An updated 2015 glossary of Australian slang. Languages are alive and constantly changing. After the Malaysian airways fight MH17 was shot down in Ukraine in 2014, Australia's Prime Minister threatened to "shirtfront" Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the November G20 meeting of government heads in Brisbane, Australia. Not many people except for ardent Australian Rules Football followers had any idea of what a "shirtfront" is. It is explained along with hundreds of other slang terms in this comprehensive up to date glossary of Australian colloquialisms.
Hello or G'day.English to Australian Slang Dictionary.Enjoy over 1001 + Aussie slang words A to Z.Easy to find words and phrase's to impress your friends in Australia and Overseas.After studying this dictionary and working on a couple other things.Maybe you can pass as an Aussie in the Big Smoke.EnjoyHoorooMr Bennett Books
Aussie Slang is a richly-textured, often ribald world of understatement and laconic humour. This guide aims to do three things; (a) to help the traveller decipher what they hear around them in everyday Australian life, (b) give the causal reader some insight into informal Australian culture, and (c) make a record of some old Australian expressions that are slipping into disuse now that English has become a global language. Readers will recognize both British and American terms in this list. Australian English has absorbed much from these two great languages. For depth of knowledge of their own language, no-body beats the British. Its their language after all. A thousand years in the making, the English language is embedded deep in the DNA of the British. No-one uses their language more skilfully than they do. On the other hand, American English has a creative power that recognizes no boundaries. Americans have taken a very good all-purpose language and extended it in all kinds of directions with new words describing the world as it is today. They do not generally cling to old forms out of respect for tradition. As Winston Churchill observed, Britain and America … two great nations divided by the same language. Australian English sits comfortably in the space between the two. Australian English began in the early days of settlement as English English with a healthy dash of Celtic influence from the many Scots, Irish and Welsh settlers who came to Australia. Large numbers of German settlers also came in the 1800's,and their influence on the language is also clearly evident. For over a hundred years, Australia developed in splendid isolation its unique blend of English, tempered by the hardships of heat and cold, deluge and drought, bushfires and cyclones. The harsh environment united people in a common struggle to survive. People helped each other. Strong communitarian loyalties were engendered. It is from this that the egalitarian character of Australia evolved. There is a strong emphasis on building a feeling of solidarity with others. Strangers will call each other "mate" or "luv" in a tone of voice ordinarily reserved for close friends and family in other parts of the world. Everyone was from somewhere else, and no-one was better than anyone else. A strong anti-authoritarian attitude became deeply embedded in Australian English. This was mainly directed towards their British overlords who still ran the country as a profitable colony. The Australian sense of humour is generally understated, delivered with a straight-face, and is often self-deprecating in nature. No-one wants to appear to be “up themselves”. Harsh or otherwise adverse conditions had to be met without complaint, so when discussing such conditions, it was necessary to do so with laconic, understated humour. Anyone not doing so was deemed a “whinger” (win-jer).Following World War II the American influence came increasingly to influence Australian culture and therefore the language. No-one is better at selling their popular culture to the world than the United States of America. Their pop culture is a beguiling instrument of foreign policy, so pervasive and persuasive it is. Young Australians enthusiastically embraced American culture, and since the 1940's the old established British language and customs have become blended with the American. If Australian English has a remarkable quality, it is the absence of regional dialects. It is spoken with relative uniformity across the entire nation. Brisbane on the East coast is a 4,300 kilometre (2,700 mile) drive from Perth on the West coast, yet there is little discernible linguistic difference between the two places compared with the difference, for example between Boston and San Francisco in the US. Nowhere else in the world do we see such linguistic uniformity across large distances.
Australian English like all other languages being used is a living entity and is constantly changing. Many slang terms used by my parent's generation are infrequently used now. Likewise, the language used by Aussie teenagers today is different from the language I feel comfortable using. With the internet, television and the globalisation of almost everything, cultures are being influenced by other cultures and many slang terms are now almost universal. However, we do need to take care when we use language in different cultures, because even the same slang terms can mean different things. Two examples which come to mind are the words "thong" and "fanny". These words have very different meanings in the United States of America and in Australia. In Australia, the context in which various words are used can totally change the meanings of those words. An example is the word "bastard". The dictionary meaning is "a person born from an unmarried mother". It is used in a derogatory sence in most cultures and can be used that way in Australia also. However, in Australia it can also be used in an almost affectionate way between good friends.
G'day from the land downunder, the land of grouse-looking sheilas, sunshine, the long weekend and the best beer in the world. Aussies have enjoyed magnificent isolation for over two hundred years. We've never really bothered about keeping up with the rest of the globe. And as a result, we've got a language all our own. But now Paul Hogan has gone and blown the best-kept secret in the universe. We're copping hordes of tourists on our doorstep every day. And our own billy lids are learning a different language that we can't understand. It's time we all got back to basics. And that's why we've published this literary masterpiece – which will be a great reference source for travellers and new settlers in our great land, too.
Echoes from the earliest years of the century mingle with the voices of contemporary Australia in this fascinating selection of excerpts from the Oral History Collection of the National Library of Australia. Humour and drama, sport, culture, politics and the media, work and leisure are all represented. There are stories of life from remote properties; there are comments on society and government policies; there are anecdotes and opinions.
We use them every day, some of us more than others. They make our conversations colourful and interesting, loud and bright, rich and rare... and sometimes seemingly foreign or incomprehensible to visitors to our shores.They derive from a variety of cultural, historical and ethnic sources, and have adapted and evolved over time into a collection of truly original 'Australian-isms'. They underline and emphasise the linguistic imprint of who we are as Australians. Some call them 'Strine'. Others, simply slang or idiom. We like to think of them as Australian 'Slang-uage' - Sayings, Slang and Idiom, the Aussie way. Here are some Aussie sayings to ponder: 'Hello, here's trouble', 'How are you me old china?', 'Howzit garn?' 'Saw your light on, thought I'd drop in', 'We have to stop meeting like this'.
The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English presents all the slang terms from The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English in a single volume. Containing over 60,000 entries, this concise new edition of the authoritative work details the slang and unconventional English of from around the English-speaking world since 1945, and through the first decade of the new millennium, with the same thorough, intense, and lively scholarship that characterized Partridge’s own work. Unique, exciting and, at times, hilariously shocking, key features include: unprecedented coverage of World English, with equal prominence given to American and British English slang, and entries included from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, India, South Africa, Ireland, and the Caribbean emphasis on post-World War II slang and unconventional English dating information for each headword in the tradition of Partridge, commentary on the term’s origins and meaning. New to this second edition: a new preface noting slang trends of the last eight years over 1,000 new entries from the US, UK and Australia, reflecting important developments in language and culture new terms from the language of social networking from a range of digital communities including texting, blogs, Facebook, Twitter and online forums many entries now revised to include new dating and new glosses, ensuring maximum accuracy of content. The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English is a spectacular resource infused with humour and learning – it’s rude, it’s delightful, and it’s a prize for anyone with a love of language.
