Australian English. Main characteristics

 

II.1 The colloquialism

The term “slang” (some language references, such as the Macquarie Dictionary, prefer to use the term “colloquialism”) describes a characteristic of speech (or writing) where a speaker (or writer) feels free to express themselves informally and often outside the confines of correct grammar or social niceties. These expressions are usually cheeky, personal and amusing.

A significant proportion of slang refers to vulgar or “taboo” concepts and events. But not all humorous or memorable phrases can be classified as slang; it is important to consider how frequent and widespread the use and recognition of the term is among the general population.

II.2 Colloquialisms in dictionaries and language guides

Examples of slang are usually found in everyday speech, however, they are also collected from the radio, television, newspapers, books and advertising. In the Macquarie Dictionary, words with the note “Colloquial" after the entry are categorised as colloquialisms. There are a number of dictionaries devoted to documenting both past and present Australian colloquialisms, however determining the exact definition of an Australian colloquialism will always lead to a lively and interesting debate.

II.2 The Australian idiom

Linguists and other cultural theorists value the study of Australian colloquialisms as a way of observing how the Australian character has developed through language. For example, “having a bash” at something is similar to “giving it a burl”, and both phrases reflect a history of Australian improvisation and hard work. “Don’t come the raw prawn" began its life as slang used by Australian service personnel in World War II, and is still used to warn off someone when they attempt to impose their will.

Sydney Baker, author of a number of important 20^th century works about slang, believed that the Australian’s greatest talent is for idiomatic invention. It is a manifestation of their vitality and restless imagination.

The Australian fondness for continually adapting English through shortening, substituting and combining words contributes to a vocabulary that most Australians understand, and what could be called the Australian “idiom” or “vernacular”. ⁹

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II.4 Substitutions, abbreviations and comparisons

Colloquialisms can be incorporated into language in a number of ways; the most common of which are substitution and comparison. A common form of substitution is when rhyming slang removes one part of a phrase and replaces it with a word that rhymes, for example to “have a Captain Cook” means to “have a look”.

Substitution could also include a “metaphor”, where one word or idea stands in for another. There is no town in Australia called “Woop Woop”, however it has been a popular and evocative byword for a backward and remote location, and has been in use throughout the 20^th century.

Colloquialisms that take the form of a comparison often raise startling images, for example: “flat out like a lizard drinking” (working very hard on a task) or “standing like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge" (feeling lonely and vulnerable). Dazed and confused, someone will wander “like a stunned mullet”; in a furious rage, they will be “mad as a cut snake" and in a state of undeniable lifelessness they will be “dead as a maggot”.

Australians also demonstrate a strong impulse to abbreviate and alter word endings, resulting in “barbie" for barbecue, “arvo" for afternoon, “cossie" for swimming costume and “blowie" for blowfly.

II.5 Convict sources

The picture shows relics of convict discipline, image courtesy of National Library of Australia.

Following the settlement of Australia as a British penal colony, the language that emerged reflected the distinct conditions of settlement, authority and punishment.

Author Amanda Laugesen, in her book Convict Words: Language in Early Colonial Australia, explains how a “pure Merino” was a sly way of describing settlers “who pride themselves on being of the purest blood in the Colony”.

In another example, Laugesen explains how ex-convicts who took up airs and graces on their release were dismissed as “felon-swells" or “legitimate exquisites”.

Many of these historically specific terms have now disappeared from common usage. For example, the word “pebble" once referred to a convict who was difficult to deal with and had the hard qualities of stone. A “paper man" was a convict who had been granted their documents proving a conditional pardon. “Magpies” and “canaries" were not only birds; they also were words that described the black and yellow, or straight yellow uniforms worn by convicts.

However, there are cases of words emerging from the convict underworld, enduring through history and remaining peppered through the conversation of Australians today. The term “swag”, which once referred to the booty stolen by a thief, has become a way of describing a valued bundle of items carried by a traveller. The well-known Australian song Waltzing Matilda has helped to cement this term in the popular imagination. ¹⁰

II.6 Aboriginal languages

One of the most important influences on Australian English has been Aboriginal languages. There are a number of Aboriginal words that have been adopted colloquially within Australian English, for example “boomerang”, “humpy” or “corroboree”.

Other hybrid words have emerged through a “pidgin" or early adaptation of English words to describe aspects of Aboriginal life. The phrase “gone walkabout" was originally used in the early 19^th century to describe the migratory movement of Aboriginals across Australia. Now it is used in a more general, and sometimes inaccurate, way to describe a journey away from home. Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald even reported in 1981 that “Lady Diana takes a Royal walkabout in her stride” (25 July 1981, p.10).

II.7 Gentle Insults

A significant number of Australian colloquialisms are affectionate insults or backhanded compliments. A clumsy friend or colleague may be called a “dag”, “galah”, “drongo" or “boofhead”. There are also many ways of saying that someone is not very useful, for example:

“couldn’t find a grand piano in a one-roomed house”

“couldn’t blow the froth off a glass of beer”

“a chop short of a barbie”

“useless as an ashtray on a motorbike”.

II.8 Perverse reversals

Albert Tucker, Max Harris & Joy Hester, Tarax Bar, Flinders Station, [Melbourne], c. 1943, photograph: gelatin silver. Image courtesy of National Library of Australia.

As writer, poet and member of the modernist literary and artistic movement the Angry Penguins, Max Harris points out in his book The Australian Way with Words, “one of the Australian ratbag traditions is to take a word and perversely use it as the opposite of its intended meaning. ” A well-known illustration of this is the word “bluey”, a nickname for someone with red hair.

II.9 Nicknames describing Australian States

In the spirit of friendly rivalry, Australian states and territories are identified through nicknames. For example, Queensland, where the northern climate encourages tropical fruit growing, is the land of “banana benders”, and Western Australia, home to some of Australia’s most magnificent beaches, is populated by “Sandgropers”. Some terms are less established, for example Victorians were once called “gum-suckers” when the resin from gum trees (type of Australian tree also known as a Eucalypt) was used as an early substitute for chewing gum.

Interestingly, while certain distinct phrases are limited by geography, there is very little regional variation in Australian colloquialisms considering the distance between the main population centres.

It is important to remember that a key feature of colloquialisms, slang or “Australianisms" are that they are never static and often shift meaning or spelling over time. Inevitably, Australian English is constantly shedding colloquial phrases.

It is unlikely that someone will ask you to share a “puftaloon” (a fried scone) at a “shivoo" (party). Even in the colder, southern regions of Australia, it is rare to hear the phrase “cold as a polar bear’s bum”. However, browsing through current and historical dictionaries can offer a fascinating map reflecting the changing economic, political and cultural influences in Australian society.

 

III. Australian English in different fields

It is common amongst Australians to shorten the names of places, people, companies, etc. Some of these terms are regional others are in relatively widespread use. Many terms derive from company or brand names others derive from rhyming slang or the use of diminutives.

III.1 Food and drink

Where foodstuffs are concerned, Australian English tends to be more closely related to the British vocabulary, for example the term biscuit is the traditional and common term rather than the American terms cookie and cracker. As had been the case with many terms, cookie is recognized and understood by Australians, and occasionally used, especially among younger generations.

In Australia the term chips is used for what Americans call French Fries, as with British English. In Australia chips is also used for what are called crisps in the UK, this second usage also being the American English term for crisps. The distinction is sometimes made through the adjective hot. The term French Fries is understood and sometimes used by Australians. US restaurants such as McDonalds continue to use the term French Fries in Australia.

In a few cases such as zucchini, snow pea and eggplant, Australian English uses the same terms as American English, whereas the British use the equivalent French terms courgette, mangetout and aubergine. This is possibly due to a fashion that emerged in mid - 19^th Century Britain of adopting French nouns for foodstuffs, and hence the usage changed in Britain while the original terms were preserved in the (ex-) colonies.

There are also occasions when Australians use words or terms which are not common in other forms of English. For example, Australia uses the botanical name capsicum for what the Americans would call (red or green) bell peppers and the British (red or green) peppers. Perhaps this is in order to contrast table pepper (berries of genus Piper) from so-called “hot peppers" (larger fruits of genus Capsicum).

Australians use the term rockmelon where North Americans would use the term cantaloupe, although in Victoria and Tasmania both terms are used.

In Australian English, dried fruits are given different names according to their variety, and generally raisins (grapes) are largest, sultanas (grapes) are intermediate, while currants are smallest.

In Australian English tomato sauce (often known simply as “sauce”) is the name given to what is known as ketchup in other dialects. However, ketchup with its slightly sweeter taste, is still sold in many grocery stores and is common in fast food outlets such as McDonalds. Other sauces made from tomatoes are generally referred to by names related to their uses, such as barbecue and pasta sauce.

Served coffee beverages are given unique descriptive names such as flat white, for an espresso with milk. Other terms include short black, (espresso) and long black, (espresso diluted with water, similar to an Americano in the U. S.). Since the mid-1980s other varieties of coffee have also become popular, although these have generally been known by names used in North America and/or Europe.

As in British English, the colourless, slightly lemon-flavoured, carbonated drink known in North America and elsewhere under brand names such as Sprite and 7 Up is called lemonade, while the more strongly-flavoured drink known as lemonade in North America that is typically made of lemon juice and sugar is sometimes referred to as lemon squash, or sometimes traditional lemonade or club lemon, particularly in carbonated form.

The carbonated drink commonly called sarsaparilla in Australia is a type of root beer, named after the sarsarparilla root from which root beer is made. However, the taste is quite different, to the point that they may be considered two completely different products. This may be due to a difference in the production process.

Australians also often refer to McDonald’s restaurants as Maccas, to the point that the corporation itself refers to itself verbally as such in advertising (but not in writing).

Cheap, unbranded Australian wine is called “cleanskin” wine, after the term for unbranded cattle. Cheap cask wine is often referred to as goon (diminutive slang for flagon), and the plastic cask is referred to as a “goon sack”, “goon bag" or “goony”.

A portable cooler; usually made of metal, plastic and/or polystyrene foam; is called an esky. This is a genericised trademark from the trade name Esky.

Processed pork

A common foodstuff known in some countries as Baloney or as pork luncheon meat is known by different names in different regions of Australia.

Belgium sausage - Tasmania (A beef variant is known as beef Belgium.)

Byron sausage - New England.

Devon - New South Wales (except Hunter Valley and New England), Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory

Empire sausage - Hunter Valley

fritz - South Australia and Broken Hill, New South Wales

German sausage or pork German - Victoria and northern Tasmania

veal German or luncheon - Queensland

Polony - Western Australia

Round meat - Northern Territory

Strasburg or strasbourg or Stras - Victoria, Tasmania (The name is used for a spicier, wider-sliced processed meat in other areas.)

Wheel meat - Tasmania

Windsor sausage - North Queensland

 

Beer glasses

Not only have there been a wide variety of measures in which beer is served in pubs in Australia, the names of these glasses differ from one area to another. However, the range of glasses has declined greatly in recent years (table 2).

Table 2. Names of beer glasses in various Australian cities.

Capacity	Sydney	Darwin	Brisbane	Adelaide	Hobart	Melbourne	Perth	Canberra
115 ml (4 fl oz)	-	-	-	-	small beer	-	shetland (pony)	-
140 ml (5 fl oz)	pony	-	small beer	pony	-	pony	pony	-
170 ml (6 fl oz)	-	-	-	-	six	small (glass)	bobbie	-
200 ml (7 fl oz)	seven	seven	beer	butcher	-	glass	glass	seven
225 ml (8 fl oz)	-	-	glass	-	eight	-	-	-
285 ml (10 fl oz)	middy	handle	pot	schooner	ten (ounce) /pot	pot	middy	middy
425 ml (15 fl oz)	schooner	schooner	schooner	pint	fifteen/schooner	schooner	schooner	schooner
570 ml (20 fl oz)	pint	pint	pint	imperial pint	pint	pint	pint	pint
1140 ml (40 fl oz)	jug	jug	jug	jug	jug	jug	jug	jug

 

Sport

To barrack, invariably a sporting team (typically rugby league or Australian rules football), for example, in Australian English means to hoot or cheer in support of something. Identical to the US “root”. (Note that the word “root" in Australia is coarse slang for sexual intercourse.) For example: “who do you barrack for? ” Almost the exact opposite of the (now rare) British usage of barrack, that is to denigrate: to jeer or hoot against something, such as a sporting team.

Cricket

The game of cricket is immensely popular in Australia and has contributed slang terms to Australian English. Some of this is shared with rival cricketing nations, like the English and the New Zealanders.

Australians can be bowled over (taken by surprise), stumped (nonplussed) or clean bowled or alternatively hit for six (completely defeated). When answering questions, one can play a straight bat (or a dead bat) (give a non-committal answer) or let that one through to the keeper or shoulder arms (dodge the question), particularly if they are on a sticky wicket (in a tight situation). The questioner in turn can send down a bouncer, a googly, a flipper or a yorker (difficult questions to varying degrees). Alternatively, the question could be a long hop or a dolly - an easy question that person being questioned can use to his or her advantage.

Football

The word football or its shortened form footy is used by Australians for several different codes of football or the ball used to play any of them. Australians generally fall into four camps when it comes to the use of the word.

In the states of Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, the word “football" (or more commonly, “footy”) usually refers to Australian rules football (also known simply as Australian football or “Aussie Rules”). In these states there is little or no popular differentiation between the two kinds of rugby football.

In the states of New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland, most people refer to rugby league simply as “football" or “footy” for short, or “League" (after the National Rugby League governing body).rugby union is known as “rugby”, “union” or “rahrah”. Australian rules is often known in these areas as “AFL” (a name which, strictly speaking, refers to the main governing body, the Australian Football League).

In areas in which all three codes are popular, especially the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory and the Riverina (south-western NSW), the word “football" is ambiguous, and the names “league”, “rugby” and “AFL” (or just “rules”) are used, to avoid confusion.

Association football is generally known as soccer in Australia. In 2005, the governing body changed its name to Football Federation Australia. Other media sources (especially in New South Wales and Queensland) now also refer to the game as “football”.

In Australia, American football, which has a small following, is known as gridiron.

Players, officials and followers of Australian rules football, have devised many unique concepts, terms, slang and nicknames. Some of these, such as footy.

III.2 Vehicles

Work vehicles

In Australian English the term ute, short for utility vehicle, refers to a passenger car-like vehicle with a tray back, possibly with sides, a rear gate and/or a removable cover or any small truck. Australian-made Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon utes are based on family car chassis, and are normally much smaller than current North American pickup trucks. The term is generally consistent with pickup in most countries. However, all imported pickups are also known as utes in Australia.

Truck (rather than lorry) has been the only term for heavy goods vehicles in Australia since World War II. Four-wheel drive, which is often abbreviated in writing as 4WD, is the usual name for the class of vehicles known elsewhere as SUVs, as well as utes with 4WD capability. In contrast to American English, neither utes nor passenger 4WD vehicles are usually regarded as being trucks in Australia. Four-wheel drives that are used only in the city and never for off-road driving are commonly given derogatory nicknames based on the names of wealthier suburbs of Australia’s various state capital cities, the most common of these is Toorak Tractors, referring to the Melbourne suburb of Toorak.

There are a variety of terms for large and/or articulated trucks, depending on the type of cargo area, size/length, number of axles/wheels and so on. A single trailer articulated truck (typically with 32 wheels in Australia) is known as a semi-trailer or semi (/'se. mi/ not /'se. mɑe/ as in the USA), an articulated truck with two trailers (typically with 50 tyres) is known as a B-Double (the lead trailer has a fifth wheel supporting the second trailer), or Double Semi. The largest of all articulated trucks are road trains, common on outback highways, which have at least three trailers and often more. In all articulated truck configurations, the powered vehicle at the front is invariably known as a prime mover.