Australianisms
Since moving from Australia to London, I have been amazed at just how big the language barrier between myself and the British is. London-english (or Londglish as I have started calling it) is a whole new language to me.
I honestly never thought it would be an issue, in fact I have a very clear memory of my mum saying “Well, at least you’ll speak the language” when I told her I was moving to London. You were wrong mum, you were wrong.
There have been a number of incidents where I have had to use my ‘polite laugh’ to get me out of awkward social situations involving terms like Womble, Jedward, TOWIE or Vajazzle (I Google-imaged that last one and got a nasty surprise).
Then there are times when I say something as I normally would only to be met with horrified looks and later learn that those words mean something entirely different here i.e. “I think I’ll just wear pants and a top” (Pants in Londglish means underwear) or “I’m just wearing my thongs to work tomorrow” (Thongs in Londglish means g-string). That last one also raises the awkward question of why I would wear two at one time.
Slowly I am being taught how to speak Londglish, and in the process I am teaching my British colleagues how to speak Australian or ‘strayan’, as it should really be pronounced. Here are the first few words I’ve imparted on Britain:
Cactus: Unless specifically referenced (i.e. “Look at that cactus”) Australians do not use the word Cactus to refer to a plant. It means dead or not functioning – “Sarah, the washing machine’s cactus!” Another word used to describe the death of something is Cark (from Carcass) – “Sarah, the washing machine’s carked it”.
Cockroach: A derogatory term used to describe a person who lives in New South Wales (i.e. Sydney).
Bonza: Meaning ‘good’ or ‘great’ – “Oh Shaz, that was a Bonza steak!”
Yobbo: An uncouth person, similar to Chav – “Oh god, who invited the yobbo”
Roadie: A beer or other alcoholic beverage you take with you to consume en route – “We’re leaving for the concert now, should we grab a roadie?”
Most of our Australianisms are nonsensical and involve a lot of vowels, but to us they’re more than just words, they’re our identity. Stay tuned for the next instalment.
Have you encountered the same language related issues as I have? What words or phrases have you struggled with? Ever had an embarrassing language barrier experience? tell me about it in the comments box!
littlegreybox
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littlegreybox is a meeting point of humorous perspective, food and travel experiences and my life journey. It's my outlet, a source of inspiration and a way to share and connect with people around the world.
Oh… so, so many….
I have been working with refugees from a people group called the Karen. Their word for milk is “da noo tee”. Once, I heard a mother offer her baby “noo noo”… and I thought, “What a cute little nickname for milk. I’m going to use that.”
“Noo” means breast. Let’s just say, the next time I offered someone milk… I didn’t quite get the reaction I expected.
I’ve also told people my boyfriend’s name is Fried Egg (not true), and inadvertently yelled out about certain mothers’ body parts in the classroom.
Have a Bonza day Phoebe, xx.
hahahahahaha oh I love it, those are much much better than mine haha “I’ll have some Noo Noo thanks” haha
I can so relate. Very funny to have someone put it into words!
My girlfriend is from Aus. No idea what she’s going on about half the time, I just smile and nod. Especially all the abrreviated words and alien cultural references. And her obsession with vegemite, what is all that about?
haha vegemite is amazing! Just put a vowel on the end of everything you say to her, she’ll know what you mean then.
This cracked me up!!! I’m soooo going to steal some of your slang just to confound those around me. Arizona has about the most boring slang of any place on earth. I like yours much better!
PS: Thanks for following my blog!
hahahaha thanks Jodi! You should visit Australia some time and I’ll give you a full guided tour on language, you can even try out some of your new phrases with the locals…. another one you may like to adopt is the word ‘airnishna’ or ‘Air Conditioner’ as the rest of the world would pronounce it.
I’m hopping on a plane right now! ;) I only wish.
I never would have figured out “airnishna” without your help. I’m definitely going to play, “Stump the Hubby” with some of your terminology. It’ll be fun watching him try and figure out what on earth I’m talking about. :)
Phoebe – the missus and I just moved from the States down to Australia and are experiencing the same thing. We were confident that “since it’s the same language, we wouldn’t have any problems”. We’ve now come to the conclusion that we wish we moved to somewhere that had a whole new language, just so we would have to actually ask what things mean!! I’ve been told I need to pick up the book “Stralian” as some sort of American to Australian dictionary.
Good luck in London – was jus there last week on business and I must admit that they do talk a whole different version of english.
hahaha yes! Stralian will help you work things out a little better, where are you living in Australia? I’d have to say that I think Queensland has the most slang of anywhere. I’ll post some more words to help you out in the mean time. Thanks for reading my post!!
Thanks for following my blog. Like yours, too!
I’ve had a similar experience with spanglish. Although I’m not a native speaker, the level of my English is quite close to that of a native speaker (although it’s a bit of a mixture between American and British, with mostly American pronunciation).
Anyway, my problem is that in the United States especially live and work many people whose English I can only understand with great difficulty. My husband and I have invented our own word to indicate such a person, which is “pladibah”. As in: “Did you get what that pladibah was saying?” This word originates from an experience in Chicago 7 years ago. I had ordered some food at a fastfood place and was served by someone of hispanic descent. Everything went fine, until after I had paid the server asked: “Pladibah?” I was clueless until she pointed at a stack of… plastic bags!
hahaha Thanks Stefan! Your Pladibah story made me laugh :)
Try living in Ireland….
I moved to Surrey, UK, after a year in the American South and would say things like “fixin to”, “y’all” and “pants” all the time. Them Brits would in turn say that when someone was sick, he or she was “feeling poorly”, which in my ears sounded like “Paulie”. I had no idea who this Paulie was, but I referred to him a lot the first six months and no one ever bothered to correct me.
A few years later, I was living in Tallinn, Estonia, and the only words I knew in Estonian was “hello” and “thank you”. Or so I thought. The word for “thank you” and the word for “help” are apparently very similiar in Estonian, so for a year I asked a whole lot of people for help instead of expressing my gratitude.
PS. I just now found your blog and I very much like your writing! You’re, as they say in England, brilliant!
hahaha do you know I forgot my words last week and went to the dry cleaners and asked to have my pants dry cleaned. The lady looked dumbfounded!
Thanks for your comment, it gave me a good laugh and thanks for your kind words and taking the time to read my blog :)
… brilliant!
hahaha – good ole strayan-isms. I bet you’re getting sick of the references to cricket, the Ashes, kangaroos etc etc. Loved your list of slang though, but I can’t believe you haven’t introduced them to “no worries” or “bogan”. :-)
Oh and while you’re in UK, don’t be alarmed if you see faggots on the menu… it’s an old favourite. I’ll let you google that one too!
Oh the joys of being overseas in an “English” speaking country… A few years ago when my mother. my auntie and I were in America (driving across)… Mum had to sit an exam for her work…anyhoo, the examiners were handing out the papers and she noticed that everyone else had been given slightly different papers.
Their’s had read: American English while hers read: British English (they didn’t have an Australian English version.) When she got out of the exam, both my auntie and I were stunned…
Also a friend of mine went over to Canada one year for about six months and the teachers put her in the equivalant of ESL because they thought she spoke Austrian…and if you go to Austria – their souviner shops have merchandise that say: there are no kangaroos in Austria because of this very mistake! Goodness…