I'm living in the northern suburbs of Sydney with a wonderful older couple whose children are grown and moved out. I work at a small company with four colleagues—an American, a New Zealander ("Kiwi"), an Englishman ("Pommie"), and one Australian. I go to school with college students from northern California, and I have one American and two Australian professors...
Alright. With those disclaimers out of the way, this is an ongoing list of the Aussie terms, idiomatic expressions, semantic distinctions, phrases, pronunciations, and conversations that I've actually encountered—quite regularly—while living in Sydney:
1. First of all, no one has called me "mate", ('cause I'm not anyone's mate here yet.)
2. Furthermore, I've only heard "g'day" once or twice.
3. I heard the word "crikey!" only on a really cheesy Australian film that we watched on the bus.
4. Folks certainly talk about the "barbie," but they would only throw "prawns" on it—not shrimp!
5. I am often casually called "doll," "love," "girly," and other endearing terms.
6. An Australian in my daily life is more likely to "pop in" later than she is to stop by.
7. My candies are "lollies" and my cookies are "bikkies"
8. I help myself to "breck-ie" each morning. If I'm running late I don't just get coffee, I get a "long-black", on my way to work or class.
9. "Footy" is Rugby, "Rugby" is Rugby, "Soccer" and "Football" are Soccer, "Grid-iron" is Football, and Aussie-Rules-Football is something else entirely. All are basically religion, as far as I can tell.
10. If you mess up at all, there's only response: "No worries."
Alright. With those disclaimers out of the way, this is an ongoing list of the Aussie terms, idiomatic expressions, semantic distinctions, phrases, pronunciations, and conversations that I've actually encountered—quite regularly—while living in Sydney:
1. First of all, no one has called me "mate", ('cause I'm not anyone's mate here yet.)
2. Furthermore, I've only heard "g'day" once or twice.
3. I heard the word "crikey!" only on a really cheesy Australian film that we watched on the bus.
4. Folks certainly talk about the "barbie," but they would only throw "prawns" on it—not shrimp!
5. I am often casually called "doll," "love," "girly," and other endearing terms.
6. An Australian in my daily life is more likely to "pop in" later than she is to stop by.
7. My candies are "lollies" and my cookies are "bikkies"
8. I help myself to "breck-ie" each morning. If I'm running late I don't just get coffee, I get a "long-black", on my way to work or class.
9. "Footy" is Rugby, "Rugby" is Rugby, "Soccer" and "Football" are Soccer, "Grid-iron" is Football, and Aussie-Rules-Football is something else entirely. All are basically religion, as far as I can tell.
10. If you mess up at all, there's only response: "No worries."
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