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As an Australian when we want to say something is relatively OK, we say it´s "not bad". When something is good, we say "not too bad". When something is really good, we say "not too bad at all". This comes from the national tendency of not praising things directly.
Which, if you watched Chinese TV series, you would realize is very Chinese in habit too. First time I saw it (and heard it used) on a Chinese TV drama, I was very surprised. People have just slaved for fourteen hours making this sumptuous feast, and the hero says "Not bad". Stinginess with praise (when it's genuinely meant) and lavish with praise (when it's not genuinely meant) is also kind of Aussie. And it seems, also Chinese. FYI. Edit: he makes reference to our language being possibly influenced by Chinese settlers 14:22 (at least in one case)
Firstly, as an Aussie I'm amazed at how accurate you are. The only thing I would like to add is that Australian's generally love irony, and a lot of the expressions you listed are actually from previous generations. So expressions like Sheila, Strewth and Fair Dinkum might be still used, I use them myself in some conversations, but mostly with an ironic twist. Some of these expressions have been re-claimed in recent years by comedians and movies (Roy and H.G.Nelson and Barry Humphries who famously added a few of his own inventions) . They find their way onto television and get re-born with younger generations. The thing about the fourth Aussie accent is true but pretty recent. There are lots of pronunciations coming into everyday speech from recent waves of immigration from Arabic, Polynesian, East Asian and African immigration. Love ya work.
@@Berkeloid0 It basically means "have a good [whatever you do after we've left each other's company]" The "one" is completely ambiguous due to the lack of knowledge by the person saying it, it could mean "day" it could mean "drink" it could mean "party" it could mean "dicking the misses"...
An linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative." A voice from the back of the room piped up, in a broad Aussie accent, "Yeah, right."
"there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative" how about "yeah, yeah" when spoken in a facetious tone to something incredulous?
“The other day” This story is so old I read it in a Readers Digest at school in the 70s. There it was told about American English, same scenario, a lecture, but the rejoinder is the sarcastic, “yeah yeah”.
People in america and europe don't understand how massive australia is. I could start driving here In Perth and a day later I'm either in the sea or still in WA and even if I cross the border it will be another day till I hit a new city minimum. I think that's why our use of distance based phrases is so fucked
My nearest city is "down the road": 95km away. I also use the term "up the highway" to refer to places like Bundaberg 6 hours away. Sydney is down the highway 12 hours away.
@@q3st1on19 Western Australia is stupidly big. People say how massive Texas in the US is, WA is four times larger than Texas. I live in Queensland which is like 3 times the size of Texas. It takes forever to get anywhere.
As an australian who spent 10 years in the USA, I can say that the only time I ever drank a Fosters was when someone in america bought it for me as a surprise.
It is so frustrating when Americans and other foreign people say "Throw a shrimp on the barbie" to imitate us because we do NOT say shrimp in Australia, we say 'prawn'.
The first Aussie language break down that doesn’t sound like shit, even got an Aussie or someone who is great at the accent to speak it, I’m genuinely impressed and I never thought I would sit through an 11 minute video about a language that I speak, learn something and also enjoy it. 😂 cheers mate.
Same I just wished he explained how swearing/cussing is nothing to us. And cunt is just a word. All my friends are cunts and I love em. But don't fukin call an Aussie a dog or a dog cunt. Being called a dog is the Most serious of insults.
I've got a couple of extras for you: 1.) we shorten the word champion to champ and it is used as an insult 2.) using the word knackered instead of tired
As an Aussie one I use quite often is the word "us" when actually referring to no one but myself. For example phrases like "pass us the tomato sauce", "chuck us your keys" or "show us where that is"
"bloody hell" is one that seems to be used across all levels of aussie english it can be used as a positive and negative say you just won a competition someone may reply with "bloody hell" in a uplifting tone meaning theyre happy for you or maybe you just broke a glass and they say "bloody hell" to portray disappointment or annoyance
Bloody hell is one of my favs, but I think its used similarly in England (maybe other parts of the UK too) so that may be why he didn't mention it. What is different is, in my experience, we don't say "bleeding" as much. It would be rare for someone to say 'bleeding hell' or 'the bleeding car broke down', thats more of a UK thing than Aussie thing.
"Loads" is another British one you rarely hear in Australia. If you have a lot of something you might have "heaps", "stacks" or "tons", but never "loads". Although now I think about it, it is fairly common to have a "shitload" of something...
My favorite aussie slang is 'Cop Shop' - because everytime I use it outside of Australia, without realising I'm using it - I get SO MANY confused looks. It means police station.
The only thing you missed was our whole subculture of words surrounding alcohol. On the piss, maggoted, sloshed, goon, tinnies, the bottleo just to name a few. But all around hit the nail on the head with this video!
What a great video. Completely accurate as far as I could tell, and with a few bits and pieces I didn't know about, like the origins of "hard yakka" and "fair dinkum". Here's a Dad's Army joke for you: An English officer approaches a young Australian soldier who's just arrived on the Western Front in WW1. He says: "Young man, have you come here to die?" And the Aussie soldier says: "No sir, I came here yesterdie"...
"Shoulda coulda woulda" is one of my favourites. It is an expression meaning, more or less, "I wish I had done that, but there's nothing that can be done about it now, so oh well.", in other words: "What's done is done." I learnt it when I was very young and I still use it to this day.
Look, when you stop and look at it......we come up with some rather interesting sayings. Like, who came up with that? Sure, our spiders are big enough but still......
Expressing distance is an art in Australia. Around the corner, down the road, a fair way, and a decent drive are expressions that range between 5 minutes and a couple days of driving.
So, for out back Aussies, that is next door or going into town. 5 minutes, close neighbours, a couple of days, just ducking into town to puck up a few things.
And the words "woop woop" is the bloody middle of nowhere, in other words, out in the sticks, which in turn can mean the middle of the Australian outback
As an Australian I endorse this presentation. Couldn’t find fault even though it was done by a Canadian. Lol! We are kindred folk so know I’m ‘takin’ the piss.
We're "Commonwealth brethren", though as a Canadian, I'd be remiss if I failed to point out that in the British Empire days, Canada was the "senior sister Dominion". Yeah - I'm taken' the piss...🙂...eh? Serious question - as a fellow "Commonwealth citizen", why does Australia demand that Canadians obtain a visa to visit? We don't require one for Australians to visit Canada. Is it a simply a "monetary shake down"? Does Australia hate Canada? (Of course the answer to that is - NO! - I hope...)🙂🙂
"Listen, mate." "Oh, ya wanna go, hey, do ya!?" I wonder if any dumbfounded tourists would realise that this exchange would soon land someone in hospital?
Old mate is such a good expression. The person isn't a mate and doesn't need to be old, but everyone knows what you're talking about and the tone you mean it in.
Best one is "old mate" when your talking about someone who's not there. Could be anyway and its based completely on context. Id say about 30% of the time i hear it i have no idea who theyre talking about.
@@Iate8Eight "your mate" is almost always derogatory. Example; "one of your mates stopped me on the way here" for getting pulled over by the police "look at your mate over there" for drawing attention to someone doing something silly or simply "your mate" said to the person beside you after the idiot boss has just said something stupid.
@gruntydatsun . True, but he wasn’t talking about the definition you gave for, “you’re alright mate.” He was suggesting that one you said for your other explanation regards, “you’re right mate.” The host himself made a comment to me, saying that he was trying to point out the originality of you’re right mate, as meaning alright. So you are correct, but that was not what he was on about.
@@rickyd.989 same here although, more of a "you're 'right" rather than "you're right" when I text it and such...as redundant as that is coming from an abbreviation. English teachers emphasised on that back in the day so🤷🏻♂️
Wanna throw in that rather than calling someone a "sook" or saying that they're "sooky", you can call them a "sooky-lala" if you wanna really go after them
@@Butts_McGee WA you'll hear squiz, not often though (maybe just from itinerant banana benders) although I've used it more than a few occasions (when I was younger) so maybe it's just gone out of the lexicon a bit here (I'm an old bastard now).
"Your mate" has to be the most sarcastic twist to our language. It refers to when someone is being unpleasant, an Aussie would turn to a a friend and say "He's your mate" with an accusatory tone to which the reply is "Fuck off! He's your mate!"
@@djelliott8099 my way of explaining yeah nah is "I agree with the premise but reject the conclusion and visa versa" eg. Want to go to the pub? Yeah nah, I gotta look after the kids or Hey Mate, do you want to help me move house next week? Naahh...yeah
"Packing his dacks" -Dacks referring to underwear, packing to mean filling with poop. Used to describe an intense fear of somebody or a situation. Unrelated to "Stuffs her bra." Example: if you hit someone's car and they got out and were super big and muscly and angry, you might be figuratively packing your dacks.
"Old mate" doesn't have to be someone old, or even a mate. It just refers to someone who generally you've had an interesting interaction with. "Old mate over there wanted to sell me a ute, I told him piss off"
@@gibbsey9579 usually it's a reported indicator. Like, old mate wants you to step outside. Or old mate said you can just ... Old mate over there is doing his block over what that dickhead said.
this was funny to watch as an australian. pretty accurate and well done. the aussie in the video sounds like the guy who owns the fish and chip shop down the road from me
"woop woop" is personally my favourite part of our slang. it means to go out to basically nowhere or our in the bush with no destination in particular in mind. for example, person A: "where you goin mate?" person B: "coooor, just out woop woop i spose"
Out woop woop is also the definition of where “just down the road” stops. While “just down the road” can mean anything from minutes to hours of driving, “out woop woop” is in the middle of nowhere. Another version of “woop woop” is “bumf*ck”. Believe it or not, “bumf*ck” is technically less offensive than “woop woop” which is something we stole from the abo’s.
@@SecretAgentPaul Yes it's a term I've come across more than a few times in American blog posts or comments and on online media. I find that odd, because Americans don't reaply use the word "bum" to mean the butt, backside, can (all 3 I've read and heard Americans use) or bottom. Instead the use "bum" as a verb to solicit something for free e.g. bum a cigarette, or as a noun meaning usually a homeless person or drifter, unemployed and lazy person, or a drunk bum. But in the context of Bumfuck, it surely can't refer to the meanings I describe above.
When I moved to Australia in the 90s I got a list of useful sentences; like "your shout " meaning "you are ill-advised to sit in this pub any longer without buying me a drink", and "rack off" meaning "your presence is no longer essential ".
I never thought about "rack off" not being international before travelling outside of New Zealand 🤯 I confused my american and swedish family with my use of "heaps" as a descriptor too
I think it is also the bush flies. My accent always gets stronger as I walk down the path at the dog beach because opening my mouth too wide is dangerous. I can still remember walking down the path and one guy was walking up the other way talking on the phone, all of a sudden he made the most disgusting hacking spitting sound as he bent over and flailed around a bit then straightened and said into the phone "sorry, swallowed a fly."
Haha, I've never thought of it like this, but saying it out loud... Yeah... "s'g'aarn'non?" is close... "s'g'on'non?" is more like it though, but I'm from SA. "s'g'aarn'non?" sounds more from QLD.
Loved the humour in this episode. As a Brummie with Aussie rellos I'm remembering having to literally translate between an Aussie colleague and a Welsh customer.. Interesting times
Also "stacks" I once said there was "stacks of" something to an American and he couldn't parse it at all. Not helped by the fact that it's pronounced "staxa"
Here's a famous one you didn't cover: American: "chips", British: "crisps", Australian "chips"; American: "fries", British: "chips", Australian: "chips". How do Australians tell the difference? Context, mostly.
See I don't know if this is a regional thing but to clarify I meant Smith's chips (weird how we use the brand) I'd say potato chips, hot chips for fries of any thickness of that sort of chip except wedges.
It's odd, because a lot of us frequently use 'fries' as well, for deep-fried chips (hot chips, that is) with a shit ton of salt on them. Put it in the oven? Chips. Air fry it? Chips. Buy it from Woolies in a party pack? Chips. Deep fry it? Fries. The only exceptions are wedges, which are pretty much really thick hot chips, and Arnott's Shapes, which are technically crackers, but are 80% of the time referred to as chips. Or perhaps that's just Ballarat dialect... (Shit ton: a lot - Woolies: abv. for Woolworths, a common supermarket)
Chips are just chips, and if I want certain chips it's either, Bag Chips(Smiths/Thins etc.) Maccas Chips, and anything else, if its from a place, I usually just say where its from, Red Rooster, Kfc, Maccas, Top End, Lucky Roe, etc
Just depends on context yea. If someone's going to get fish and chips, or "5 dollars of chips", or maccas or something it's pretty clear they mean hot chips/fries, or if you're ordering something at a counter and ask for chips.. unless they specified "bag/pack of chips"... If we are talking about the "crisps" variety, it's likely because someone's got a bag or bowl full and we're asking for some, that we're offering, or again we're buying/being asked to buy a pack. We'll either say "pack of chips" or just specify the flavour like "salt and vinegar chips" Sometimes people will just say the brand name "plain smiths" or packet colour instead of flavour "green pringles" even... Its pretty intuitive for us honestly, not once had a miscommunication in my life about chips lol
You did an awesome job of that Paul. Good onya! A couple of others we say are: C'mon - come on. Along with crikey and strewth expressing surprise is 'bloody hell" If someone says "are you serious?", we would answer "deadset'. If someone has done or said something silly, they're a dingbat, a galah or a goofball. If someone is a complete idiot, then they're a drongo, a moron, or a bloody idiot. This is often yelled at out of cars and is preceeded with " Watch where ya goin' ya (fill in the blank)." Just few that come to mind. :)
Yeah, you can tell where the dash cam videos are from with the following formula: If the crash is nuts, it's probably Russia. If it ends in a road rage fight, it's probably from the US. If the driver swears like a trooper, it's probably from Oz.
@@rarghau Additionally, if the crash is followed by a law suit taking at least 5 years and more money than the cars were worth before the crash it's from Germany
In the US it means something different. If you're "dead set on" something it means you're determined to do that thing no matter what. Like "I'm dead set on taking a walk, I don't care how cold it is today". We don't use it other than that afaik.
As a Victorian (specifically from Melbourne Australia), I can tell that Queenslanders (especially from far north) and South Australians both have distinct accents that can be easily identified. Sydney-siders are fairly similar to Melbournians. Tasmanians have a slight difference but I can't really put it into words.
Us Victorians (maybe just Melbs) say Ellen and Alan the same, other states make fun of us for this and seem to really emphasise the "el' I had no idea we even did this for ages. At least Qlders say pool, pewl. Or Tools, Tewls - I've even heard Kiwis take the piss out of this!
It helps if your country actually has an industrial relations system that ALLOWS you to take sick leave. We have SO MUCH time off and potential time off compared to the Yanks. As a kid, I used to want to live in America - now, with ALLLLLLLLLLL their bloody problems ........ NO THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
Slight correction: The Aussie English talked about here is mostly related to the English spoken in cities and more coastal areas. Getting further into the country, especially in bush and Aboriginal communities, the accents are more diverse. Also, our casualness is because we don't use formal speech with anyone. It's considered to be passive-aggressive. That isn't to say we're not polite, we have manners. We just... Talk to our bosses and teachers nearly the same way as we talk to everyone else. It's super weird how people are super polite to their government outside of Australia.
Funny, but I was going to say the opposite. To me (an Australian) the AE spoken here is too broad for cities, and sounds more like a stereotype of outer suburbs/country. But that could be because I am from Adelaide where we tend to be a bit posher. Adelaidiens find Sydney and Brisbane accents very different.
@@Gomisan I had a classmate in uni who was from Adelaide (this was in Qld, I'm from the bush). I have a typical QLD broad accent, she had a cultivated accent. Sometimes we threw each other off with our different pronunciations but all in all we were pretty good mates.
@@Gomisan Yeah, I'm with you on that, I'm from Melbourne and ot sounds too broad for here, except perhaps if you're old, older people tend to be more divergent on the continuum imo, either broader or more cultivated.
Something which used to be common in rural Queensland and the Northern Territory was the measuring of distance in the serving size of beer in cartons. A drive taking most of the afternoon may be described as being a six pack, or a dozen: "Ah, yeah? I reckon Barcy (Barcaldine) be about a dozen away." This means that it will take them as long to drive that distance as to drink the beer socially without undue impairment. A carton was a very long way away. I think it's largely gone by the bye due to the RBT (Roadside Breathalyser Tests, sometimes delivered in what is referred to as the booze bus) presence these days. I grew up in a town called Bundaberg. No need to tell you it's shortened to Bundy. And that it's rum that's brewed there is known as a bottle of Bundy. Oddly, Gin Gin, just up the road, never got shortened to my knowledge. The regional centre (well, was once) of Maryborough got lengthened to Mary DUNG borough as it's considered to be a bit of a shit hole in the region.
“The other day” can refer to any point in time, from 2 minutes ago, to the whenever the person speaking was born “The other day I left this comment on the video”
Same as: 'just down the road''', When someone lives ''just down the road'' or we are going ''just down the road'' it is often several miles or even several hours drive 😄
Which is funny for the rest of us non Aussies, since we think of Australia where are the deadly and most poisonous things in the world live. So from our perspective that's kind of fitting?
@@andmicbro1 Honestly, most white folks don't use it either, so it has a certain oddness to our ears, even more so if it's another white person saying it.
@@haiironezumi I guess maybe it could be equated to a white American calling somewhere "ghetto" or "the hood". It's not racist or anything, but it just doesn't feel quite right.
"Yeah good one mate" when they've fucked up and done something stupid. Almost exclusively used in a sarcastic tone, so much so that when someone says it genuinely it's almost suspicious and you might not believe them.
kindof like the phrase "Good for you!" ... It's been uniquely sarcastic for my entire life, and whenever someone says it without the sarcasm, it sound weird
Went into this video thinking it was gonna be another stereotypical, incorrect videos. Yet, as an Aussie, I’m happy and thankful that someone’s gotten it right. Well done mate!
@@ajs41 I'd say so, I mean, I used to have a spider as big as me hand staring at me while I sleep and didn't bother trying to get rid of it, too cute to kill. Though me sister would scream like a banshee had she seen one from across the road! Also I've never seen a can o Foster's in me life! It probably tastes like sh!t since it gets so much backlash from us.
@@christmasdenier Can confirm. Grew up in the rural midwest, and "reckon" is very much a rural (some might say hick) thing. Even then, it's not terribly common. My stepdad is the only person I know (other than myself) who uses it unironically.
I've heard that Aussies have a hard time getting levels of politeness right when learning languages that have them, such as my native language German. The explanation is that in Australia, you're only polite to people you really hate.
There's definitely a lack of formality and hierarchy here, so it would be difficult for a lot of people, but as always, it depends on the person. I've always been very conscious of hierarchy so I've never struggled with it at all when studying German and French.
Aussie learning / learnt norwegian - you're dead right, especially when you have to also just learn how polite to be in general because of cultural differences. (Don't talk to strangers, that's a really aussie thing to do)
"Old mate" is the epitome of Australian colloquial slang. It's used to refer to someone, in place of "that guy" or "this guy," but relies entirely on context. If someone's acting like a dickhead at the pub, you might point them out to a friend by saying "have a look at old mate." It's also totally acceptable to use when the second party couldn't possibly know to whom you're referring. "Old mate at the tackle shop reckons" is a fine substitute for "An employee at the tackle shop says-"
"Consider it done." "Say no more." "Don't worry about it." "For sure." "Understood." "I/we/they got this." "It'll be a piece of cake." "Too easy" is very useful
This is one phrase I’ve heard so much from Aussie colleagues that I forgot it was Aussie. I’ve naturally picked up some of these expressions without really noticing.
@@Langfocus when I first moved here, it really stood out to me and i liked it. I know what you mean though, it took me a bit to think of it because it sounds so normal.
@@Langfocus Can you do the same explanation of Canadian English? As an Aussie your accent doesn’t sound to be Canadian at all (from my Aussie perspective) Thanks 🙏 I watch UA-cam videos from a Canadian engineer “AvE” his accent and language is absolutely hilarious, I’d the origins of that language explained too
So many more idiotmatic things could be here. One of my favourites: If something is to be kept for later, we say "that one's for Ron" as in "Later on".
“G’day, mate” is a really handy greeting when you meet someone familiar but can’t quickly recall their name. Saves embarrassment and no one is offended.
There's a particular face and intonation that goes along with it that seems to include a tacit admission that you've forgotten, which makes the whole experience of having an Australian person forget your name rather endearing
@@dungandonuts In my experience “old mate” has a certain negative overtone. That is, it is used when speaking about someone that you have no affection for, as in “old mate next door” when speaking about a troublesome neighbour.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, but in an inland part (Eastern Washington state) that is much more influenced by the inland West. We use the term "old son" sometimes, usually shortened to just "son", which I reckon you've likely heard in contexts ranging from hip-hop, Appalachian folk, and western entertainment. I strongly suspect the term was in use in England before it came to the U.S., however. "Old son" seems to be limited to men, however, but "dude" is quickly becoming the American "mate", it seems. My 18-year-old says "my dude" all the time for friends of any age, but mostly peers.
As an American, I think the way Australians use diminutives is the cutest thing ever. Maccas, servo, iso, footie, MOZZIE, I had to laugh because I love the way all of those words sound. Australia please never change
My parents named my brother Sean so that his name wouldn't be shortened. They forgot that they were Australian, which means that if you can't make something shorter, you make it longer. Sean became Seano, obviously. I could have told them that, but they neglected to ask me, as I hadn't been born yet.
I'm Australian and studied overseas at a university with many international students. I thought I knew most of the words people wouldn't know from Australian, but "arvo" and "how are you going?" surprised me (I had someone reply to the latter, "by train" 😂). Also hadn't realised that no one would understand capsicum!
As an Aussie overseas, people sometimes get confused when I say “heaps” instead of “very” or “really”. But overall I think this video was “heaps good”.
I'm surprised that, of all the colorful language Australians use, that's one that trips people up. That one seems so straight forward. Those three words are almost synonyms.
Now there was a difference between Melbourne and not-Melbourne. Les Norton, of Robert G Barrett fame, always said something was ‘the grouse’, while in Melbourne, it was simply ‘grouse’. Maybe ‘the grouse’ was just Sydney, although Les was a fictional Queenslander.
@@pauldobson2529 huh! Plot twist: i'm in Sydney. And come from SA. Defo very Melbs phenomenon in my opinion. But i do enjoy your potted history of the grammatical principles pertaining to grouse :)
Great video, very accurate! "Good on ya" is also often used to mean congratulations, or well done, or good for you. e.g. "I just found out I got that job I applied for!" "Oh, good on ya, that's fantastic!"
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Just watched a 14 minute video about my own language... not disappointed
Same
Good on ya,
I'm glad he addressed the "shrimp on the barbie" thing
@@nalaterswa3038 fuckin oath
Ditto!
Dipthong is what Aussies do when testing the water temperature at the beach.
thats gold
🤣
Classic
Too true
I laughed unreasonably hard at this
As an Australian when we want to say something is relatively OK, we say it´s "not bad". When something is good, we say "not too bad". When something is really good, we say "not too bad at all". This comes from the national tendency of not praising things directly.
And saying something is "pretty average" means it's bad.
I love how utterly backwards we are sometimes but we make sense to each other and Americans are just bewildered by us like we’re zoo animals 😂
@@nick012000 Or pretty ordinary.
yep.
Which, if you watched Chinese TV series, you would realize is very Chinese in habit too. First time I saw it (and heard it used) on a Chinese TV drama, I was very surprised. People have just slaved for fourteen hours making this sumptuous feast, and the hero says "Not bad". Stinginess with praise (when it's genuinely meant) and lavish with praise (when it's not genuinely meant) is also kind of Aussie. And it seems, also Chinese. FYI. Edit: he makes reference to our language being possibly influenced by Chinese settlers 14:22 (at least in one case)
Firstly, as an Aussie I'm amazed at how accurate you are. The only thing I would like to add is that Australian's generally love irony, and a lot of the expressions you listed are actually from previous generations. So expressions like Sheila, Strewth and Fair Dinkum might be still used, I use them myself in some conversations, but mostly with an ironic twist. Some of these expressions have been re-claimed in recent years by comedians and movies (Roy and H.G.Nelson and Barry Humphries who famously added a few of his own inventions) . They find their way onto television and get re-born with younger generations. The thing about the fourth Aussie accent is true but pretty recent. There are lots of pronunciations coming into everyday speech from recent waves of immigration from Arabic, Polynesian, East Asian and African immigration. Love ya work.
Oh my gawd!
Also being Australian, I was wondering what Sheila, Strewth and Fair Dinkum were, I've never heard of them before
@@soleyalexandravalbergsdott3126 Fair dinkum, never?
@@newbris Not that I can remember at least.
@@soleyalexandravalbergsdott3126 Stelpa, gudth, osvikinn maybe?
My favourite has always been "Have a good one."
Have a good what? We'll never tell
Yeah you get a burger from Maccas and the girls says "Have a good one " leaves you thinking, is this a lottery or something ! LOL
That's really recent. I think it came from tv ads and flows on from Have a good weekend or more properly put, avagdweegend.
Something the comedian Jimoen brought up.. "Havin' a bit of a barbie"...
I always thought it meant "have a good day"
@@Berkeloid0 It basically means "have a good [whatever you do after we've left each other's company]"
The "one" is completely ambiguous due to the lack of knowledge by the person saying it, it could mean "day" it could mean "drink" it could mean "party" it could mean "dicking the misses"...
as an Australian i must say hearing the North American phrase "rooting for your favourite sports team" creates an interesting mental picture.
Years back someone I knew was an exchange student in the US and met a girl called Randy Root - advised her not to come to Australia
Same with some new shit 'dogging' apparently means something different in america
had a little giggle at this
Doesn't "root for" mean "chear for" in Australia?
@@화이팅-t2q No, we use the term "barrack for". Rooting is... a sexual term.
An linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative."
A voice from the back of the room piped up, in a broad Aussie accent, "Yeah, right."
"there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative"
how about "yeah, yeah" when spoken in a facetious tone to something incredulous?
Well in these cases the negative comes from sarcasm not from the semantic meaning of the words.
@@zetizahara Still funny though 😂
🤣
“The other day”
This story is so old I read it in a Readers Digest at school in the 70s. There it was told about American English, same scenario, a lecture, but the rejoinder is the sarcastic, “yeah yeah”.
The "Australian Voice Over" bloke was spot on. Nailed it
Kinda hot too
Queenslander??
He sounded like Warnie 😁
Bloody oath 👍😆
Lol
As an Aussie when we say it's just down the road it could mean anywhere from 5 kilometres to a 1000 kilometres just so you know.
It’s just down the road, except that road is the red centre way
People in america and europe don't understand how massive australia is. I could start driving here In Perth and a day later I'm either in the sea or still in WA and even if I cross the border it will be another day till I hit a new city minimum. I think that's why our use of distance based phrases is so fucked
My nearest city is "down the road": 95km away. I also use the term "up the highway" to refer to places like Bundaberg 6 hours away. Sydney is down the highway 12 hours away.
@@q3st1on19 Western Australia is stupidly big. People say how massive Texas in the US is, WA is four times larger than Texas. I live in Queensland which is like 3 times the size of Texas. It takes forever to get anywhere.
@@q3st1on19 think I saw somewhere a map of Australia covering all of USA, and way way bigger than all of Europe by about 2x
"She'll be alright" is actually : "She'll be right."
yeah a few of these were still slightly too formal, did love the "sarvo" pickup though
She be right.
You mean, ‘Shelberight’
He is a good teacher. me too hehe .Let's learn chinese with me hehe
@@IamC0m1cGuy Yeah mates'all one word, less syllable the better
Physically recoiled when he said "premium beer... fosters"
He said sorry.
It was a joke, come on.
That shits not funny.
Same tho hahaha
As an australian who spent 10 years in the USA, I can say that the only time I ever drank a Fosters was when someone in america bought it for me as a surprise.
It is so frustrating when Americans and other foreign people say "Throw a shrimp on the barbie" to imitate us because we do NOT say shrimp in Australia, we say 'prawn'.
Come off the raw prawn, sport!!
It's not that frustrating
I would have thought it was a euphemism for sex, but that was mostly by misunderstanding the barbie part LMAO.
@@Adroyo that’s that laid back Aussie attitude
@@ibrahimkhatib6191 f’oath
"Do not attempt to use Australian slang unless you are a trained linguist and extremely good in a fist fight"
- Douglas Adams
What if I'm not trained, but I am cunning....? Will that do, Spoddie fella?
spoddie. Too right.
@@MrBenHaynes You should probably keep that to yourself as it may cause a riot.
Adams was a Brit, and ergo, had NFI what he was talking about 😎
@@MrBenHaynes what a cunning stunt!
The first Aussie language break down that doesn’t sound like shit, even got an Aussie or someone who is great at the accent to speak it, I’m genuinely impressed and I never thought I would sit through an 11 minute video about a language that I speak, learn something and also enjoy it. 😂 cheers mate.
Ditto
Same I just wished he explained how swearing/cussing is nothing to us. And cunt is just a word. All my friends are cunts and I love em. But don't fukin call an Aussie a dog or a dog cunt. Being called a dog is the Most serious of insults.
He was takin the piss, lol
Yeah I thought that it was darn good compared to the exaggerated ones I have seen in the past
@UC474REYpU8Gxk5MOpyn7NxQ it’s different across Australia, in the part I live the only people that say “bruv” is a train rat looking for gear
"Far out" is also quite the popular slang here. Its like another way saying "omg"
I haven’t heard ‘far out’ since the 1970s
Far out is actually when the go to say F@#k off but decide to clean it up. Also the F@#k off can be a positive or negative.
It’s for when you can’t say oh fuck
Fucking hell also does the same thing.
yes. far out.
I've got a couple of extras for you:
1.) we shorten the word champion to champ and it is used as an insult
2.) using the word knackered instead of tired
Nobody in Australia would lower themselves to drink Fosters, we export it to the world as a joke.
What is Australia's actual favorite beer? The Foster's you buy in America tastes like rust.
@@missano3856 I’m not a beer drinker but I think it’s VB, nobody in Australia drinks fosters.
@@missano3856 depends whether ur asking aussie beer or foreign!
@@missano3856 *but definitely not fosters
@@maxlambie7788 What foreign beers are popular? Do Australians drink cold beer like Americans or warm beer like the English?
As an Aussie one I use quite often is the word "us" when actually referring to no one but myself. For example phrases like "pass us the tomato sauce", "chuck us your keys" or "show us where that is"
They also use that in northern England
Except the correct aussie would be " Pass us the dead horse mate."
@@SpeedyCM dead horse??? Ima Australian and don’t know wtf ur talking about
@@IC3XR dead horse means tomato sauce.
@@IC3XR using rhyme. Like “China plate” instead of “mate”. I think this speaking habit may have been inspired by a 60s/70s Aussie TV show.
"bloody hell" is one that seems to be used across all levels of aussie english it can be used as a positive and negative
say you just won a competition someone may reply with "bloody hell" in a uplifting tone meaning theyre happy for you or maybe you just broke a glass and they say "bloody hell" to portray disappointment or annoyance
Bloody hell is one of my favs, but I think its used similarly in England (maybe other parts of the UK too) so that may be why he didn't mention it. What is different is, in my experience, we don't say "bleeding" as much. It would be rare for someone to say 'bleeding hell' or 'the bleeding car broke down', thats more of a UK thing than Aussie thing.
"Loads" is another British one you rarely hear in Australia. If you have a lot of something you might have "heaps", "stacks" or "tons", but never "loads". Although now I think about it, it is fairly common to have a "shitload" of something...
Bloody is one of my dads top used words. Bloody hot, Bloody hell, get me a bloody beer!
I don't here bloody hell much, usually more along the lines of "fucks sake" or "fucking hell"
Bloody oath as well
My favorite aussie slang is 'Cop Shop' - because everytime I use it outside of Australia, without realising I'm using it - I get SO MANY confused looks. It means police station.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure when I was growing up in Norcal in the 70's and 80's that was used.
We say cop shop in the UK too
We use that in USA all the time. Surprised that people get confused by you saying it
I thought it meant donut shop lol.
Equivalent of "doctor shop" in India. It means clinic.
I'm a doctor and this annoys me so much. We aren't selling anything here, it's not a shop!!!
Common statement. “The other day”. Could of been yesterday or 3 months ago 🤣🇦🇺
'the other day' can go back as far as three years, afaik...
And just down the road can be 2mins or 2 hours.
Haha yes on both counts
Nah its always years ago thats how we do it
Right on...digger
Aussies call a chicken, a "chook", and I think that's beautiful.
Wait so this is just a Aussie thing? Huh... the more you know 😂
Mate your right
🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
And a "mother hen" type woman might be nicknamed Chooky, or at least my grandparents neighbour was nicknamed Chooky for that reason haha
Chookies as a plural
The only thing you missed was our whole subculture of words surrounding alcohol.
On the piss, maggoted, sloshed, goon, tinnies, the bottleo just to name a few.
But all around hit the nail on the head with this video!
Shit faced....
fuck eyed from the bush eggs
My recent favourite is getting "Fuck Eyed".
Blind is a personal fave
@@lancetuckey6403 f*ck yeah
What a great video. Completely accurate as far as I could tell, and with a few bits and pieces I didn't know about, like the origins of "hard yakka" and "fair dinkum".
Here's a Dad's Army joke for you:
An English officer approaches a young Australian soldier who's just arrived on the Western Front in WW1. He says:
"Young man, have you come here to die?"
And the Aussie soldier says:
"No sir, I came here yesterdie"...
They don't like it up 'em, Captain Mainwaring!
True Blue is from England. It comes from a blue dye that would not fade easily.
As an English, I endorse this dad joke. 😆
As for "Maccas". This name actually is officially recognized here. Some of their restaurants have changed their signs to read "Maccas"
The Aussie Maccas website is literally macc.as
Ye not that "Mickey D's" crap
@@shaggymotionless4269 I heard that people in the US call it Mickey D’s when I was 14 and thought it was the dumbest nickname I had ever heard
@@insanity-vr6vu ye apparently in the US they do 🤢
their app is called mymaccas too
10:38 - actually every word in Australian English can be used both sincerely and sarcastically. Sometimes simultaneously.
Mate that's so true! You're a bloody genius for pointing that out man!
@@briggs9339 if you hadn't put in that exclamation mark it definitely would've sounded sarcastic.
@@paulnikolaidis2765 it still sounds sarcastic 😂
@@gergs988 that's kind of what i tried to point out, haha i guess i didn't do a great job.
@@paulnikolaidis2765 fair enough
Never before have a been so entertained by someone explaining my own language, good on ya
Same here
Same
Strewth
*I been not a been. Makes you sound like a yank.
Strewth
"Shoulda coulda woulda" is one of my favourites.
It is an expression meaning, more or less, "I wish I had done that, but there's nothing that can be done about it now, so oh well.", in other words: "What's done is done."
I learnt it when I was very young and I still use it to this day.
adding “but didnt” at the end is something so personal to me i love it sm
In NZ we say it to mean no excuses, or no dwelling/regrets etc.. i guess that's pretty much the same..
Shoulda, coulda, woulda, if - but didn't. That is all.
I'm American and I've heard that here quite a few times, definitely not unique to Australia.
@@harbingerdawn same as a canadian
One of my all-time favs is “mate we’re not here to f**k spiders” - which translates to “we’re not here to mess about”
Look, when you stop and look at it......we come up with some rather interesting sayings. Like, who came up with that? Sure, our spiders are big enough but still......
You made that up mate
YES!
@@robinkjellberg6796 its a pretty ol' sayin' not just made up by this person, my 90 yr old ganpas, parents used it
This is making a come back. My Pop used to use it and then it disappeared for ages. Im so glad its back.
I am sorely disappointed that "chuck a u-ey" didn't make the cut. Personally my favourite of our slang
What does it mean?
@@jenniferannewerezak6897 make a u turn. E.g. "oh wait we missed the turn chuck a u-ey when you can"
Yeh fabbo..chicky
Lmao and we're always chucking it and not doing it sensibly. Chuck a uey cos this flog in the commodore shitbox is trying to do skiddies
While chucking a brown eye😆
Expressing distance is an art in Australia. Around the corner, down the road, a fair way, and a decent drive are expressions that range between 5 minutes and a couple days of driving.
Beyond the black stump.
Usually expressed in terms of time rather than distance - something people from so many other (smaller or more crowded) places don’t understand
So, for out back Aussies, that is next door or going into town. 5 minutes, close neighbours, a couple of days, just ducking into town to puck up a few things.
And the words "woop woop" is the bloody middle of nowhere, in other words, out in the sticks, which in turn can mean the middle of the Australian outback
@@GillKing1 same for us in the States. The idea of just popping over to a whole other country for a few hours is a concept that boggles my mind.
As an Australian I endorse this presentation. Couldn’t find fault even though it was done by a Canadian. Lol! We are kindred folk so know I’m ‘takin’ the piss.
By far the best presentation I've ever seen on UA-cam. Couldn't fault it.
We're "Commonwealth brethren", though as a Canadian, I'd be remiss if I failed to point out that in the British Empire days, Canada was the "senior sister Dominion". Yeah - I'm taken' the piss...🙂...eh?
Serious question - as a fellow "Commonwealth citizen", why does Australia demand that Canadians obtain a visa to visit? We don't require one for Australians to visit Canada. Is it a simply a "monetary shake down"? Does Australia hate Canada? (Of course the answer to that is - NO! - I hope...)🙂🙂
Probably coz you're becoming increasingly indistinguishable from your neighbours ⬇️
@@dominionlad8468we definitely don't hate Canada, but south of that border...😅😂
Two most dangerous words in the Australian Language: "Listen, Mate"
Yep I can see a fight starting here 🤣
"Listen, mate."
"Oh, ya wanna go, hey, do ya!?"
I wonder if any dumbfounded tourists would realise that this exchange would soon land someone in hospital?
Someone's bout to die
Ahhhhh! Duck! There's gonna be some fistycuffs!
nah right look mate youre being a fuckin wombat ay
"Cooee" - something you yell over a long distance, meaning "come here", originates from the native Dharung language.
Also in a tunnel
It's mainly used nowadays when Hiking in a group (mainly Scouts) and you've accidentally split from it and lost your bearings
literally only ever used it to hear the echo back
@@jmallinson I sometimes do that myself
Going to Cooee in Tasmania and yelling "Cooee" in the middle of town was a bit of a laugh.
'Uni' short for university.
'Old mate' stand in term to refer to someone.
But old mate is never just someone, they are a character that has left a noticeable impression, they are usually eccentric
@@alistairwalsh9624 I call any friend that I haven't seen for a while "old mate"
'China plate'
Uni is British too. Americans often think Northern English people are Australian because they haven’t heard our accents before 😂
Old mate is such a good expression. The person isn't a mate and doesn't need to be old, but everyone knows what you're talking about and the tone you mean it in.
Best one is "old mate" when your talking about someone who's not there. Could be anyway and its based completely on context. Id say about 30% of the time i hear it i have no idea who theyre talking about.
Growing up in Texas I heard "ol' boy" used precisely that way by my dad and a lot of other older guys.
People use it to talk about people they’ve never met. An example is “old mate rammed the back of my Ute.”
"Old mate" here is roughly the same as "Yer man" in Ireland
@@Iate8Eight "your mate" is almost always derogatory.
Example;
"one of your mates stopped me on the way here" for getting pulled over by the police
"look at your mate over there" for drawing attention to someone doing something silly
or simply "your mate" said to the person beside you after the idiot boss has just said something stupid.
Drug dealers are often referred to as old mate
Any other Aussies saw the vid in their recommended and clicked on it, thinking ooh this'll be interesting 😂
Yeah, they ones I've seen are often worth a laugh because they're awful, but this one is surprisingly good.
Still a few words that aren’t really used but that’s about it
I just found myself saying a lot of these words and going fuckin hell
Yea mate
Yes
"Fuck me dead!", multi-use expression conveying an array of emotions
Also, shit a brick!
@@freeman10000 What does this mean???
Like shit your pants….. just a brick sized shit.
Also, fk me sideways
How is your comment with F word allowed?? All comments i make with just a slight vulgar words, instantly gets deleted..
This is really comprehensive and well researched. As an Australian I have to say you've got it spot on.
Except if I wish to excuse someone, I would say, “you’re right mate.” Not, “you’re alright mate.”
@gruntydatsun . True, but he wasn’t talking about the definition you gave for, “you’re alright mate.” He was suggesting that one you said for your other explanation regards, “you’re right mate.” The host himself made a comment to me, saying that he was trying to point out the originality of you’re right mate, as meaning alright.
So you are correct, but that was not what he was on about.
True! This is very accurate and well made!
@gruntydatsun 👍
@@rickyd.989 same here although, more of a "you're 'right" rather than "you're right" when I text it and such...as redundant as that is coming from an abbreviation. English teachers emphasised on that back in the day so🤷🏻♂️
The diminutives section left me absolutely hysterical. By chocky-bicky I'd woken up the neighbors 😂😂😂😂
Chocky bicky used as standard in UK.
Wanna throw in that rather than calling someone a "sook" or saying that they're "sooky", you can call them a "sooky-lala" if you wanna really go after them
Yeah it was never sooky. You say someone is a sook as a noun and that they are being a sooky-la-la as a verb and a noun
dont forget, princess works a treat with guys too
that’s so trueeee i used to say that all the time to my brothers haha
I was gonna comment this but I knew some bludger would beat me to it
Don't wanna start a war but I thought the sooky la la term came from the kiwis......?
Real fucking weird seeing someone describe how we talk. Pretty interesting though, good stuff mate.
"Have a squizz"
Means to look closely at something.
Oh shit good one. Though the other comment makes me wonder, is squizz a Qld thing?
@Lionel Hutz NSW here too and I hear all 3 of the above.
@Lionel Hutz I have contracted that down to 'give us a gernz.' I like to think think this is the final evolution (devolution?) of the term/s.
@@Butts_McGee WA you'll hear squiz, not often though (maybe just from itinerant banana benders) although I've used it more than a few occasions (when I was younger) so maybe it's just gone out of the lexicon a bit here (I'm an old bastard now).
@@Butts_McGee common in Sydney and Canberra
As an Australian, I commend you on this very well researched and accurate video.
“It’s just down the road” could mean anything from going down to the shops, or a 3 day drive
I’m an Aussie living in New Zealand and I always tell people that “it’s just around the corner” it still confuses some of my mates to this very day😂
But not as far as "the back of Bourke" or "Woop woop"
@@ayeshalooyestyn5757 I say this alot too (Vic, Aus)
and frequently used in a sarcastic manner lol
Lol
"Crook" is sick. Like if my mate's sick, id say to the teacher "'mates' crook as, sir"
That's cos if your mates sick he's just a bloody legend
Hopefully he doesn't have the squirts
That’s when you need to chuck a sickie
Got confused reading this, thinking that you were saying your mate was sick as, not actual sick.
"Your mate" has to be the most sarcastic twist to our language. It refers to when someone is being unpleasant, an Aussie would turn to a a friend and say "He's your mate" with an accusatory tone to which the reply is "Fuck off! He's your mate!"
i love the confusion tho when it says yeah nah nah yeah, like its so easy to understand
THIS.
We used to have a saying at a workplace when a customer rang up who was a pain in the ass: "who's mate is it? 's mate!"
@@djelliott8099 my way of explaining yeah nah is "I agree with the premise but reject the conclusion and visa versa" eg. Want to go to the pub? Yeah nah, I gotta look after the kids or Hey Mate, do you want to help me move house next week? Naahh...yeah
Yeah nah is easy to work out, whatever word is said last is the answer. Also, everyone is mate, except for your dad, hes old mate
@@biznatch112 Nah he's gone mate. Dad not gonna come back for a smoko any time soon haha
"Packing his dacks"
-Dacks referring to underwear, packing to mean filling with poop. Used to describe an intense fear of somebody or a situation. Unrelated to "Stuffs her bra."
Example: if you hit someone's car and they got out and were super big and muscly and angry, you might be figuratively packing your dacks.
Also cacking your dacks
My friend from Brazil thought I was gonna lose my head when I told her, “I’m gonna head off now.” But explained it means to leave haha!
That's also a phrasal verb in American English, so not totally unique to Aussies.
I'm brazilian and I just laughed reading this hahah
Wait, I say that all the time. I never thought it could be taken as something else. I'm Aussie btw
@@Luboman411 I would say Americans are more likely to say "head out", not "head off".
Lol same in nz
The word, meaning and use of "Mate" is alot deeper then most non Australians realize.
Also how the hell did I get to this channel.
Maate...
If 'Mate' is used with the right intonation and inflection its a potential fistfight waiting to happen.
Also the term 'your mate' is problematic.
Too right
Australian parents (especially dads) can express their gentle disapproval with a single "Mate".
Same as the word "bro" in NZ.
“Off his face” refers to intoxicated people and a “dunny” is a toilet
I thought everyone knew that one.
Starting to think Perfect Places by Lorde may have flown over people's heads
Off his face is used in England too. Also bladdered and shit-faced.
I prefer shitfaced,
It’s just more fun
how about "pissed as a maggot"? used that one a few times myself XD
Shitter can also be used instead of dunny.
Tracky-dacks = tracksuit pants. One of my faves.
“Deadset” is basically a stand-in for “literally” or “legit”
Wait is deadset an aussie thing?
@@Bearbigword yes. Originally it’s Aussie slang, tho it might have some inheritance from the British
Deadset mate.
@@IC3XR Deadset?
Yeah bro, deadset ;)
"Old mate" doesn't have to be someone old, or even a mate. It just refers to someone who generally you've had an interesting interaction with.
"Old mate over there wanted to sell me a ute, I told him piss off"
A random contractor walks into my workplace and asks to see the manager.
Me to the manager "Oi Simo, old mate over there wants ya"
If ya wanna walk out of 'ere, ya better watch watch what ya sayin' old mate...
@@gibbsey9579 Sorry champ, not quite it
Old mate is my absolute favourite and I abuse the shit out of it
@@gibbsey9579 usually it's a reported indicator. Like, old mate wants you to step outside. Or old mate said you can just ...
Old mate over there is doing his block over what that dickhead said.
this was funny to watch as an australian. pretty accurate and well done. the aussie in the video sounds like the guy who owns the fish and chip shop down the road from me
So would you say he's a fair dinkum true blue Aussie?
He sounds very relaxed and from a town like Cairns
I was thinking the exact same thing! I was laughing my head off.
@@vbro2912 It's hit the tonne and he's tryna not have a hearto.
I thought he sounded like a quiet Justin Langer
"woop woop" is personally my favourite part of our slang. it means to go out to basically nowhere or our in the bush with no destination in particular in mind. for example,
person A: "where you goin mate?"
person B: "coooor, just out woop woop i spose"
"Gone walkabout" is an expression I sometimes use...
I use “Oodnada-woop woop “
Out woop woop is also the definition of where “just down the road” stops. While “just down the road” can mean anything from minutes to hours of driving, “out woop woop” is in the middle of nowhere. Another version of “woop woop” is “bumf*ck”. Believe it or not, “bumf*ck” is technically less offensive than “woop woop” which is something we stole from the abo’s.
@@wizdude I've heard Americans use bumfuck to describe a small town; ie, "Some guy from Bumfuck, South Dekota."
@@SecretAgentPaul Yes it's a term I've come across more than a few times in American blog posts or comments and on online media.
I find that odd, because Americans don't reaply use the word "bum" to mean the butt, backside, can (all 3 I've read and heard Americans use) or bottom. Instead the use "bum" as a verb to solicit something for free e.g. bum a cigarette, or as a noun meaning usually a homeless person or drifter, unemployed and lazy person, or a drunk bum.
But in the context of Bumfuck, it surely can't refer to the meanings I describe above.
When I moved to Australia in the 90s I got a list of useful sentences; like "your shout " meaning "you are ill-advised to sit in this pub any longer without buying me a drink", and "rack off" meaning "your presence is no longer essential ".
I never thought about "rack off" not being international before travelling outside of New Zealand 🤯 I confused my american and swedish family with my use of "heaps" as a descriptor too
@@sophroniel w
"rack off" is an amusing attempt to tone down what the speaker is really wanting to say: piss off.
I love the definitions XD
That custom of shouting can get you messed up quickly.
It’s too hot in Australia to talk in normal sentences so we got lazy.
yes!
Smart, not lazy
Supposedly we were so drunk all the time we started slurring our words but I dunno if it's true or not
*Puts on snow boots whiĺe laughing in Tasmanian*
I think it is also the bush flies. My accent always gets stronger as I walk down the path at the dog beach because opening my mouth too wide is dangerous. I can still remember walking down the path and one guy was walking up the other way talking on the phone, all of a sudden he made the most disgusting hacking spitting sound as he bent over and flailed around a bit then straightened and said into the phone "sorry, swallowed a fly."
"What's going on?" -> "s'g'aarn'non?"
s'gon'on'mayt
Yeah or “howz-it-garn”?
Keep calm and Scarn On
Haha, I've never thought of it like this, but saying it out loud... Yeah... "s'g'aarn'non?" is close... "s'g'on'non?" is more like it though, but I'm from SA.
"s'g'aarn'non?" sounds more from QLD.
scarnon
Loved the humour in this episode. As a Brummie with Aussie rellos I'm remembering having to literally translate between an Aussie colleague and a Welsh customer.. Interesting times
saying "heaps" to describe "a lot of". Didn't realise until i lived in america how aussie that is. "there were heaps of people at the shops today."
Alternatively you can say "A shitload" or "A metric fuck-ton"
My biggest struggle as an Aussie is that I have no idea what is Aussie slang and what is universal.
wait WHAT?! you're saying they don't use 'heaps'... uh heaps?
Also "stacks"
I once said there was "stacks of" something to an American and he couldn't parse it at all. Not helped by the fact that it's pronounced "staxa"
@@dkjcb3993 my american gf only says heaps when a recipe calls for a heaped teaspoon/tablespoon lol
Here's a famous one you didn't cover: American: "chips", British: "crisps", Australian "chips"; American: "fries", British: "chips", Australian: "chips". How do Australians tell the difference? Context, mostly.
See I don't know if this is a regional thing but to clarify I meant Smith's chips (weird how we use the brand) I'd say potato chips, hot chips for fries of any thickness of that sort of chip except wedges.
It's odd, because a lot of us frequently use 'fries' as well, for deep-fried chips (hot chips, that is) with a shit ton of salt on them. Put it in the oven? Chips. Air fry it? Chips. Buy it from Woolies in a party pack? Chips. Deep fry it? Fries.
The only exceptions are wedges, which are pretty much really thick hot chips, and Arnott's Shapes, which are technically crackers, but are 80% of the time referred to as chips. Or perhaps that's just Ballarat dialect...
(Shit ton: a lot - Woolies: abv. for Woolworths, a common supermarket)
Chips are just chips, and if I want certain chips it's either, Bag Chips(Smiths/Thins etc.) Maccas Chips, and anything else, if its from a place, I usually just say where its from, Red Rooster, Kfc, Maccas, Top End, Lucky Roe, etc
@@freycossy it must be, I VERY rarely hear people call any of their chips fries; though I have heard it before
Just depends on context yea. If someone's going to get fish and chips, or "5 dollars of chips", or maccas or something it's pretty clear they mean hot chips/fries, or if you're ordering something at a counter and ask for chips.. unless they specified "bag/pack of chips"...
If we are talking about the "crisps" variety, it's likely because someone's got a bag or bowl full and we're asking for some, that we're offering, or again we're buying/being asked to buy a pack. We'll either say "pack of chips" or just specify the flavour like "salt and vinegar chips"
Sometimes people will just say the brand name "plain smiths" or packet colour instead of flavour "green pringles" even...
Its pretty intuitive for us honestly, not once had a miscommunication in my life about chips lol
“Too easy” which means “That request isn’t a problem”.
too easy is ubiquitous, needs a feature IMO
I heard that in the Canadian military, and mostly in it's French translation. (''Trop facile.'')
You never know how words travel! lol.
Top choice!
Im aussie and ive always hates this one ahaha
@@jkennedy299: So would you prefer the alternative I heard at one stage, "A piece of piss."
You did an awesome job of that Paul. Good onya! A couple of others we say are:
C'mon - come on.
Along with crikey and strewth expressing surprise is 'bloody hell"
If someone says "are you serious?", we would answer "deadset'.
If someone has done or said something silly, they're a dingbat, a galah or a goofball.
If someone is a complete idiot, then they're a drongo, a moron, or a bloody idiot. This is often yelled at out of cars and is preceeded with " Watch where ya goin' ya (fill in the blank)."
Just few that come to mind. :)
If your intrestend in learning how Australians swear go watch videos from "Dash Cam Owners Australia"
Dad watches that channal and other similar ones. Only Aussies will swear like that. Non Aussies are WAY more polite.
Yeah, you can tell where the dash cam videos are from with the following formula: If the crash is nuts, it's probably Russia. If it ends in a road rage fight, it's probably from the US. If the driver swears like a trooper, it's probably from Oz.
@@rarghau Additionally, if the crash is followed by a law suit taking at least 5 years and more money than the cars were worth before the crash it's from Germany
😂😂😂
fuckin struth
Calling Foster's a premium beer is like calling VB a fine wine
*foine woine ;)
Not even sure you can buy it in Australia anymore, not that I go looking for it, tastes like crap.
Bloody oath
@@utha2665 you can. Dont know who buys it though
ThAnk YoU!! This needed to be said.
“Deadset” means for real, or it can be used as a question to ask if something is true
And used as kerser’s rap titles lol
Is dead set not used in america?
@@Uvouvo05 nah bro, I said it to some Americans and everyone looked at me like I was crazy hahaha
In the US it means something different. If you're "dead set on" something it means you're determined to do that thing no matter what. Like "I'm dead set on taking a walk, I don't care how cold it is today". We don't use it other than that afaik.
I think that in North America "Deadass" is used in the same context. So you can say that. 😁
As a Victorian (specifically from Melbourne Australia), I can tell that Queenslanders (especially from far north) and South Australians both have distinct accents that can be easily identified.
Sydney-siders are fairly similar to Melbournians. Tasmanians have a slight difference but I can't really put it into words.
Us Victorians (maybe just Melbs) say Ellen and Alan the same, other states make fun of us for this and seem to really emphasise the "el' I had no idea we even did this for ages.
At least Qlders say pool, pewl. Or Tools, Tewls - I've even heard Kiwis take the piss out of this!
When I moved to Melbourne I was struck by the ‘al’ (L) thing. I moved from tassie. I think it’s the Greek/Italian influence…
@@matthewbaker8307I take the piss when copying the dad from bluey. Pewl 😄
The ‘al’ thing drives me nuts when I go to Melbourne 😂
Apparently "chuck a sickie" is not universal: it means taking a sick day from work.
It helps if your country actually has an industrial relations system that ALLOWS you to take sick leave. We have SO MUCH time off and potential time off compared to the Yanks. As a kid, I used to want to live in America - now, with ALLLLLLLLLLL their bloody problems ........ NO THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
You would only chuck a sickie if you were a slacko 😵
@@PineappleSkip Or a bludger!
We use that here in Aotearoa too....
Americans don’t have those
Slight correction: The Aussie English talked about here is mostly related to the English spoken in cities and more coastal areas. Getting further into the country, especially in bush and Aboriginal communities, the accents are more diverse.
Also, our casualness is because we don't use formal speech with anyone. It's considered to be passive-aggressive. That isn't to say we're not polite, we have manners. We just... Talk to our bosses and teachers nearly the same way as we talk to everyone else. It's super weird how people are super polite to their government outside of Australia.
Everyone needs to be more like this true blue Aussie. ua-cam.com/video/5wpV3lHK90o/v-deo.html
Funny, but I was going to say the opposite. To me (an Australian) the AE spoken here is too broad for cities, and sounds more like a stereotype of outer suburbs/country. But that could be because I am from Adelaide where we tend to be a bit posher. Adelaidiens find Sydney and Brisbane accents very different.
Interesting cultural history, laid-back and informal, as-opposed-to, uptight and formal....true dat.
@@Gomisan I had a classmate in uni who was from Adelaide (this was in Qld, I'm from the bush). I have a typical QLD broad accent, she had a cultivated accent. Sometimes we threw each other off with our different pronunciations but all in all we were pretty good mates.
@@Gomisan Yeah, I'm with you on that, I'm from Melbourne and ot sounds too broad for here, except perhaps if you're old, older people tend to be more divergent on the continuum imo, either broader or more cultivated.
As an australian that never questioned the differences in how we speak to anywhere else, this fills me with existential confusion
Something which used to be common in rural Queensland and the Northern Territory was the measuring of distance in the serving size of beer in cartons. A drive taking most of the afternoon may be described as being a six pack, or a dozen: "Ah, yeah? I reckon Barcy (Barcaldine) be about a dozen away." This means that it will take them as long to drive that distance as to drink the beer socially without undue impairment. A carton was a very long way away.
I think it's largely gone by the bye due to the RBT (Roadside Breathalyser Tests, sometimes delivered in what is referred to as the booze bus) presence these days.
I grew up in a town called Bundaberg. No need to tell you it's shortened to Bundy. And that it's rum that's brewed there is known as a bottle of Bundy. Oddly, Gin Gin, just up the road, never got shortened to my knowledge. The regional centre (well, was once) of Maryborough got lengthened to Mary DUNG borough as it's considered to be a bit of a shit hole in the region.
“The other day” can refer to any point in time, from 2 minutes ago, to the whenever the person speaking was born
“The other day I left this comment on the video”
huh i didn’t think that was an aussie thing but ig it is eh
Same as: 'just down the road''', When someone lives ''just down the road'' or we are going ''just down the road'' it is often several miles or even several hours drive 😄
Suddenly everyone in the comments has decided to up their Australian-ness by 500%
Too right mate!
We have been summoned
Yeah. We tend to bung it on when people are watching.
performative australianism hahaha
Haha you noticed mate good on ya
As an Aussie, he totally "hit the nail on the head" with all of it. Most videos don't, even some made by other Aussies
I remember a Canadian friend once asking me: "who is this Larry of whom you speak? And why is he so happy?"
Ha ha , yeah...so true!
happy as Larry... what a "and Bob's your uncle" !!
Never heard that one.
@@crackers562 "Bob's Your Uncle" is a Canadian phrase. There was even a band called that in Canada.
@@Azure1013 It is?
"Woop woop" - middle of no where, or very far away.
My personal favourite.
Mine too. lol.
I hear more "Out in the sticks."
Whoop whoop... no idea where the h comes from
I love the movie Welcome to Whoop Whoop!
Back o Burke, back of beyond, past the black stump
My favourite expression is "on ya bike mate" which is basically telling someone to piss off haha
See also: rack off, garn git fukt, jog on
@@THEedcbb3 good ol "jog on champ"
One bit of slang that hasn't been mentioned, and is strongly associated with indigenous Australians, is "deadly" for anything good or positive.
thats more north than south
Which is funny for the rest of us non Aussies, since we think of Australia where are the deadly and most poisonous things in the world live. So from our perspective that's kind of fitting?
@@andmicbro1 Honestly, most white folks don't use it either, so it has a certain oddness to our ears, even more so if it's another white person saying it.
@@haiironezumi I guess maybe it could be equated to a white American calling somewhere "ghetto" or "the hood". It's not racist or anything, but it just doesn't feel quite right.
yeah good one. but he did say "heaps"
In Australia, you call C**ts "mate" and your mates "c**t"
Depends where you came from if your povo its sup cunnies and oi ya dog respectively
Tha we do 😂🤣if ya hear us say "hey mate" its not alrigh if we yell out "OI C***T" from across the street we're all good
Finally someone said it 🤣 i rarely ever call my friends m8 its always cunt or dick head or any number or other insults haha
@@Superbogan yeah "C*nts" is reserved for the well spoken.
@@Superbogan we use both here. This town is povo; we had a special person from here we gave em a chair as his memorial he was a director
I'm glad you apologised for mentioning Fosters. That shit deserves to go back in the horse it came from.
"Yeah good one mate" when they've fucked up and done something stupid. Almost exclusively used in a sarcastic tone, so much so that when someone says it genuinely it's almost suspicious and you might not believe them.
To invoke related content from a popular Ozzie content creator, term “Destination Fucked” comes to mind here…
"Yeah good one dickhead" as an option
On ya
kindof like the phrase "Good for you!" ... It's been uniquely sarcastic for my entire life, and whenever someone says it without the sarcasm, it sound weird
The version from the American South:
“Oh bless your sweet heart, darlin…”
I’ve lived here for six years now. Your observations on the linguistic variations are so freakin accurate.
Went into this video thinking it was gonna be another stereotypical, incorrect videos. Yet, as an Aussie, I’m happy and thankful that someone’s gotten it right. Well done mate!
Onya!
Most of those stereotypes are actually correct about Australia though aren't they, but politically correct Australians are embarrassed about them.
@@ajs41 I'd say so, I mean, I used to have a spider as big as me hand staring at me while I sleep and didn't bother trying to get rid of it, too cute to kill. Though me sister would scream like a banshee had she seen one from across the road! Also I've never seen a can o Foster's in me life! It probably tastes like sh!t since it gets so much backlash from us.
Sacrilege! Another Aussie has stooped to using the American boganism "gotten." 😕
Aussies use the word “Reckon” a lot and my American friends thought i was bogan af!
Oh lol I can see why they'd assume this. "I reckon" doesn't go much further than the South. Even Midwestern country boys don't say it too often.
@@christmasdenier Can confirm. Grew up in the rural midwest, and "reckon" is very much a rural (some might say hick) thing. Even then, it's not terribly common. My stepdad is the only person I know (other than myself) who uses it unironically.
I grew up in Sydney and I reckon it's pretty normal
I reckon you're right !
I believe aussies are bogans all the time. That's OK.
I've heard that Aussies have a hard time getting levels of politeness right when learning languages that have them, such as my native language German. The explanation is that in Australia, you're only polite to people you really hate.
Can confirm!
It’s because we’re generally informal and tend to humble ourselves. We don’t like people who big note (brag)
@@skkreativ This explains a lot!
There's definitely a lack of formality and hierarchy here, so it would be difficult for a lot of people, but as always, it depends on the person. I've always been very conscious of hierarchy so I've never struggled with it at all when studying German and French.
Aussie learning / learnt norwegian - you're dead right, especially when you have to also just learn how polite to be in general because of cultural differences. (Don't talk to strangers, that's a really aussie thing to do)
"Old mate" is the epitome of Australian colloquial slang.
It's used to refer to someone, in place of "that guy" or "this guy," but relies entirely on context.
If someone's acting like a dickhead at the pub, you might point them out to a friend by saying "have a look at old mate."
It's also totally acceptable to use when the second party couldn't possibly know to whom you're referring. "Old mate at the tackle shop reckons" is a fine substitute for "An employee at the tackle shop says-"
Drug dealers are often referred to as this. "I'll get some from old mate".
I think “too easy” is a very ubiquitous Australian term to show assent and conclude a discussion.
also kinda weird. everytime someone says that too me, i always think "what do u want me to make it harder.
"Consider it done."
"Say no more."
"Don't worry about it."
"For sure."
"Understood."
"I/we/they got this."
"It'll be a piece of cake."
"Too easy" is very useful
Didn't hear any beauts in there. Specifically "you beaut".
"Beaudy, mate!"
My pop used to say this all the time, or more like "Yoooo Beautieeeee"
Beaut Ute 😂🤣
That's an old one
Especially when talking about his new Holden
to "rock up" = to show up
"He rocked up to work late"
"I'm waiting for my brother to rock up"
This is one phrase I’ve heard so much from Aussie colleagues that I forgot it was Aussie. I’ve naturally picked up some of these expressions without really noticing.
@@Langfocus when I first moved here, it really stood out to me and i liked it. I know what you mean though, it took me a bit to think of it because it sounds so normal.
Ha I have a friend who always says "rock up" but it's mainly him I associate it with! Here's from the UK (though moved to NZ now).
@@JfromUK_ Interesting, had he been to Australia before?
@@Langfocus Can you do the same explanation of Canadian English? As an Aussie your accent doesn’t sound to be Canadian at all (from my Aussie perspective)
Thanks 🙏
I watch UA-cam videos from a Canadian engineer “AvE” his accent and language is absolutely hilarious, I’d the origins of that language explained too
So many more idiotmatic things could be here. One of my favourites: If something is to be kept for later, we say "that one's for Ron" as in "Later on".
I heard that expression growing up in the UK.
That was the most accurate account of Aussie language I've ever seen. Good on ya, kaant.
Bibs- 52. Sydney Australia
“G’day, mate” is a really handy greeting when you meet someone familiar but can’t quickly recall their name. Saves embarrassment and no one is offended.
There's a particular face and intonation that goes along with it that seems to include a tacit admission that you've forgotten, which makes the whole experience of having an Australian person forget your name rather endearing
"old mate" is another handy one that can basically act as a stand in for someone whose name you may not know
@@dungandonuts In my experience “old mate” has a certain negative overtone. That is, it is used when speaking about someone that you have no affection for, as in “old mate next door” when speaking about a troublesome neighbour.
@@dungandonuts not to be mistaken for old fella
I live in the Pacific Northwest, but in an inland part (Eastern Washington state) that is much more influenced by the inland West. We use the term "old son" sometimes, usually shortened to just "son", which I reckon you've likely heard in contexts ranging from hip-hop, Appalachian folk, and western entertainment. I strongly suspect the term was in use in England before it came to the U.S., however. "Old son" seems to be limited to men, however, but "dude" is quickly becoming the American "mate", it seems. My 18-year-old says "my dude" all the time for friends of any age, but mostly peers.
As an American, I think the way Australians use diminutives is the cutest thing ever. Maccas, servo, iso, footie, MOZZIE, I had to laugh because I love the way all of those words sound. Australia please never change
Righto mate, cheers
You betcha we won't...my photo is of the Hume Highway 500 kilometre if cement Highway...4 lanes 2 up 2 down... Sydney to Melbourne
My parents named my brother Sean so that his name wouldn't be shortened. They forgot that they were Australian, which means that if you can't make something shorter, you make it longer. Sean became Seano, obviously. I could have told them that, but they neglected to ask me, as I hadn't been born yet.
@@RedrooAU old hume is an interesting drive too...
bruh thanks- so sweet that u love our language- but the guy spelt it wrong. its spelt footy, mozzy etc.
I'm Australian and studied overseas at a university with many international students. I thought I knew most of the words people wouldn't know from Australian, but "arvo" and "how are you going?" surprised me (I had someone reply to the latter, "by train" 😂). Also hadn't realised that no one would understand capsicum!
I understand everything in this video and I'm Bulgarian who studied British and American English. I don't see what's so hard about this.
Also capsicum is Latin. That's where the chemical compound Capsaicin comes from.
As an Aussie overseas, people sometimes get confused when I say “heaps” instead of “very” or “really”.
But overall I think this video was “heaps good”.
I'm surprised that, of all the colorful language Australians use, that's one that trips people up. That one seems so straight forward. Those three words are almost synonyms.
Heaps!
Grouse.
Now there was a difference between Melbourne and not-Melbourne. Les Norton, of Robert G Barrett fame, always said something was ‘the grouse’, while in Melbourne, it was simply ‘grouse’. Maybe ‘the grouse’ was just Sydney, although Les was a fictional Queenslander.
@@pauldobson2529 huh! Plot twist: i'm in Sydney. And come from SA. Defo very Melbs phenomenon in my opinion. But i do enjoy your potted history of the grammatical principles pertaining to grouse :)
I'm an australian, I love this. My favourite part was "chockie-bickie." I've never been more proud.
Sure of it! I was thinking that's as Aussie as it gets right there 😆
Me too. He sprung it on me.
What about a Tim Tam Slam?
A nice cuppa and a bickie. Beauty.
chockie - bickie - very much used in the UK - especially for chocolate digestive biscuits Digi - bics)
The first time I went to Australia I was confused because my surname was everywhere.
Goday mate.
Yeah sorry about that mate.
Everybody knows you there
🤣🤣🤣🤣
“ Now all of Australia knows you’re here “
Great video, very accurate!
"Good on ya" is also often used to mean congratulations, or well done, or good for you. e.g. "I just found out I got that job I applied for!" "Oh, good on ya, that's fantastic!"