Australian Dictionary
- Arvo: Afternoon.
- Avos: Avocados.
- Banana bender: A Queenslander.
- Barbie: Barbecue, as in "I'll throw some shrimp and chook on the barbie."
- Bash: Party. Also "fancy turns".
- Beaut, beauty: Great, fantastic, as in "Beauty amber fluid, mate!"
- Bend the Elbow: To have a drink - pretty well self explanatory!
- Bonzer: Pronounced "bonsa" - grouse, great, excellent.
- Bloke: Man, guy.
- Bloody: Universal epithet the great Australian adjective. Used to emphasize any point or story. Hence "bloody beauty"(bewdy!) or "bloody horrible" or even "absa-bloody-lutely"!
- Bludger: Lazy person, layabout.
- Bluey: Pack, equipment and also a traffic ticket.
- Bonnet: Hood of a car.
- Boomer: A large male kangaroo, as Rolf Harris sings, "Six white boomers, snow white boomers on Santa's Australian run...".
- Boot: Trunk of a car.
- Bottle shop: Liquor shop.
- Box of blowflies: Ugly, as in "that's as ugly as a box of blowflies!" And that's pretty ugly!
- Buckley's Chance: No chance at all.
- Bunyip: A mythical bush spirit, Australia's bigfoot. Probably just a hairy surfie!
- Capsicums: Green or red bell peppers.
- Carpetbagger steak: Beef stuffed with oysters.
- Chemist shop: Drug store.
- Chew the Fat: To talk, engage in pleasant conversation, to have a chinwag.
- Chook: Chicken. Often served barbecued at fancy turns. If your hostess is befuddled and/or overcome by trying to do too many things at once, one might say she was "running around like a chook with its head cut-off!"
- Chunder: Puking or throwing-up while inebriated. Also "up and under".
- Cobber: Friend.(dated)
- Cockie: Farmer.
- Cockroach: Someone from New South Wales
- Crook: Sick, or badly made.
- Crow eater: A South Australian.
- Dag: A funny person, nerd, goof, loser.
- Daks: Trousers in Australia, but underpants in New Zealand. Confusion between the two maylead to an embarrassing situation!
- Darwin stubbie: A 1.25 litre bottle of beer. Careful! "Stubbies" are also a popular brand of men's shorts.
- Dead as a dead dingo's donga: In loads of trouble.
- Digger: A soldier.
- Dill: An idiot.
- Dilly-bag: Food bag.
- Ding bat: Fool.
- Dinky-di: The real thing.
- Donk: Car or boat engine.
- Donkey's years: Ages.
- Drink with the flies: To drink alone.
- Drongo: A dope, stupid person.
- Drop-in: To steal a surfer's wave. This is a serious crime in Surfer's Paradise.
- Dunny: The toilet, W.C., or bathroom. If someone busting to know where the dunny is, tell 'em to "follow their nose to the thunderbox".
- Earbash: Non-stop chatter.
- Esky: Portable icebox or cooler - it's always a good idea to have one in the boot stocked with some cold ones just in case the party's bar runs dry.
- Fair Dinkum: Kosher, the real thing - as in "Fair Dinkum Aussie" (true blue Aussie original). Often used by itself as a rhetorical question to express astonishment verging on disbelief ... "Fair Dinkum, mate?" (you've got to be kidding, haven't you?)
- Fair go: A good chance, as in "The All Blacks have a fair go in their tests."
- Footpath: Sidewalk.
- Footy: Rugby League
- Galah: Noisy fool, named after the bird of the same name.
- Game: Brave.
- G'arn: Go on, you're kidding!
- G'day: Universal greeting, used anytime day or night, but never as a farewell. Pronounced "gud-eye", usually followed by "mate" (mite) or a typically strung-together "howyagoinallright"(= how are you today, feeling pretty good?)
- Give it a burl: Try it.
- Good as gold: Great!
- Good oil: Useful information, a good idea.
- Good Onya: Omnipresent term of approval, sometimes ironic, offering various degrees of heartfelt congratulations depending on inflection. Indispensible during Aussie smalltalk - substitute "really, oh yeh, aha, etc."
- Grizzle: To complain.
- Grog: Liquor, beer. BYOG is "bring your own grog".
- Grommet: A hot young surfer.
- Grouse: Rhymes with "house" - means outstanding, tremendous. Can be applied universally to all things social ... "grouse birds(women), grouse band, in fact, grouse bloody gay and hearty (great party!)"
- Have a yarn: To talk to someone.
- Hit your kick: Open your wallet.
- Hoon: Idiot, hooligan.
- Hooroo: Pronounced "who-ru"... means "see ya later", make sure you don't say g'day when meaning goodbye - it's a dead giveaway you're not a true blue Aussie.
- Hotel: Often just a pub.
- Icy pole: Popsicle.
- Jackaroo: A male ranch hand.
- Jillaroo: A female ranch hand.
- Joey: Baby kangaroo.
- Journo: Journalist.
- Jumbuck: Sheep.
- Jumper: Sweater.
- Knock: To criticise.
- Knocker: Those who knock!
- Lemon squash: Lemonade.
- Lob-in: Drop in to see someone.
- Lollies: Sweets.
- Lolly water: Soft drink.
- Middy: New South Wales 285 ml beer glass.
- Never Never: Distant outback.
- No-hoper: A fool, loser\
- Ocker: Pronounced "ocka" - Typical uncultivated Aussie, similar to Yank "redneck".
- Offsider: An assistant.
- O.S. : Overseas, as in "she's gone O.S."
- Oz: Australia; God's country
- Paralytic: Extremely drunk. Not good form too early on at a bash especially if you end up having an "up & under" or "chunder"
- Pines: Pineapples.
- Plonk: Wine. Never used to describe the other main alcoholic beverage at an Australian social occasion - beer.
- Pommie or pom: An Englishman.
- Proper Toff: Upper class Snot!
- Pull Your head In: Use sparingingly, since this equates a rather annoyed "shut up & mind your own business". Only say this to the host if you know you're leaving or off like a bride's nightie (out of there!)
- Rafferty's rules: Chaos, disorder.
- Reckon: Think, as in "Your shout or mine? What' ya reckon?".
- Ridgy-didge: Original, genuine.
- Right: Okay, as in "she'll be right, mate."
- Ring, tingle: Phone someone up, as in "I'll give him a ring."
- Ripper: Pronounced "rippa" means beaut, tippy-tops, grouse
- Rolling: Drunk.
- Rotten: Drunk.
- Rubbish: To knock something.
- Sandgroper: A Western Australian.
- School: Group of drinkers. Brings new meaning to the term higher education!
- Schooner: Large beer glass.
- Shark biscuit: New surfers, grommets on boogie boards. Tres uncool!
- Sheila: A woman
- She'll be right: No problem, don't worry, mate.
- Shootin' through: Leave, take off.
- Shout: To shout means to buy the next round (of drinks usually), so if someone says "It's your shout, mate" don't get vocal, just buy a couple of tinnies and remain sociable, the next few drinks are someone else's responsibility!
- Smoko: Smoke or coffee break.
- Snag: A sausage.
- Spit The Dummie: A "dummie" is Australian for a child's pacifier. Lose your cool
- Spunky, spunk: Good looking, as in "Elle MacPherson sure is spunky."
- Stickybeak: Nosy person.
- Stone the crows: An exclamation of surprise.
- Strewth: Pronounced "sta-ruth" ... general exclamation of disbelief or shock.
- Strine: Australian slang, from "Aus-strine", the way Aussies say Australian.
- Swagman: Itinerant farm worker, tramp
- Taswegian: A resident of Tasmania.
- Tee-up: To set up an appointment.
- Tinny: Can of beer. Beer can also go by "the golden nectar", "throat charmer", "ice cold tube", "amber fluid", etc.
- Tomato sauce: Ketchup.
- Too right: Definitely!
- True blue: Honest, straight.
- The Lucky Country: Why, Australia, of course.
- Tucker: Food.
- Vegemite: A dark brown, gooey, salty vegetable yeast extract. It's what makes Aussies strong.
- Whinge: Rhymes with "hinge" as in door! Means to complain incessantly
- Wobbly: Disturbing, unstable behaviour, as in "to throw a wobbly."
- Wog: Flu or slight illness, as in "Too much plonk and now the wog." Or someone of Italian descent.
- Woopwoop: in the boonies, nowhere.
- Wowser: Straight-laced person, prude, puritan, spoilsport.
- XXXX: Pronounced Four X, it's Queensland's famous beer.
- Yabber: Talk.
- Yobbo: An uncouth person.