Truth be told, Australian English has little or no regard for propriety, preferring the direct; down-to-earth, the colourful and the profane. We were ’10 pound Poms’ 55 years ago. Born in United Kingdom, lived in Hong Kong and Germany and chose to emigrate here, the lucky country — Australia.
I loved the new Australian words, which I believed made Australia different. As in Japan, which is strictly for the Japanese. But millions visit to see and experience the difference.
It is sad then, that ‘sheilas and blokes’ from the 1960s and ’70s have become ‘you guys’. I don’t want Americanisms. I deliberately use good old Aussie words and sayings to keep the unique lingo alive. Albeit, I still have my Pommy accent.
We cruise regularly and often. We love to mix with cruisers from other overseas countries and spruick this lucky country. It is a delight to see their facial expressions when I tell a well-dressed lady that she “looks as flash as a rat with a gold tooth”. Invariably they will ask me to repeat it, then they repeat it as they wish to recall it when they get home. Dare to be different.
I enclose an alphabetical list of only a few of our wonderful words and phrases that probably don’t get justice in print, but if every proud Aussie started to use them in conversation, then we Aussies would be world renowned as being just that little bit different.
Adam’s ale … Aerial ping pong … Apples, she’ll be apples … At sparrow’s fart … Back ‘o Bourke … Banana bender … Bloody oath … Carry on like a pork chop … Checkout chick … Cop it sweet … Dead set … Dinky di … Dog’s breakfast … Fair and square … Flash as a rat with a gold tooth … Give it a whirl … Good tucker … Go crook … Hard yakka … In like Flynn … Joshing … Larrikin … Mad as a cut snake … Not for quids … Ridgy didge … Rough end of the pineapple … Shoot through … The good oil … Up the creek … You beauty!
Admittedly this many of these terms are likely to be considered ‘no longer PC’, but as our leaders the world over — and Ita Buttrose — are coming to realise, political correctness had gone too far. I’m proud to be Australian!