Strewth! Scott Morrison confuses Donald Trump with Aussie slang

It’s a fact known the world over that Aussies like to abbreviate words, with some of the nation’s most popular slang terms regularly confusing visitors from overseas when they’re asked where the nearest ‘servo’ is or whenever the ‘fireys’ are mentioned on the news.

And it seems it doesn’t matter whether you’re a backpacker or a major world leader, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed that US President Donald Trump was left confused by his use of colloquialisms following their first chat as counterparts.

ScoMo told Sydney FM radio hosts Fitzy and Wippa that people outside of Straya struggle to get to grips with Australian slang, according to The Australian, revealing that Trump couldn’t understand his use of words like “numpty”.

Asked if he’d called the president a numpty, Morrison replied: “No, I didn’t call him a numpty, I said I was a ‘rubbish golfer’ and he thought that meant I was a good golfer.”

“So I had to explain that no, Joe Hockey is a good golfer,” he added. “I am a rubbish golfer and that means not very good. There’s a few things like that, so I’ve just got to be a bit careful.

“I called one of the foreign finance ministers when I was chatting to the leaders and I said: ‘Yeah he’s a really big unit’, so he’s now known as the ‘big unit’ over there.”

Morrison, who took over from Malcolm Turnbull at the end of last month following a second leadership spill in the Liberal party room, also told the radio presenters that he still forgets that he has landed the top job from time to time.

“For the first few weeks I kept looking around to see who they were talking to,” he said.

“In Question Time when they put questions to the Treasurer, I almost stand up every time. Then Josh (Frydenberg) reminds me that it’s him. But apart from that, no. Look, you feel the responsibility, I’ve got to say, very quickly.

“You’ve got to step up. That’s what you have to do. It was a very, I know, it was a pretty confusing, bewildering, strange set of things that happened several weeks ago. It was to me too, but in that situation, people called on you and you step up and that’s what you’ve got to do, just like (Cronulla Sharks player) Jayson Bukuya is going to do tonight.”

Do you use Aussie slang words often? Has anyone ever struggled to understand what you were saying?