think we are so focused on the northern part that some people kinda forget. A couple of weeks ago I had to explain to my seventeen year old cousin how it's Spring in Australia, while for us it's us Fall! It took me A LONG while to explain it to her, too! It was the funniest thing or the saddest thing ever.. LOL
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It feels like the middle of summer here atm not Spring for the past 4 or 5 days it's been so hot. And in Australia most people call fall Autumn.
 
Illabeth said:
My thesis is based around Aussie diminutives, our diminutive use is so productive it's nuts. So much fun to study. There is a whole lot of linguistic research being done into the use and production of them in Australian English, seeing if there are linguistic rules for their creation and use. Super interesting.
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What are you studying Illabeth? Your thesis sounds very interesting. Are there linguistic rules for the creation and use of diminutives?
 
qtkt said:
What are you studying Illabeth? Your thesis sounds very interesting. Are there linguistic rules for the creation and use of diminutives?
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I'm doing my honours in Linguistics this year. My thesis topic started out as an exploration into the use of diminutives in Early Australian English, but I couldn't source enough data so I've moved on to analysing the use of the term "Aussie" in newspapers from it's creating in WW1 to how the use and understanding of the term changed in the WW2 period.

As a result I have done a bunch of reading on diminutives. There are some linguists who propose unconscious linguistic rules surrounding Australians use and production of diminutives. There has been some good stuff by Anna Wierzbicka, she also explores the cultural connection to their use.

As for my belief I'd say yes, there are loose rules that we culturally apply to their use and formation, especially surrounding nicknames for people.
 
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