AUSSIE ENGLISH OR STRINE: OUR FUNNY EXPRESSIONS

Australia is a multi-cultural country with a rich variety of slang and colourful vernacular expressions from many different sources. Here are some that you might find in my books.

“Arse” = Rear end.
“Arvo” = Afternoon.

“Battler” = Someone who doggedly struggles to make a living against the odds.
“Barramundi” = An amazingly tasty Aussie fish.

“Big note” = Sums up Jamie perfectly. Someone who exaggerates his own achievements.
“Bingle” = Vb. Crash into–as in minor car accident. Also Noun. A dent or scratch.
“Bitzer/Bitza=A mixed breed of dog. Bitza this and bitzer that. A mongrel.
“Bottle” = “Lost his bottle”- i.e. his spine… as in spineless.
“Boot”= Trunk of car

“Bogan” = Someone who is boorish, uncultured and unsophisticated.
“Brissy” = Brisbane, Australian City (pronounced “Brizzy”).

“Buckley’s chance” = No prospect whatever.

“Cark it” = To die.
“Change-over time” = Sydney Cab shifts change at 3pm. It’s difficult to get a cab then.

“Chook” = A chicken.
“Chalk that one up” = Count it as a win.
“Chuck a wobbly” = Lose one’s temper, panic, tantrum, annoyance… whatever.
“Cockie/Cocky” = Cockatoo. Either an Australian bird (a cockatoo) or an Aussie farmer.
“Cobber” = Mate, pal.
“Cozzy/Cozzie/Cossie” = Swimwear.
“Crook” = No good, bad, Third Rate.

“Daggy” = Ugly, unfashionable. “Dag” = A nerd
“Daks” = trousers.
“Dinki-Di” = Quintessentially Australian. Authentic.
“Do a runner” = Leave, escape ASAP.
“Dobbing in” = Inform on, betray.

“Dog’s breakfast” = A shambles, chaotic, a bit of everything.

“Done like a dinner” = Completely and efficiently demolished.
“Dosh” = Cash/Money

“Drongo” = An idiot
“Dud” = Used as a verb–to trick, swindle or scam.

“Dunny” = A toilet

“Earbash” = To harangue. Earbasher = An obnoxious windbag.

“Esky” = A portable insulated food and wine container, popular at barbecues.

“Fair dinkum” = The Gospel truth.

Furfy = A rumour, a false report.

“Hang in there till the Bitter Lemon” = Stay until the very end.
“Hard Yakka” = Extremely tough work.
“Hoon” = Oaf. Hooligan.

“Journo” = Journalist.

“Jumbuck” = A sheep.

“King-Hit” = Sucker punch.
“Knackered” = worn out.

“Mates Rates” = Special price for friends.

Motza/motsa = A large sum of money.
“Musos/Muzos” = Musicians.

“Muster dog” = A dog, usually a Kelpie, trained to round-up livestock

‘No worries, mate” = Everything is okay.
“Naff” = Tacky (mostly UK English slang).

“Ocker” = An aggressively boorish Aussie male.

“Oz” = Australia, Australian.

“Paddo” = Padddington-a trendy Sydney Eastern Suburb
“Perving/perve” = Looking at someone lasciviously.

“Plonk” = Wine or alcohol of any kind, often of indifferent quality.
“Pom” or “Pommy” = Slang for an English person. Elliott talks about his former Pommy owner, Ian..
“Porkie/Porky” = Lie, untruth. Rhyming Slang “Pork Pie” = Lie
“Porkied” = lied. Rhyming slang Pork Pie/lie.

“Put a sock in it” = Shut up!

“Ripper” = Something terrific, admirable or excellent.

“Rort” = A scam, trick or fraud.
“RSL” = Returned & Services League. Local Club ran by Veteran’s Association

“SCG” = The Sydney Cricket Ground

“Sanger” = A sandwich.
“Schmackos” = Tasty dog treat.
“Seppo” = American. Rhyming slang “Septic Tank” = Yank.
“Sheila” = Girl.
“Shot through” = Departed briskly.

“Schmick” = Smart, stylish.
“Silly-Mid-Pisspots” = Drunken cricketers.

 Reference to Silly-Mid-Off, a cricket fielding position, suicidally close to the batsman.
“Sinking the slipper = Putting in the boot – kicking someone’s arse.

“Sickie” = A day’s sick leave when you’re not ill. Chuck a sickie.

“Snag” = A sausage, or banger. Elliott loves them!
“Smart Arse” = The guy or dog who thinks he knows everything! 
“Spruiking = Touting/scalping/scamming/swindling.
“Spunk” = Heart-throb
“Sticky Beak” = That thing that nosey people always do!

“Stubby” = A short, squat beer bottle.
“Swish/swisho” = Up market. Usually describes someone who isn’t,

but is still flaunting it as if they were.

“The Baggy green” =The Australian national team cricket cap.
“The Big A” = “He was given The Big A” ­­– He was summarily dismissed.
“The Full Welly” = Flat out! Everything! Reference to a full Wellington Boot.
“Through to the keeper” = We’ll just let that one go, without comment. Take no notice.
“Toot sweet” = Right now/straight away- bastardization of French “toute de suite” 
“Trick Cyclist” = Psychologist, whom Adriana consults about Elliott’s behaviour.

“Troppo – to go troppo” = To go crazy, wild, mental.
“Trizz up” = Make beautiful.
“Two-bob” = Cheap.

“Uey – chuck a uey” = An abrupt U-turn, which Jamie does in Three Dogs and a Wedding.

“Ute” = Abbreviation for utility truck – Pick-up truck

“VB” = Victorian Bitter – a popular brand of beer.

“Whinge” = Complain.
“Woop Woop” = Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, which is where Barrunyup Dog Pound is situated, and where Elliott spent some unwelcome time.

“Wrap your laughing gear ‘round that” = Your mouth is your “laughing gear”, so you are being encouraged to eat up!

“Yobbo” = A loudmouth larrikin.

“Zhooshed-up” = Beautified, accentuated.

All Books

Reality Barks

Reality Barks

Rescue dog faces the reality of his unusual new life.

It’s a humorous Australian rescue dog’s tell-all tale about how he becomes a celebrity and wins their love.

Wagging The Dog

Wagging The Dog

Rescue dog to the rescue!

Being a celebrity dog is sooo cool, thinks Elliott as Jamie leads him out at the Sydney Stadium with all the other TV animal stars

Three Dogs And A Wedding

Three Dogs and a Wedding

The best day to be Best Dog is Valentine’s Day.

Like all dogs, Elliott understands about love, and he’s already helped rescue Paul and Adriana’s romance, but it seems that Adman Jamie can only see the dollars.

Every Which Way But Home

NEW - OUT NOW!

Prequel to the MUTT TO MEGASTAR SERIES

Curious to know how Elliott (or Barney, as he was in his former life) ended up in Barranyup Dog Pound, way out west in Woop Woop?  For Sydneysiders, Woop Woop is their way of describing anywhere beyond where they are generally prepared to go. For Barney it was also a strange environment, where survival was a matter of life or death. Discover how he learns to deal with it in "Every Which Way But Home". It's the prequel to the Mutt to Megastar series.

Mutt To Megastar Box Set

Mutt To Megastar Boxset

A rescue dog’s funny story.

From Kit James, recognised for his humorous canine dialogue, comes a fun compilation of the first three books in the Mutt to Megastar Series.

Every Which Way But Home

Every Which Way But Home

 

Jolted from his cozy life when he accompanies his Boss, Ian, on an ill-fated trip, Barney is thrown into the unfamiliar world of Barranyup Dog Pound. Getting lost was his own fault – he's got nobody to blame but himself, as he admits. There's nothing worse for a dog than feeling sheepish! 

Now that he's been incarcerated, the smart-arse young mutt must use his wits and his 'smarts' to survive this hostile environment.

Stunned and disappointed that Ian doesn't show to take him home, Barney's got to deal with his new situation. Can he learn to use the system under the guidance of Charlie, an ancient scarred Blue Heeler who takes him under his paw?

Or will it be "Bye, bye Cruel World" with Doc Soper's needle?

And then ... will there be life and love in a new home after the dog pound? Find out how it all happens in Every Which Way But Home, the humorous, yet touching, prequel to the Mutt to Megastar series.

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Hamish's Love Match