Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Whatcha Yakking On About?


G'day mates (Hello everyone),

Feel like a cuppa (cup of tea) and a chinwag (chat/talk)? I'll chuck (put) the jug (kettle) on then and get out the bikkies ('correct' term for cookies). Here's some we have left over from Chrissy (Christmas)...no they are probably a bit on the nose (off/not edible). If you stick around for a yak (talk/chat) and don't mind the little ankle bitters (children) running around... oh and don't mind the front room. It looks a bit like the dog's breakfast (a bit of a mess), and I see one of my rug rats (children) have left their daks (shorts) on the floor again.... I'll throw some shrimp on the barbie(BBQ) for lunch in a tic (shortly/in a little while). Sound good? So, let's kick back and have a yabber about all the wonderful atrocities us Aussies commit when we open our mouths to shoot the breeze (chat).

It's been donkeys years (a long time) since the Brits (English) were here tryin' to promote some proper English, my own mother put a fair amount of elbow grease (effort) into makin' sure I was intelligible, but I am the first generation born Australian in my family and felt that it was my duty to Queen and country to be as true blue (real) as we Aussie's come.

Then today Fiction Groupie posted about slang words on her blog and that just dead set (for real/completely) egged me on (encouraged me) to write this. I kid you not (I'm telling the truth) when I say that no one here actually uses this many slang words in one paragraph... well, maybe they do out back (in the country) I dunno. ( I don't know). I'm iffy (not sure) about that... yeah, you get the picture....

Well, I'm pretty chuffed (happy) that you managed to read this far down without chucking a wobbly (throwing a fit) at all my wonderful examples of Australian slang. We are actually a pretty nice bunch of blokes and sheilas (guys and girls). And you would more than likely be able to figure out what we were on about. Oh, if we say we are going to shout you some Macca's (McDaonalds) we didn't just threaten to do something nasty to you. I once told my American buddy that I'd shout her lunch and she asked why I was going to shout at her. Fair enough. We mean we are going to pay for you to have lunch with us. But if you want fries with ketchup when you get there, you are going to have to ask for chips and sauce. Nah, we watch enough American sitcoms to understand what fries are. But no one says ketchup here. It's just...wrong.

And if you get here and hit the local pub don't ask for Foster's beer. That's the crap we export. Try VB (Victorian Bitter) or a XXXX (self explanatory?) instead. Oh, and 'empties' are what you have when those amber gold babies are drained. (when you have finished drinking your beer the bottle will be empty- yeah?)

Okay, I think I have this post in the bag (have this one nicely tied up and finished) . I think I have waffled on (rambled on/chatted on) long enough. You look zonked (tired). I'm gonna make tracks (leave) and hit the sac (go the bed).


So, your turn. Fire away. What slang is local to your neck of the woods? (Um, do I need to translate this? ... Got any local slang to share?)

See ya later. (Not literally. We never actually mean we are going to catch up with you at anytime in the near future. We just mean, 'goodbye'.)

Ta for the visit. (Thanks for the visit)

PS- Gary Corby, no laughing. You know you use these words... go on... I know you do! :)
PSS- I do here by solemnly swear never to be so in your face 'Aussie' ever again :))


25 comments:

  1. I love it... made me laugh... (smile of my face)

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  2. Ha! I actually knew some, like elbow grease and iffy and I kid you not. We use those. :-)
    My step-MIL is South African and I luv her accent. Plus, she uses all these cool slang words. She taught her son to say Ta when he was a toddler, and when I tell her a cute or sad story, she'll say, "Shame, Jess".
    Cute post!

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  3. We picked up the phrase "no worries" when we were in Oz for 3 weeks... it's so much nicer than "no problem"! We also adopted dog's breakfast, the dogs are barking, and chuffed. I also picked up the accent of the people we talked to while we were there (it happens to me every time we travel), so that when locals found out where we were from, they would gasp, "but you don't have an American accent!"

    I grew up in NYC, and I am totally unaware of any regional phrases I may have. Anyway, lots of phrases are more global than you think...

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  4. That was fun. New words! And you knew which ones were slang to your region. I probably use a ton of Texas slang, but everyone does around here, so it doesn't seem like slang. A non-Texas slang that my sister in Minnesota uses, which drives me crazy, is to end her sentences with a preposition, like: You wanna go with? My response is: with what? A bear? A bad attitude? With what? Turns out, she means, do I want to go with her.

    Helen
    Straight From Hel

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  5. Fun post! Yesterday over at FictionGroupies I couldn't think of any slang that we use in Canada but we actually use quite a few of the ones you use in Oz..but not all of them! Thanks for the translations :)

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  6. Wow that was amusing! I have no slang to share, sadly. I'm rather impressed of your grasp on the Kings English now that I see the war on slang you Aussie's are fighting ;)

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  7. I love it! I love how languages can differ from place to place!

    I'm from the Southern US, so we say "y'all", "buggies" instead of "shopping carts", and "fixin' to" when we're getting ready to do something.

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  8. My sister has lived in OZ these last 30 years-- married to an Aussie, she raised her two grown kids there. Anything that reminds me of them is a pleasure and this gave me a chuckle too...fair dinkum! Good on ya mate.

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  9. *big toothy grin*
    Your ear is fine-tuned and your pencil sharp, girl!

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  10. I saw Fiction Groupie's post as well. I can't think of any slang we use that is unusual, but maybe we do. I loved learning all the Aussie sayings!

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  11. This was such a fun post! I love Australian slang.

    I can't really think of any slang particular to my region but my Father-in-law is from Louisiana and instead of "your welcome" he says "that's okay." At first I wondered if maybe he was embarrassed about being thanked for something, but then I realized that was how he answered thank you every time.

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  12. Thanks for the mention! I love your Australian slang. Great post. I know you already know my slang, but here's the link for my Louisiana-speak post if anyone's interested: Where y'at?

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  13. Lol, that was so fun! I LOVE ketchup, so if I ever come to Australia, I'll try to remember to say sauce. Thanks!

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  14. ooh. i just did this on someone else's post about southern stuff. some of the things i mentioned were:

    buggy - shopping cart
    fixinto - about to do something
    jawl pee - did you use the bathroom
    jeet = have you eaten yet
    park = parking space
    tag = car's license plate
    warsh = wash

    it's fun to look at dialects and cultural words. :)

    jeannie
    Where Romance Meets Therapy

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  15. This was so much fun to read! Thanks for my beginning of the week chuckle.

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  16. LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Some things:

    Pop: soda
    Close the lights: (instead of shut)
    The fact of the matter is : "shut up and let me finish what I am saying"
    Package store: Liquor store

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  17. This is a great learning opportunity for me. I had no idea that was Australian slang. Good to know.

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  18. Thanks for the laughs. I'm from SoCal and really do say "dude" way to much. Otherwise, I'm not aware of any regionalisms I use. Except maybe for SoCal, which means Southern California, but even then only on the internet because it is shorter.

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  19. Thanks all. Glad to give you guys a laugh. There are so many more words I could have included, but I quickly discovered how crass many of our slang words are and thought the better of it :)

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  20. Oh my goodness. I almost did give up getting through this even though I knew you were jesting us.

    Eh, is the one we Canadians get slammed with a lot. Though, I find we actually rarely use it. Really, eh!

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  21. How fun!!! The only one I get made fun of alot is when I say I am "fixin' to" do something. Sounds stupid, I know...lol

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  22. I'll cop to using a lot of these, though not perhaps at quite that density!

    If you want a great example of authentic colloquial Australian dialogue in a good book, try The Broken Shore by Peter Temple, set in a small Australian country town. Be prepared for the (authentic) frequent use of the F-bomb.

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  23. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I am a 'Brit' through and through.Even here, this way is used. You should here my Daughter! I blame television of course.....not me!I am always 'pulling her up' about her language. Ha!

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  24. BTW I have been having a sabbatical from 'Blogland' that's why my post probably never showed before.I am back writing/posting though now, on and off!

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  25. LOL Gary. Haven't heard of that book. I bet the f-bomb is thick on the air!

    Sarah- funny. :)) No more sabbaticals from blogging land yeah? We miss ya.

    Sherrinda, love that saying!

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