Aussie slang, explained
Nearly 50% of UTS students speak English as a second language. That means that nearly half of you have likely struggled with Aussie lingo (translation: the Australian way of speaking!).
Honestly, sometimes native Australian-English speakers still get confused. So, to reduce the confusion, here’s a comprehensive guide to confusing Aussie slang.
We’ll start with the easier ones …
Uni means university – we don’t like wasting our time with long words!
Bludger equals a lazy person, like those people in group assignments who don’t help at all!
It’s warming up outside, so you might need your cozzies (swimming costume) and you’ll definitely need to protect yourself from the mozzies (mosquitos).
Okay, pay attention because this is where it starts to get tricky:
Nah yeah = yes
Yeah nah = no
Yeah nah yeah = yes.
No wonder you’re confused!
A commonly-used word here is mate, which normally means friend. But pay attention to the person’s tone when they say it – sometimes, it’s used in a passive-aggressive way, and it probably means the opposite of friend!
Avo means avocado. It’s not to be confused with arvo, which means afternoon.
Defo equals definitely, while devo means devastated (usually because of something that’s not actually a big deal).
In Australia, thongs are flip-flops – those rubber sandals that you wear to the beach!
If you’re hungry, these might come in handy: snag means sausage, barbie means barbeque, and sanga means sandwich. Used in a sentence: Throw a snag on the barbie, I want a sausage sanga!
Brekky is the meal you skip because you’re running late to class in the morning.
Sunnies are sunglasses – essential for the summer months.
And Chrissie is 25 December, a day for sunnies, barbies and rellies (family members or relatives).
Last but not least is the term budgie smugglers. They’re men’s small swimmers that are worn underneath board shorts. We’ll let you guess why they’re called that!
