| Aussie Words |
Definitions |
Comments |
| 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 |
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| sandgroper |
Resident of Western Australia; sand-burrowing desert insect |
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| sanger |
A sandwich |
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| 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 |
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| screamer |
Party lover; "two pot screamer" - somebody who gets drunk on very little alcohol |
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| scrub |
Can be the same as the bush or it can mean areas in the country without many tall trees |
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| sea wasp |
Deadly box jellyfish |
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| sealed road |
Surfaced road |
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| see you in the soup |
See you around |
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| selector |
Farmer who was able to freely choose a small parcel of Government land |
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| semitrailer |
Articulated truck |
|
| septic |
Disparaging term for an American ("septic tank" rhymes with "Yank") |
|
| servo |
Petrol station |
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| 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 |
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| 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 |
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| 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! |
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| sickie |
Day off work ill, or malingering |
|
| silk shirt on a pig |
Something wasted |
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| silvertail |
Well off, usually English, settler (European silvertail pigeon, contrasted with |
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| sink the boot |
Go in hard |
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| skint |
Broke |
|
| skite |
Boast, brag |
|
| sky pilot |
Minister, bush missionary (early 20th c.) |
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| slab |
24 cans (tinnies) of beer, shrink-wrapped as a unit |
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| sleepout |
House verandah converted to a bedroom |
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| slog |
Hard work |
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| smoko |
Smoke or tea break |
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| snag |
Sausage |
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| snagger |
Inexpert, slow or worn out shearer |
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| sook |
Person or animal who is soft, tame, inoffensive |
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| 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 |
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| sprung |
Caught doing something wrong |
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| spunk |
A good looking person (of either sex) |
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| square |
Honest, respectable |
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| square face |
Gin (comes in square bottles) |
|
| square off |
Apologise and make reparations |
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| square up |
Prepare to fight (as in boxing) |
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| squatter |
Large landowner who originally occupied land as a tenant of the government |
|
| squattocracy |
Australian "old money" folk, who made their fortunes by being first on the scene |
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| stand |
Shearing position, shearing job |
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| station |
A big farm/grazing property |
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| sticky beak |
Nosy person |
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| stinger |
Deadly box jellyfish |
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| stockman |
Station hand (rural worker) herding cattle |
|
| stockwhip |
Plaited leather lash on a (usually) cane handle used by stockmen and drovers |
Plaiting and whipcraft are important Australian bush skills |
| stood |
Shouted, paid for as a gift |
|
| strewth! |
It's the truth! An exclamation, often of surprise |
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| strides |
Daks, trousers |
|
| strike a light! |
An exclamation, of surprise or as an intensifive |
|
| strine |
Australian slang and pronunciation |
(Or-strine = Australian … badly nasalised!) |
| stringybark |
Shaggy-barked eucalypt, its timber (proverbially tough) or its bark used as roof |
|
| stubby |
375 ml bottle of beer |
|
| stubby holder |
Polystyrene insulated holder for a stubby |
|
| stuff |
Money, the payment for a job |
(Capt. Of the Push / Cockies of Bungaree) |
| stuffed, I feel |
I'm tired |
|
| stuffed, I'll be |
Expression of surprise |
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| sunbake |
Sunbathe |
|
| sunnies |
Sunglasses |
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| surfies |
People who go surfing - usually more often than they go to work! |
|
| surfy |
Surfing fanatic |
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| swag |
Canvas-covered bedroll used in the outback or for camping (modern usage) |
Traditionally, a swagman's belongings wrapped in a blanket and carried over or around the shoulders |
| swaggie |
Swagman |
Confuses non-Australians, since swag means 'loot from a crime' … so, it was a convict colony … ? (It also means something rolled up.) |
| swagman |
Vagabond, rural tramp |
|
| swimmers |
Swimming costume (Queensland, Victoria) |
|
| t'other side |
The northern island (mainland Australia) to a Tasmanian |
Of course, they're 'down under down under …" |
| tack (hard) |
Work (hard) |
Trans. From sailor's 'hard tack' - tough, hard biscuit? |
| take away food |
Take-out food |
|
| tall poppies |
Achievers, often a disparaging term |
Tall poppy (syndrome)? |
| tally |
The number of shorn sheep attributed to individual shearers in a day |
Transf. - a good result |
| tank |
Dam or reservoir, as well as constructed water storage container |
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| tar |
Stockholm tar, applied as first aid to sheep cut during shearing |
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| tar boy |
Shearing shed hand patching up cut sheep |
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| tariff |
Rate |
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