Australian Slang and colloquialisms
We do not recommend that you use these terms, you may end up in court or hospital, this list is just to help you understand what may be heard in conversations.
| Words | Meanings |
| Boss cocky | Person eminent among nonentities |
| It's crook | it' no good |
| I'm crook with a wog | I'm not well |
| a sheila | a girl |
| Don't go crook | don't get mad |
| Give him curry | give him a hard time |
| Damper | flour and water bread baked in the oven or ashes of a fire |
| Dero | a derelict person |
| Dill | a stupid person |
| Dingo | native wild dog |
| drum | information (Give us the drum) |
| cattle duffer | rustler |
| dunny | outside old wooden 'john' |
| earbash | talk unceasingly |
| Esky | portable food cooler/ice chest |
| Flash Jack | swaggering person |
| Kiwi | New Zealander |
| to fossick | to search for (gold, sapphires etc) |
| Good on yer! | an expression of approval |
| Greenies | environmental conservationists |
| Up a gumtree | in trouble |
| rough as bags, rough as guts | uncouth person |
| scarce as hens teeth | very scarce |
| humping the bluey | what a hobo (swaggie) does |
| humpy or mia mia | Aboriginal bar shelter |
| inked, blotto | drunk |
| "He jobbed me" | "He hit me" |
| Joe Blow | an average guy |
| jail bait | a girl from 12-16 |
| Journo | Journalist |
| a jumbuck | a sheep |
| jungle juice | alcoholic beverage |
| put a knot in the bluey | get ready to travel |
| knuckle sandwich | punch in the mouth |
| lair or larrikin | flashily dressed youth |
| happy as Larry | very happy |
| leatherneck | Shearer |
| light on | sparse (tucker was light on food = was scarce |
| Lolly water | non alcoholic drink |
| lower than a snake's belly | expression of contempt about anyone |
| lurk | a didge or trick (onto a good lurk) |
| He did a Melba | he kept returning |
| a mollydooker | left handed person |
| like a stunned mullet | dazed |
| he's a no-hoper | He's useless |
| noodling | prospecting for opal |
| on the nose/on the bugle | smells awful |
| in the nuddy | in the nude |
| ocker | an uncultivated Australian |
| billabong | Waterhole |
| boot of a car | trunk |
| tucker | food |
| plonk | wine |
| chook | chicken |
| smoko | snack break |
| whinger | complaining person |
| drongo or galah | a fool |
| station | ranch |
| bathers | swimwear |
| weeties | Corn Flakes |
| bitser | mongrel dog |
| homestead | ranch house |
| the big smoke | a city |
| brumby | wild horse |
| sandgropers | Western Australians |
| Banana benders | Queenslanders |
| Bangtail Muster | roundup |
| rouseabout | works in a shearing shed |
| won't have a bar of him | won't tolerate him |
| he's short of a shingle | He's stupid |
| Tassie | Tasmania |
| a sling | a bribe |
| He's threepence short of a quid | he's stupid |
| a blue | an argument |
| a bluey | red headed person or Queensland heeler dog |
| a battler | someone who's always had hard luck |
| a sticky beak | an inquisitive person |
| Bazza | Barry |
| Gazza | Gary |
| gun shearer | fastest shearer in the shed |
| big noting or blowing | boasting |
| doing one's block | getting very cross |
| speedo | odometer in a car |
| blow through | to disappear |
| bludger | an idle person |
| a bluey | a legal summons (on blue paper) |
| bonzer | excellent |
| cobber | friend |
| out of the box | exceptionally good |
| out of the top drawer | high quality |
| bushwacker | highway robber |
| bushie | country person |
| a buster | a strong wind |
| a willy willy | a miniature whirl wind |
| B.Y.O. | bring your own drinks |
| first cab off the rank | first to grasp an opportunity |
| cockie | small farmer |
| blockie | owner of a block where fruit is grown |
| The Alice | Alice Springs |
| The Rock | Ayers Rock |
| The Curry | Cloncurry |
| The Isa | Mount Isa |
| The Never Never | outback, deep inland country |
| a slushy | a cook's assistant in a drovers camp |
| snags | sausages |
| a sort | a girl |
| chow | chinese person |
| chow tucker | chinese food |
| toey | restless |
| toerag | hobo |
| wharfie | waterside worker at the docks |
| Uni | University |
| gone troppo | touched by the sun; a bit queer |
| He's as silly as a wheel | stupid |
| truckie | truck driver |
| the turps | liquor (He's on the turps) |
| He's gone bush | he's disappeared |
| bushman's clock | a kookaburra |
| The coathanger | Sydney Harbour Bridge |
| The Dead Heart | the centre of Australia (or Red Centre) |
| white anted | undermined (I've been white anted) |
| fair crack of the whip | Give us a fair go |
| Abo / boong | An Aboriginal |
| lubra | female Aboriginal adult |
| to live off the smell of an oily rag | to live cheaply |
| the Old Dart | England |
| Blue rinse brigade | wealthy matrons |
| Wouldn't be seen dead with him in a 40 acre paddock | I loath him |
| on the pea | deranged (he's been eating the poisonous Sturt Desert Pea) |
| rough end of the pineapple | unfair treatment |
| poddy dodger | rustler of unbranded calves |
| plonko | person addicted to cheap wine |
| scrubbers | rough females or cattle run wild |
| possie | position |
| Chrissie | Christmas |
| cossie | bathing wear |
| poofter | male homosexual |
| perv | voyeur |
| septics | Yanks (short for septic tanks) |
| rapt | overjoyed |
| daks or strides | trousers |
| ratbag | eccentric and bad tempered |
| ripper! | great! |
| two pot screamer | one who gets drunk on very little alcohol |
| Up the scrub | into the country |
| Scrub aristocracy | term of derision for wealthy country folk |
| a scrub bull | a loner |
| a tall poppy or a silvertail | a person with a very high income |
| port | Queensland jargon for suitcase (portmanteaux) |
| stir the possum | make lively |
| the night's a pup | it's early yet |
| to rubbish a person | to disparage them |
| rustbucket | ancient car in poor condition |
| As scarce as rockinghorse manure | very scarce |
| You wouldn't read about it | unbelievable |
| As cold as a polar bear's behind | very cold |
| L.P.gas | butane |
| Poms | English folk |
| bushranger | outlaw |
| jackaroo | cowboy |
| jillaroo | cowgirl |
| sook | coward |
| ethnics | European migrants |
| tinnies, tubes or stubbies | cans or small bottles of beer |
| No worries!, She's apples, She'll be right | Everything's just fine |
| G'day. 'Ow would yer be? | Normal everyday greeting |
| Written with a thumbnail dipped in tar | unreadable |
| I can't take a trick | I can't win |
| It's your shout | It's your turn to buy |
| It's my shout | This round is on me |
| They charge like wounded bulls | They are very expensive |
| yacker | Work |
| It cost an arm and a leg | It was expensive |
| He's busy as a one armed billposter | he's very busy |
| He's mad enough to spit chips | he is very cross |
| I didn't come down in the last shower | I'm not stupid |
| It's like feeding time at the zoo | it's very noisy |
| Fair go, mate! | Give us a fair chance |
| fit as a Mallee bull | very fit |
| Off
like a bride's nightie or Shot through like a Bondi tram |
disappeared very quickly |
| get stuck into the slops | drink up |
| You've got Buckley's | you've no hope at all |
| back of the black stump | far inland, very inaccessible area |
| the Windies | West Indians |
| Wowser | Non drinker, non smoker |
| boil the billy | make a cup of tea |
| don't drag the chain | don't lag behind |
| it's fair dinkum | it's absolutely true |
| yabber | talk |
We do not recommend that you use these terms, you may end up in court or hospital, this list is just to help you understand what may be heard in conversations.