Australian Slang Puzzle

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And joining us from New York City is our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Hi, John.

Hi, Martha.

Hi, Grant.

Hey, bud.

So, you know, every time you turn around, there’s a quiz that goes something like, “Hey, did you know that in the U.K. a diaper is called a nappy?” Or in the U.K. they call a truck a lorry?

But, you know, another country that calls Elizabeth II their monarch, which is also the oldest, flattest, driest continent that is the country, is Australia.

And Australia has a rich slang all its own.

So shall we do a quiz on Aussie slang?

Oh, boy. Okay. Let’s try it out.

What do you think?

Now, I have to warn you, I will occasionally probably drop into a very awful Aussie and or New Zealand slash English British accent. So just you can hold me to that. It’s okay.

Now, in New York, this is a Bronx cheer. But an Aussie salute is when you wave your hand in the air to what end?

To get someone’s attention.

Not to get someone’s attention.

Order a beer.

Not to order a beer.

That’s a very good reason to wave your hand in the air.

To complain about the cricket match.

Think more about being way out in the outback. And you’ve got to wave your hand around in the air.

To catch a swat a fly?

Yes, to shoo away flies is known as an Aussie salute.

Gotcha.

Now, it’s a wonder why J.K. Rowling would name non-lazy sporting equipment after a lazy person, but the Aussie term for a lazy person shares its name with a heavy iron ball that flies around attempting to knock players off their brooms in the game of Quidditch.

Do you know what it is?

The heavy iron ball.

It’s a bludger.

It is a bludger, yes.

So a lazy person in Australia is a bludger. And if you’re living off the state, they call you a dull bludger.

A dull bludger, okay.

Because you’re a dull bludger.

Now, I guess a country completely surrounded by ocean, with a desert and wilderness in the middle, would have a lot of beach slang.

If a man is wearing bathers that leave nothing to the imagination, an Aussie might say that they’re smuggling what small parakeet native to Australia?

They’re budgie smugglers.

They’re budgie smugglers.

A budgerigar.

No, no.

The most famous word in the extreme world is grape smugglers.

Grape smugglers.

I’ve heard those too, yeah.

Aussie slang for just about any regular Australian bloke is what relatively common man’s name?

Bruce.

Bruce.

Bruce is right.

Change the first letter of the UK slang for diaper that I mentioned earlier, and you’ll get modern Aussie slang for portable computer.

Nappy and lappy.

Lappy.

Lappy.

Bruce.

You know, you can check your facey on your lappy. That’s what they call Facebook. They called it facey.

Whoop whoop means one thing to a Three Stooges fan. It means Curly is excited. But if an Aussie says you live in whoop whoop, what does that mean?

It’s a town way, way, way out.

Any place way out in the middle of nowhere.

Yeah.

Oh, he lives way out in whoop whoop.

Yeah, whoop whoop.

If an Aussie offers you their brekkie, what might you do with it?

Eat it.

It’s breakfast.

Eat it.

It is breakfast, yes.

You guys are all set for your trip down under.

There you go.

Absolutely.

Thanks, guys.

I’ll see you next time.

Thanks, John.

Thanks. Bye-bye.

You know, we do goof around about language, and we welcome our Australian listeners and everyone else around the world who speaks a different English than we do to email us and tell us the cool things about your dialect of English.

We’d love to hear about it.

The email address is words@waywordradio.org, or if you’re in the United States and Canada, you can call us toll-free, 877-929-9673.