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Sunday, May 11, 2014

Australian Slang



For the past few months, I have been watching McLoud's Daughters on Netflix.  I don't have a lot of free viewing time but I watch it mostly on the weekends when I am working and such.  It is a great show - a drama that aired in Australia from 2001 - 2008.  It is about a ranch, Drover's Run and their neighbors that own the ranch Kilarney.  This series was when TV series were REAL TV series.  There were 8 seasons and each season had about 32 one-hour episodes so that is approx 250 hours of shows (which is why you can see that I have been watching for months).   At any rate.....

While watching the show, I have picked up some Australian terms and slang.

"Brumby" - a wild horse.
"I have been working hard all day training that brumby so I can sell it."

"Chook" - a chicken
"Look over there, a chook got out of its pen and is chasing that brumby"

"Cuppa" - a cup of hot tea
"I finally captured that chook and put it in the pen, let's sit down and chat over a cuppa"

"No Worries" - don't worry about it.  It wasn't a problem
"Thank you for the cuppa, it was just what I needed"
"No worries" 

"Petrol" - gasoline; fuel
"I'm running late because the ute was almost out of petrol"

"Reckon" - this word is used a lot in the southern United States too but much more in Australia.  It is generally asked as a question.
"I think we need to bring the horses in, looks like rain."
"Reckon?"  (meaning - hum...do you think so?)

It can also be used as a replacement for "think" (which is how we mostly use it in Georgia).
"I reckon I will bring the horses in before it rains"
"I reckon I will help you"

"Snap" - a sausage - like a hot dog.
"Does anyone want another snap before the barbie is over?"  (Barbie of course is a barbeque)

"Stuff / Stuffed" - to mess something up.
"I forgot to bring the horses in before it started raining. I really stuffed up"
"I dropped the plate of snaps, I didn't mean to stuff up the party"

"Ute" - type of truck or utility vehicle
"Help, I need to get the horses in and my ute is stuck in the mud!"
"I'll help you but I need to fill up my ute with petrol before I can tow you out"

I am sure there are others that I am forgetting but those are the ones I can think of at the moment.

Reckon I forgot any?

3 comments:

  1. LOVE THIS! McLeod's Daughters used to be one of my favourite shows, I live in Australia and I can tell you that I probably only use two of these!!

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    1. I just love the show and will be sad when I have finished it. I think it is so funny they use these words a lot and you only use a couple of them :) Maybe you have to work on a ranch in Gungellan to use all those words.

      I read that you can visit Kingsford Homestead - have you ever been there?

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  2. Haha. Those words are ao foreign. I've never heard any if them!

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