Tomorrow is Australia Day. There will be celebrations happening throughout the country but if you can't see any of it from where you are check out Sydney Harbour Web Cam. There will be a lot of events happening on the harbour. Some of which are:
If you watch the web cam at these times you may be able to see a bit of the action. I will be celebrating, somewhere, eating a vegemite sanger, enjoying my beautiful country.
For now I will leave you with a list of Aussie slang words. Your job is to tell me what you think they mean.
Leave your answers in the comments and I'll let you know how you went on my return. Go on, 'av' a go! Aussies, why not add some of your own slang words or tell us a story of your experiences with Aussie slang.
Till I return, avagoodweegend.
Oh! and don't forget to look up and smile!
Australia Day Surfboard Challenge 08:30 AM 11:30 AM
Best Dressed Vessels Competition 09:00 AM 06:00 PM
Ferrython 10:45 AM 11:45 AM
Australia Day Parade 12:00 PM 12:30 PM
Awesome Forces - 21 Gun Salute 12:00 PM 12:15 PM
Awesome Forces - RAAF Defence Aerial Display 01:00 PM 01:15 PM
171st Australia Day Regatta 01:30 PM 06:00 PM
Awesome Forces - RAAF Defence Aerial Display 02:00 PM 02:15 PM
Awesome Forces - Search and Rescue 02:00 PM 02:30 PM
Awesome Forces - Red Berets splash into Circular Quay 03:00 PM 03:15 PM
Australia Day Tall Ships Race 03:00 PM 03:30 PM
Sydney Ports Jazz on the Water 05:00 PM 09:00 PM
If you watch the web cam at these times you may be able to see a bit of the action. I will be celebrating, somewhere, eating a vegemite sanger, enjoying my beautiful country.
For now I will leave you with a list of Aussie slang words. Your job is to tell me what you think they mean.
Al Capone
she'll be apples
bickie
big bickies
big smoke
billabong
billy
bit o' all right
blue
Bluey
chinwag
chuffed
dead-set
ear basher
fair dinkum
fang it
gone troppo
grouse
half your luck
hooroo
Joe Blake
knackered
lair
nong
ol' cheese
ripper
rock up
thongs
yonks
zilch
zonked
Leave your answers in the comments and I'll let you know how you went on my return. Go on, 'av' a go! Aussies, why not add some of your own slang words or tell us a story of your experiences with Aussie slang.
Till I return, avagoodweegend.
Oh! and don't forget to look up and smile!
posted by missmellifluous at 8:48 pm
17 Comments:
I can't wait to find out all your Aussie words and add them to my repetoire!
I think ol' cheese might mean something like stout fellow.
I feel short-changed! A good fraction of those are common in British English (zilch, yonks, knackered [which also has a sexual connotation], bit o' all right, chinwag, fair dinkum, chuffed). Is "gone troppo" like "gone ballistic"? "Billabong" has been made famous by Rolf Harris. Does "grouse" mean more than "grouch"?
What about "arvo" and "tinnie"?
Al Capone- a tough guy
she'll be apples - a nice girl
bickie - dunno
big bickies - dunno
big smoke - volcano
billabong - ummmm
billy - friend
bit o' all right - ok
blue - ocean
Bluey - bummed out
chinwag - a real talker
chuffed - irritated
dead-set - determined
ear basher - someone who talks your ear off
fair dinkum - being right
fang it - chew someone out
gone troppo - moved to a tropical island
grouse - complain
half your luck - envying someone who is lucky
hooroo - an uproar
Joe Blake - dunno
knackered - drink too much
lair - your home or stuck in someone elses home
nong - not sure
ol' cheese - an old friend
ripper - a buff guy
rock up - buck up
thongs - better be underwear or flip flops
yonks - uh oh!
zilch - nothing
zonked - out cold
How did I do?
I know that knackered means "tired", right? And isn't fair tinkum "all screwed up", more or less? Zilch means "none", zonked means "worn out"... but the rest... I do not know.
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!
Happy Australia Day!
Thank you for Steve Irwin and family, and the Wiggles, Australia. . . .
Sorry to take so long to get back to everyone, I lost the internet for a few days.
Thank you, Kim and Julana, for your Australia Day cheers! Steve Irwin and the Wiggles both rock!
Okay, I'll work through the suggestions we have so far.
Kim, ol' cheese is not quite stout fellow but it does refer to a person. Good guess, you're on the right track, although it is not a very complementary thing to be called although I am sure it can be said with much Aussie affection.
Sorry, Paul. I guess we have gained a lot of our culture and heritage from the UK, so perhaps some of these words originated with you guys? I'mnot sure. Knackered does not ereally have sexual connotations here though - not that I know of anyway, but then I am a rather innocent young thing.
You're right with gone troppo but it also has another meaning. Grouse does not mean anything like grouchy. I thought arvo was a little obvious so I didn't include it and yes, tinnie is another good Aussie word with a few meanings. Which meaning were you thinking of?
Candy! Impressive attempt. I think you did quite well. Here's my response to your list below:
Al Capone- a tough guy - not quite, think in rhyme
she'll be apples - a nice girl - no, this doesn't really refer to a person
big smoke - volcano - nope
billy - friend - no, it's an object
bit o' all right - ok, it's a little more than okay
blue - ocean - nope
Bluey - bummed out - nope
chinwag - a real talker - YES!!!!
chuffed - irritated - nope
dead-set - determined - nope
ear basher - someone who talks your ear off - YEAH!!!
fair dinkum - being right - pretty close
fang it - chew someone out - nope
gone troppo - moved to a tropical island - YEAH! Paul, guessed the other meaning in his comment above.
grouse - complain - no
half your luck - envying someone who is lucky - yeah, pretty much.
hooroo - an uproar - no
Joe Blake - dunno
knackered - drink too much - I suppose you could get knackered from drinking to much but we'd usually say wasted. I wouldn't use knackered in this context
lair - your home or stuck in someone elses home - nope
nong - not sure
ol' cheese - an old friend - could be but not strictly speaking
ripper - a buff guy - I laughed at this one, I like your definition but it's not right.
rock up - buck up - no, but what does "buck up" mean?
thongs - better be underwear or flip flops - Flip flops yeah! Flip flops sounds so funny!
yonks - uh oh! - ??? I'm not sure if I should ask whhat you're thinking this one means...I assure you, it's not offensive.
zilch - nothing - Yep
zonked - out cold - yeah, kinda.
Great guessed, Candy. I loved your response. Thanks.
Beck, Yep, you are right: knackered means tired. Fair dinkum is not all screwed up, though. But you got zilch and zonked right. Good work!
I reckon you're dead-set fair dinkum about this!
But I've never heard of Al Capone - is it the same as the dog and bone?
And I'm thinking Joe Blake is rhyming slang, though again I haven't heard it before - cake? fake? lake?
Anyway, I was pretty chuffed to read this post - I hadn't seen a list like this in yonks.
laughing. I thought yonks meant...uh oh! something like. Yonks! I spilled my drink!
Wow...I did badly!
Aaaah! The Wiggles! Can you remember when they were the Hoolie-Doolies? And Anthony was Antoine?
"Cookie cookie cookie cookie yumyum! Cookie cookie cookie in my tumtum!" Sigh. Where did my little children go?
No, Paul! The Wiggles were never the Hooley Dooleys! The Hooley Dooleys are completely different people. Antoine is still Antoine and Anthony is still Anthony.
However, The Wiggles were The Cockroaches, an aussie rock band, in the 80s & 90s. It is confusing.
I too think children should not be permitted to grow older than 5 years old, for at least 10 years.
Oh, John, Al Capone is the same thing as the dog and bone. You need more letters in your Joe Blake rhyming word. Try 5.
Glad you liked the list. It is pretty grouse, i'n't it? Anyway, I've gotta hit the frog and toad, so hooroo!
Well, blow me down. You learn something new every day. And all I had to do was search on the internet.... Which would have been the more insulted, do you think?
It was fed by the fact that Hooley Doolies don't exist over here, so all we had was a copied cassette of them - but the Wiggles, who made waves later on, seemed to be doing the same sort of things in a somewhat more Disney way. I assumed they'd just got a new contract, with a clause that said the US-unfriendly name Antoine had to be changed to Anthony. Well, well, there you go.
"Arvo" is probably familiar to people who watch Neighbours, or listen to cricket commentary - but most brits wouldn't otherwise know it. "Knackered" can have the sense of being tired out after ... er, adult activities, I suppose. "Yonks" we have as well - I never knew it was particularly Aussie. Do you have "Donkeys years"?
Paul, AT least you know the songs. That's the most important thing.
We do say "donkey's years" over here but for ages I thought it was "donkey's ears" which I think makes perfect sense anyway as both are pretty long.
My mum used to call me and my sisters (affectionately) a "silly apeth." (as I understood it). I've since (some 20 years later) realised that she was actually saying a "silly ha'porth" - as in half-penny-worth. Even sweeter than "apeth".
Al Capone, on yer Pat Malone!
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