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I love the English language - here are some Australian colloquialisms from the Harry novels!

25/2/2019

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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


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