Aussie lingo

T and I were talking the other day about all the different phrases we've heard here. As you'd expect, there are a lot of funny/strange Australian phrases used in everyday conversation. And I have to admit, sometimes they go right over my head and I have no idea what's being said. Most of the time, though, it's just different words or abbreviations, so I can usually figure it out by context. I'm getting better about remembering the words that are different in Aussie-speak and can occasionally throw them into a conversation!

One thing that's quite clear is that "shrimp on the barbie" is NOT something an Australian would say. "Shrimp" is always "prawn" here, and by the way, they eat a lot of prawns!

Here are some other words/phrases we've picked up on:

• How are you going? - This is just like saying "How's it going" or "How are you?" But this especially threw me since the first time I heard it, I was actually walking somewhere. So I wanted to answer that I was going by walking; luckily, I picked up on the context and just ambiguously answered "Hey, how are you?"
• Fine & ordinary - These are answers to "How are you going?" that actually mean the exact opposite. People say it's a fine or ordinary day when it's a bad day. It's kind of confusing, but Toby says he understands how when someone says they're fine it can mean something terrible. Must be a husband thing!
• The typical English influences - We hear the usual like "lift," "rubbish," "bin," "biscuit," etc., but interestingly, they are quite interchangeable with the American English terms. So I hear "elevator" just as often as "lift," and I haven't quite worked out why these terms co-exist so well. On the other hand, it's always "pram" and never "stroller," "holiday" for "vacation," and "jumper" for "sweater." People also drink a lot of tea here, so I hear "cuppa" now and then.
• Crook - Means you're under the weather. For example, "I was feeling crook, so I stayed home." You can imagine my confusion the first time someone at work said he was about to leave because he was crook!
• Arvo - The first time I saw this I thought it was a horrid typo. However, I should have known it was yet another crazy Australian abbreviation, this one meaning "afternoon." They abbreviate everything here: brekkie (breakfast), bevvy (beverage), vego (vegetarian), sunnies (sunglasses), aircon (air conditioner), uni (university - never "college!"), Chrissie (Christmas), and on and on it goes. Sometimes I feel like people make words up on the fly just to be confusing.
• Ta - Means "thanks" and seems to be interchangeable with "cheers."
• Partner - This means whoever you're seeing, living with, or married to, and not in the way Americans use "partner" to identify people in a homosexual relationship. So instead of asking whether you're married or dating, people just ask if you have a partner, or what your partner's name is, etc. I kind of like it because it's a more general, less prying way to find out about a person. But it definitely threw me the first few times people asked if a partner came with me when I moved here. I thought I was putting off some strange vibes or something!

Oh, and guys do call each other "mate" just as often as you might think! It's quite charming.I'm sure I've learned some others and just can't remember them. But generally, I feel an enormous amount of pride when I can finish a conversation with an Aussie without having had to ask them to repeat something. =)

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