Monthly Archive for March, 2008

I wanted to document here all of the words and phrases that Australians use that either we don’t have or don’t use as often as they do. I need to do this right now, before these phrases become integrated into my vocabulary and I forget which ones were once new to me. I’m sure that I’ll get back to the states in July and people will look at me funny when I use these words. Everything on this list is something I’ve heard used in actual conversation.

Before doing that I need to correct a popular misconception. An Australian would never say “throw a shrimp on the barbie” because here the word for shrimp is “prawn.” I have yet to eat a single prawn since arriving here, but I’ve tried duck, kangaroo, and lamb, and liked all of them.

And without further ado, the list:

Letters:
‘z’ is pronounced ‘zed’
‘h’ is pronounced ‘haich’ (with a leading soft h sound)

Words:
mate – buddy, good friend
brekkie – breakfast
pissed – drunk
Macca’s – abbreviation for McDonald’s (similar to Mickey Dee’s, I suppose)
cheers – thanks
seedy – dirty
dodgy – sketchy
uni – short for university (which is what they call college here)
goon – really, really crappy wine (usually boxed)
seppo – American (derived from septic tank, which rhymes with yank)
pom – Brit
bloke – guy
keen – as in “I’m keen to hit up Macca’s right now”
jelly – Jello (Australians don’t do PB&J sandwiches)
kebab – kabob
gridiron – American football
footy – AFL (Aussie Rules Football)
Aussie – Australian (pronounced Ozzie)
bottler – liquor store
budgie smuggler – very skimpy bathing suit (speedo)
skull – chug (as in an alcoholic beverage)
grog – alcoholic beverage
middy – small size (285ml) beer glass
schooner – large size beer glass, similar to a pint
rubbish bin – trash can
toilet – bathroom
washing – laundry (as in “I need to do my washing today”)
washing powder – laundry detergent
sunnies – sunglasses
shrapnel – change, coins
notes – bills (as in “five dollar notes”)
tute – tutorial (similar to a recitation)
timetable – class schedule
bush – the outback
queue – line
Tazzy – Tasmania (Although, incidentally, I’ve started using it to refer to a person from Tasmania, not the actual country, as one of my good friends who lives right next to me is from Tasmania and I need a word to come back with when he calls me a seppo. It’s catching on.)

Phrases:
How’re you going? – How’s it going? (This one really bothers me, as it sounds like a combo between “How’re you doing” and “How’s it going” but it’s used quite often and I’m starting to get used to it.)
No worries – No problem
She’ll be right – Don’t worry about it
Good on ya – hard to define, but similar to “good job” or “nice”
Full stop – said after something to provide emphasis, such as “If I don’t get some food right now I’m going to pass out, full stop.”
Get on the piss – start drinking

I’ve already been in Australia for over a week, but haven’t yet written anything about the trip. This is somewhat due to the fact that I just got access to the internet a few days ago, but more because I haven’t had a spare moment in which to write! Our orientation leaders have kept us really busy with fun activities every moment of the day. So, over the next few days as classes get started and things settle down, I’ll try to catch up with a series of short posts. Be sure to check out Flickr to see more pictures than I have included here!

The four-leg flight to Australia took me from Burlington, through Chicago, San Francisco, Auckland, and finally to Sydney. The longest leg was San Francisco to Auckland, which took 12 and a half hours, but it was by far my favorite leg of the trip. We were on a spacious Boeing 747-200, which holds over 300 people, and has 67 rows and 3 columns of 3 seats each. The flight was operated by Air New Zealand. We were served wine with dinner and had on-demand entertainment in our seats including over 30 recent movies. I watched The Darjeeling Limited, Juno, and Ratatouille in between catching some zzz’s.

I arrived in Australia at 8:30 in the morning, feeling relaxed and refreshed after 30 hours of flying and 3 or 4 hours of sleep. In order to avoid jet lag, I knew that I couldn’t take a nap during the day, but it didn’t end up being too difficult, as the sun and the activities kept me awake. The first thing I wanted when I got off of the plane was a shower and a change of clothes, which felt heavenly.

Coogee Beach, from the orientation hotel roof

For the first three days, I stayed at a hotel in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney, with the 15 other Americans on my program. We were literally right on the beach, and coming from the 7ºF weather in Vermont it was heavenly to be in sunny, 70ºF Sydney. One thing you must be careful of here is UV exposure; I got burned the first day because I did not cover every part of my body. Sunscreen is a way of life in Sydney.

Our activities on the first day were just to get to know each other and the city. To do this, we took a bus tour. This would make one think of a boring trip spent listening to a tour guide drone on about ancient history, but our trip was nothing like that. We travelled in style on the open top of a party bus complete with beer and a dj spinning loud music. We drove all over the city and its suburbs, crossing the harbor bridge and getting many picturesque views of the harbor.

After this, we took a walking tour of the city, experiencing many of the downtown neighborhoods and parks. The best part of this was of course an up-close view of the Sydney Opera House, one of the world’s most recognizable buildings. The area surrounding it was vibrant; a skateboard competition was taking place on the steps and many people were having drinks at outdoor cafes or just hanging out near the harbor. We also took a ferry cruise around the harbor, which is not just meant for tourists, but is actually a valid mode of transportation around the various parts of the city.