| Aussie Words |
Definitions |
Comments |
| QANTAS |
Acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service |
|
| quack |
Doctor, especially if not very good |
|
| quart pot |
Tin-plated cooking/storage/container - specially made, not improvised like a billy |
|
| quick smart |
In a hurry |
|
| quid, make a |
Earn a living - "are you making a quid?" |
|
| quid, not the full |
Of low IQ |
|
| quids |
A lot of money |
|
| rabbiter |
Person trapping, poisoning or shooting rabbits for pay, bounty or skins |
|
| rage |
Party |
|
| rainbow sneeze |
Vomit |
|
| rapt |
Delighted, enraptured |
|
| ratbag |
Someone who does not behave properly |
|
| raw prawn, to come the |
To bullshit, to be generally disagreeable |
|
| razoo |
Fictitious coin, as "I haven't a brass razoo" |
|
| reckon! |
You bet! Absolutely! |
|
| red poppy |
The one at the top whom Aussies like to give a hard time |
Tall poppy (syndrome)? |
| rego |
Registration, as in car rego |
|
| rellie |
Family relative |
|
| remittance man |
(Generally) Englishman whose family are prepared to pay him to not to come home |
|
| rhino |
Money (real money, not the cockies' 'shinplasters'!) |
|
| ridgy-didge |
Original, genuine |
|
| right |
Okay ("she'll be right, mate") |
|
| ring-in |
Impostor, unauthorised |
|
| ringer |
Fastest sheep shearer |
|
| ringer (Queensland) |
Stockman, cattle drover (required to "ring, mill & circle cattle") |
|
| ripper |
Great, fantastic |
|
| road train |
Big truck with many trailers |
|
| roly-poly |
Australian tumbleweed |
(roley-poley, rolly-polly) |
| roo |
Kangaroo |
|
| roo bar |
Metal frame on front of vehicles to protect against kangaroo strikes |
|
| root |
Have sexual intercourse |
|
| rooted |
Tired |
|
| ropable |
Very ill-tempered or angry |
|
| rotten |
Drunk ("I went out last night and got rotten") |
|
| rouseabout, rousie |
General stationhand / non-shearing shed-hand |
|
| RS |
Lousy (rat shit) |
|
| rubbish |
To criticize or tease |
|
| rug up |
Dress for warmth |
|
| rum cull |
Rich fool, an easy mark |
17/18th c. London street slang |
| run |
A station - a large country agricultural property |
|
| ryebuck |
Genuine, fair dinkum |
|
| sack |
To dismiss from a job |
|
| sack |
Bed: "Hit the sack" = go to bed |
Also (usually a sleeping bag) "fart sack" |
| safe |
Storage box/cupboard for food |
See also Coolgardie safe |
| salute, aussie |
Brushing flies away |
|
| salvo |
Member of the Salvation Army |
|
| sandgroper |
Resident of Western Australia; sand-burrowing desert insect |
|
| sanger |
A sandwich |
|
| Sawbees |
Brand of hand-shears used for shearing sheep |
Spelling? |
| scallops |
Fried potato cakes (Queensland and New South Wales), shellfish (elsewhere) |
The shellfish often distinguished as "Tasmanian" scallops" … except in Tasmania or Victoria |
| scheme |
System or method (no negative connotation) |
Or project … I worked on the Snowy Mts Scheme in the '60s |
| school |
Group of drinkers, each of whom buys a round |
|
| schooner |
Large beer glass (New South Wales, South Australia) |
|
| scratchy |
Instant lottery ticket |
|
| screamer |
Party lover; "two pot screamer" - somebody who gets drunk on very little alcohol |
|
| scrub |
Can be the same as the bush or it can mean areas in the country without many tall trees |
|
| sea wasp |
Deadly box jellyfish |
|
| sealed road |
Surfaced road |
|
| see you in the soup |
See you around |
|
| selector |
Farmer who was able to freely choose a small parcel of Government land |
|
| semitrailer |
Articulated truck |
|
| septic |
Disparaging term for an American ("septic tank" rhymes with "Yank") |
|
| servo |
Petrol station |
|
| session |
Lengthy period of heavy drinking |
|
| SFA |
Sweet Fuck All, precious little |
Actually started as Sweet Fanny Adams: Frances Adams, murdered and chopped up, c. 1870 (RN term for canned meat!) |
| shark biscuit |
Somebody new to surfing |
|
| she'll be right! |
Everything will be fine! |
|
| she-oak |
Tree (wood of which) vaguely resembling a European oak, the 'she' meaning inferi |
Dead right - but don't try to explain that to a feminist ... |
| shed |
Shearing shed - major structure on large wool property |
Rung the shed', means shearing top tally for that property, that season |
| sheila |
Female or woman |
|
| shellacking |
Complete defeat |
|
| shinplasters |
Cheque for wages (surreptiously baked to make paper brittle) . |
Workers often wrapped them around their ankles, under their socks, to keep them moist and intact |
| shirty |
To get upset or angry |
|
| shivoo |
Rowdy party (archaic) |
|
| shonky |
Unreliable |
|
| shoot through |
To leave or disappear in a hurry |
|
| shout |
Turn to buy - a round of drinks usually ("it's your shout") |
|
| shove off! |
Go away! |
|
| sickie |
Day off work ill, or malingering |
|
| silk shirt on a pig |
Something wasted |
|
| silvertail |
Well off, usually English, settler (European silvertail pigeon, contrasted with |
|
| sink the boot |
Go in hard |
|
| skint |
Broke |
|
| skite |
Boast, brag |
|
| sky pilot |
Minister, bush missionary (early 20th c.) |
|
| slab |
24 cans (tinnies) of beer, shrink-wrapped as a unit |
|
| sleepout |
House verandah converted to a bedroom |
|
| slog |
Hard work |
|
| smoko |
Smoke or tea break |
|
| snag |
Sausage |
|
| snagger |
Inexpert, slow or worn out shearer |
|
| sook |
Person or animal who is soft, tame, inoffensive |
|
| spag bol |
Spaghetti bolognese |
|
| sparrow-fart |
Dawn, first light |
|
| spider (19th c.) |
Brandy mixed with lemonade |
|
| spider (20th c.) |
Aerated soft drink plus ice cream (~ US 'soda'?) |
NOT Sydney - lime soft drink + ice cream = 'Ice cream, lime & soda', no other spiders served |
| spieler |
Carnival spruiker - con artist - swindler |
(Originally a US term) |
| spit the dummy |
Get very upset at something |
|
| sport |
More general way to refer to someone rather than a mate |
|
| sprung |
Caught doing something wrong |
|
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