Australian English 101:
Basic Australian Translation
Lesson 1 - Use of G'day and
Mate
Liberally pepper your dialogue with the
words "G'day" (meaning how are you or what's going on) at
the beginning of a sentence and "mate" at the end.
Remember to use the plural, mates, if speaking to more than
one person. You would not want to use "mate" more than
once or twice per paragraph of dialogue spoken.
Examples:
USA: Do you know where the store is?
Australia: G'day, do you know where the store is,
mate?
USA: Raise your hands or I will blow your brains out.
Australia: G'day, mate(s). Raise your hands or I
will your brains out.
Lesson 2 - Expletives
In polite American and British speech,
you would shun expletives. In the US, expletives, when
used discriminately, can add emphasis, urgency, importance.
Examples are below. Expletives are dashed out
here so
that this site doesn't get mistakenly flagged by search
engines as a pornographic portal.
Normal American usage: Where
are my bacon and eggs, miss?
Emphasis: Where are my f--king bacon
and g-ddam eggs, b--tch?
The expletives, when used as adjectives before the bacon and
the eggs, convey an overwrought customer who's had it UP TO
HERE! In Australia, expletives are used more
liberally. The more, the merrier. This a country where the
word 'bastard' is a term of endearment.
Look at the examples below.
* How the f--k are ya, y'bastard?
* Good onya, mate. You f--king did well taking the
f--king piss out of that yobbo.
The foul language isn't required.
It adds no emphasis. It's just there as filler.
If you want to fit in, sprinkle a few unnecessary
obscenities into everyday situations, like:
* I'm heading to the f--king toilet, mate.
* I'm f--king preparing a bit of tea. What
the s--t do you want to eat, bastard?
 |
| Commit to memory
and add an obscenity |
Lesson 3 - Noun Shortening
Shorten all multiple syllable nouns, where the meaning is
clear from first syllable, by removing all syllables but the
first one and adding "ie" or "o". Examples:
* Breakfast becomes brekkie
* Surfer dude becomes a surfie
* Douglas becomes Dougie
* Tracksuit becomes trackie
* Chocolate becomes chokkie
* Chewing gum becomes chewie
* Vegetarian becomes vego
* Documentary becomes doco
* Kerosene becomes kero
* Kindergarten becomes kindie
* Fishmonger becomes fisho
* Postman becomes postie
* Poker machines, which Australians would marry in a
chapel if it were legal, become pokies
* Freemantle (Western Australia) becomes Freo
* Gynaecologist becomes gyno
* Politican becomes polly
* Septic tank becomes seppo
Some incorrect shortened nouns are listed below.
The first syllable is too general to define the entire word
once the additional syllables are removed.
* Dinner cannot be turned into dinnie.
Sounds too much like the Australian word 'dunny,' which
means toilet. Coincidentally, the toilet is where most
traditional Australian dinners belong.
* Computer cannot be turned into compo or compie.
Too many English words begins with 'comp'.
* Kangaroo cannot be turned into kango.
This is an irregular shortened noun. Australians
shorten kangaroo to roo.
* Prostitutes, which Australians legally adore, cannot
be turned into prostos. That sounds more like a
shortened noun for a prosthetics device.
There's no reason you can't shorten nouns on
a whim. Somebody had to shorten a noun first before
the rest of the Australians thought it sounded nice and
immiated him. Some possible new shortened nouns:
* Jackass could become jacko, which in
American English refers to Michael Jackson, whom
many people
believed was a jackass. R.I.P. Jacko.
* Prime Minister could become primo,
pronounced pry-moh
* Kiteboarding kits (= kites and kiteboards) could be
referred to as kities.
* A gourmet, a lover of fine foods, could be called a gourmie.
Lesson 4 - Rhyming Slang
Australians have a unique way of using
rhyming associations to describe rather mundane activities
or things. This was a custom borrowed from the Cockneys
in England who originally formed the bulk of Australia's
immigrants. It does make for colorful speech but
adds unnecessary syllables to sentences.
Here's how it works. Think of a word you want to
say, such as 'look.' What rhymes with look?
Cook. How can we turn turn cook into an
expression? The Australians brainstormed Captain Cook.
So "Let's go have f--king look, mate" becomes "Let's go have
a f--king Captain Cook, mate." Who knows why
Captain Cook caught on? Perhaps others were using
"Bonny Brook." Some expressions catch on, some
don't. Alliteration, no doubt, helps. Had
Captain Cook been General Cook, the expression probably
wouldn't have lasted. Other examples:
* An American becomes known as a Seppo.
Seppo is a shortened noun form of septic tank, and tanks
rhymes with Yank.
* 'To bolt' becomes 'to do a Harold Holt.'
Harold Holt was an Australian prime minister who took a swim
in the heavy surf off Victoria in December 1967 and was
never seen again. Rumors have it that he emigrated to
China -- a Chinese submarine was conveniently waiting to
pick him up. Most sensible people, however,
think that if he wanted to emigrate to China he would've
done so via a Chinese Embassy or Consulate and not via the
cold Southern Ocean off Portsea.
* Police becomes 'ducks and geese.'
* Phone becomes 'dog and bone.'
* Dollar becomes 'Rhodes scholar.'
* Perve becomes 'optic nerve.'
You don't have to be of Cockney descent to invent your
own. Go ahead. The problem is that
since rhyming slang isn't so obvious as to what it means, no
one will likely understand a word you said, you'll be
laughed at for trying to imitate Australians, and this could
all possibly lead to deportation if the person who laughs at
you works with or for the Australian government.
Some possible newly invented slang, which we take no
responsibility for:
* Overthrow could become 'stage a show'.
"Let's stage a show for the government, mates!"
* Sleaze (= most of the
backpackers who travel around Australia) could become
'pigs and cheese.' "Wanna stop by the sh---y
Hellhole Hostel for some pigs and cheese, mates?"
* Super spank could become 'rob a bank.' "You'll need a
high-powered rifle to super spank ANZ or Commonwealth,
mates."
Be creative. That's what it's all about,
mate. No worries.
Miscellaneous
There is not a rule for every term or expression used in
Australia. Most of the local lingo just came about as
language evolves. The only way to get a handle
on it is to study it and immerse yourself in it.
Many terms are borrowed from the British, while others
involve different ways to describe things Australians use or
do. For example, an esky is an insulated
food and drink container used for picnics and barbeques.
An American would call this a cooler.
Some places to study Australianisms and slang:
