  | I love, that's LOVE, the English language - so much sheer vocabulary, delightful irregularities, variety and nuance; and then there are all the regional versions in the wide spread of English-speaking countries around the world. Down here, that's "down under" here, we have our own little quirks: Australian words and phrases that a visitor from another English-speaking land hears and says, "WTF does that mean?!!!" Of course, all our cousins around the globe have their own gems, but here are some Aussie colloquialisms as used in the Harry novels, Harry's World and Harry's Quest. These all appear in the "Glossary" section in both books, but I've culled the lists to leave the particularly Aussie stuff. I concede a few may also be colloquial elsewhere. And some of them are definitely local police slang. Enjoy. arvo - afternoon baccy - tobacco Baygon - brand of insecticide bewdy - a beautiful thing biffo - fist-fight, punch-up binos - binoculars bogan - red-neck, rough-neck Brizzie - Brisbane (capital of Queensland, an Australian state) brumby - wild horse bush (the) - the Australian countryside chicken - child victim (paedophile slang) circle work - doing 360 degree burn-outs in a car D / demon -slang for ‘detective’ deli - delicatessen (corner store, convenience store) dero - tramp, itinerant dinkum - the real thing, genuine doona - duvet, Continental quilt doss house - lodging house, somewhere to sleep dossing - lodging, crashing somewhere to sleep doughnuts - see ‘circle work’ drum - information dunny - toilet eckys - ecstasy tablets (the drug MDMA) fair suck of the sav - fair go, fair chance Feds - Australian Federal Police gat - handgun GDs - general duties (uniformed police) good sort - attractive girl or woman grog - alcohol hammer - heroin job (in the) - in the police force klicks - kilometres Malachi Crunch - sexual position sandwiching a female between two males MO - modus operandi(method of operation) moolah - money, cash ped - paedophile pineapples - Australian $50 notes (yellow in colour) piss - alcohol Plastic Fantastics - derogatory term for the Australian Federal Police, used by the state police forces pom - English person Port Jackson - the first historic name of Sydney P-plate - the “P” sign provisional drivers must attach to their cars recce - reconnaissance rego (plate) - registration number/plate (of a car) rock spider - paedophile, child molester ‘roger’ (in dialogue) - police jargon for ‘affirmative’, usually used over the police radio roger (to) - to have sexual intercourse (originally English slang) root - sexual intercourse rort - trick, deception rorter - someone who pulls off a rort rubbernecking - bystander watching behaviour at a scene sav - short for ‘sauvignon’, in wine terms schooner - a beer glass (in NSW 425ml, or 15oz) shadowing - following, as in surveillance sheila - girl, woman shout - a round of drinks at a bar / to buy a shout skippy - slang term used by immigrants to Australia to refer to Australians (from the TV show about a kangaroo called “Skippy”) sledging - throwing insults Special Constable - armed officer with limited police powers assigned to protection duties stubby - a 375 ml bottle of beer super - short for ‘superannuation’, an Australian pension system thunder-box - an outdoor toilet town bike - promiscuous girl or woman tradie - tradesman true blue - genuine Cheers, ABP |
I love the English language - here are some Australian colloquialisms from the Harry novels!25/2/2019
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