Aussie Words |
Definitions |
Comments |
g'day |
A greeting |
|
gaffer |
(Lesser) Boss … usually a supervisor or shed boss |
N. English dialect - US usage is head lighting tech on film set … thus "gaffer tape" - specially made to hang film lights from rough surfaces |
galah |
Noisy parrot, thus noisy idiot |
|
game |
Brave |
|
gander |
Have a look |
|
gaol |
Australian and British variant spelling of "jail" |
|
garbo |
Garbage collector |
|
garbo, garbologist |
Municipal garbage collector |
|
gibber, gibby |
Stony desert (that's originally a 'gibber plain' or 'gibber country - 'gibber' i |
Sydney region Aboriginal word for stone (Dharuk - 'giba') |
gidgee |
Rough, dry country, characterized by tough acacia scrub called gidgee |
Aboriginal (Yuwaalaraay) word for 'spear wood' |
give it a burl |
Try it, have a go |
|
give it away |
Give up |
|
goanna |
Australian monitor lizard |
Adaptation of S. American 'iguana' |
going "troppo" |
Going tropical; laid-back and fun-loving; insane |
|
good oil, good gits |
Useful information, a good idea, the truth |
Good guts? |
good on ya! |
Well done! |
|
good on you |
Good for you, well done |
|
good possie |
Advantageous position |
|
grazier |
Large-scale sheep or cattle farmer |
|
greenhide |
Tough, untanned leather |
Equivalent to US "rawhide" |
greenie |
Environmentalist |
|
grizzle |
To complain |
|
grog |
General term for alcohol, but typically beer |
Interestingly, it was originally RN term for rum, watered down to prevent sailors saving their ration up for a bender (after Admiral Grogham) |
grouse |
Very good, unreal |
|
gum sucker |
Resident of Victoria |
|
gumtree |
Eucalyptus |
Smoothbarked eucalypt, not a stringybark or messmate |
gun |
Champion (shearer) |
|
Gunyah |
Aboriginal temporary shelter (also gunya, guneah, gunney &c) |
Aboriginal (Dharuk): 'ganya' |
gutzer |
Some plans don't work out or to have an accident (to come a gutzer) |
|
gyno |
Gynaecologist |
|
handle |
Beer glass with a handle |
|
hard yacka |
Hard work |
|
hatter |
Person living alone and rough in the bush - maybe crazy |
"Mad as a HATTER" |
heaps |
A lot |
|
hire |
To rent, as "to hire a car" |
|
his nibs |
The boss |
|
homestead |
Residance of a station (ranch or farm) owner or manager |
|
hooley |
Wild party |
|
hooly-dooly |
An expression of surprise |
|
hoon |
Idiot, hooligan, yahoo |
|
hooroo |
Goodbye |
|
hotel |
Often just a pub |
|
hottie |
Hot water bottle |
|
how are ya? |
Standard greeting |
|
hq |
Second most revered Holden car |
|
hump |
To carry |
|
humping bluey |
Carrying a swag, travelling rough and light (looking for work - or tucker) |
|
humpy |
Temporary, makeshift dwelling (originally Aboriginal shelter, gunyah) |
Aboriginal (Jagara): 'yumbi |
icy pole |
Popsicle, lollypop |
Ice block, where I came from |
identity |
Celebrity |
|
iffy |
Doubtful, questionable |
|
illywacker |
A con man who preyed on the gullible at country shows/fairs |
|
in full feather |
In fine health |
|
in yer boot! |
An expression of disagreement (archaic) |
|
it's a goer |
Something that will definitely occur |
|
Jack Shay (Jack Shea) |
Quart pot, metal drinking vessel / container |
Rhymes (to the Irish) with tea (pot) |
jack-in-the-box |
Person who can't sit still |
|
jackaroo |
A male station hand (a station is a big farm/grazing property) |
In station life, Jackaroo has long meant an Englishman getting 'colonial experience' (often not paid … but ate with the magager, not the men!) [Originally, ie very early colonial, it meant a white man living beyond the boundary of settlement - possibly Aboriginal word 'dhugai-iu', (Jagara)] |
jillaroo |
A female station hand |
|
jingoes! |
Exclamation of wonder |
|
jocks |
Men's or boys' underpants |
|
Joe Blake |
Snake (rhyming) |
|
Joe Bloggs |
The average citizen |
|
joey |
Baby kangaroo, still in the pouch |
Originally baby possum - trans. to kangaroo, then any young marsupial … eventually comes to mean child! |
johnny cake |
Small, thin, loaf of damper (bush bread) |
Trans. from US flat oat cake |
journo |
Journalist |
|
jumbuck |
Sheep |
Probably an Aboriginal word for 'cloud' or 'mist' (a distant mob of sheep?) |
jumped-up |
Full of self-importance; arrogant |
|
kanga or kangaroo |
Shoe |
|
keen as mustard |
Enthusiastic |
|
kelpie |
Australian sheepdog originally bred from Scottish collie |
Breed is descended from champion short-haired collie named 'Kelpie' |
kerb |
Alternative Australian and British spelling of "curb" |
|
kerbside quiche |
Vomit |
|
kerfuffle |
Argument |
|
kero |
Kerosene |
|
kick |
To share or join in |
|
kick-in |
To provide your share |
|
kindie |
Kindergarten |
|
king brown |
Type of venomous snake or tall bottle of beer |
|
kip |
Sleep or nap |
|
kiwi |
New zealander |
|
knackered |
Worn out, rooted |
|
knackers |
Testicles (also love spuds, nuts, nads) |
|
knock |
To criticise |
|
knock back |
Refusal (noun), refuse (transitive verb) |
|
knocker |
One who criticises |
|
kombi |
Multi-purpose van-like vehicle, often modified so the back seats were folded dow |
|
koori |
Aborigine (mostly south of the Murray River) |
Also all of NSW (except for Yuin in south east) ... Murri -then Bama to north in Queensland - Yura, then Nunga to west, in South Australia |
lair |
Layabout, hooligan |
|
lairise |
To behave in a vulgar, flamboyant manner |
|
lamb-brained |
Stupid |
|
lamington |
Sponge cake cut into squares, covered in chocolate and coconut |
|
larrikin |
Ruffian or hoodlum, but viewed with some admiration |
|
lay-by |
To put a deposit on an article so a shop will hold it |
|
licensed |
Legally permitted to sell alcoholic drinks |
|
like a bandicoot on a burnt ridge |
Lonely and vulnerable |
|
lingo |
The language |
|
lippy |
Lipstick |
|
liquid laugh |
Vomit |
|
lob, lob in |
Drop in to see someone ("the rellies have lobbed") |
|