Daily Archives: July 28, 2010

So you want to sound like an Ozzie, yeah?

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Then try this lingo!

Petrol= instead of Gasoline because “Cars don’t run on Gas!”

AirCon= Air Conditioning

Bogen= for trashy, loud people aka rednecks

Singlet= Tank Top

Thongs= Flip Flops

Budgie Smuggler =Male Speedo

    • The Budgie Smuggler is way HOt

Rangers =Red Haired people- short for orangutan. Calling them this can be a joke or an insult

Spotto= When you see a red head and punch someone -like punch buggy

Ute= short for a sports utility vehicle

Hey and Eh= like the Canadians

Roo Bar= Bar on Car to prevent Kangaroos from busting through the window when they get run over

Bloke= Guys

Fair Enough=Okay, Good

True= similar to Fair Enough above

Heaps = A lot, really: i.e. my hair is heaps wet

Chips= French Fries

Derro =Short for Derelict – is those wannabe gangstas, the hobos

Gimp = Someone (Guy) with a limp

Rubbish Bin= Trash Can

Adidas= said like Add-e-das than A-did-das

Brekky=breakfast

Hungry Jack= Burger King (why they changed the name is a mystery)

H = pronounced like hach

Z = pronounce like zed. So its a Zeb-bra and not a Zee-bra.

Push bike or treadly = bicycle

Stingers= jelly fish

Mozzies= Mosquitoes

Good on you= great job!

Op shop= opportunity/secondhand shop

Full on= intense/ hardcore    i.e. “This class is going to be FULL ON!”

Footy Show= Australian Football show/ comedy show.

Grey Nomads= Older people who come over to OZ and travel around the country.

Hen/ Buck Nights= Bachelorette/ Bachelor party

Fairy Bread= for little kids  parties. White bread with butter on both sides and covered in Sprinkles.

Chemist = Pharmacy

Off their trolley= completely drunk

Sunnies= Sunglasses

“How you going?” more popular than G’day among the younger generations. Is their version of “What’s up/ How’s it going?”

Megan is pronounced like (Mee-gan not, Meg-gan) and they would never shorten that name to “Meg”

Shire Skank= A loose woman from the Shire, a Suburb of Sydney, well known throughout Australia.

 

And just in case you wanted to know some Kiwi lingo:

Say “Shape” if you want to talk about Sheep.

Sheep Shagger= someone who has sex with sheep.

Choice Bro= good idea.

Sweet As= Sweet as anything or sounds great!

Reflections on OZ part 2

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5) Whenever I tell people I am from the US, more specifically from Washington D.C., whether these people be Kiwis, Aussies, Canucks etc, they always refer to as me being from Washington. However, whenever they say that I think of Washington state not D.C. So I ask them why they always say that and apparently it’s just how they know it. Well if it works for them and if they know roughly where it’s located that’s okay.

I myself never knew Canberra was the capital of OZ until a few weeks after I got here, but now that I know I can definitely put it on a map!


6) People driving on the other side of the road- When I first got to NZ and stepped out the airport and looked at how the cars were set up, the first thing I thought was “Weird”. But after 18 days in New Zealand I got pretty used to it. Still, there are times when I’m walking in a parking lot, for example, and a car is coming towards me so I instinctively move to the right because I think they will also go the right. However, they are going to the left so I just end up in their way. The same also happens when walking on a path with people coming in the opposite direction. Hopefully, I will adjust to staying on the left side soon!

It’s ironic how long it took me to get used to the left side and just when I did, I had to come back to the right. The right side of the road threw me off for a bit and seemed strange, but now it’s almost back to normal (I wrote more but it got deleted THREE times, so if you want to hear more about this, just ask me!)

7) People’s view on Americans. I met a lot of Canadians and Aussies on my NZ  tour and many of the them told me something along the lines of being “one of the good Americans” aka not the Loud and Stereotypical Americans they have met/ expected. Also on my tour was a girl from NY who had a loud voice, smacked her gum incessantly and was generally an obnoxious party girl. Clearly, I was a much more appealing American than her (except for the manwhore guys on my trip who just looooved her!)

The opinion about Americans still varies drastically depending on who you talk to. I’ve had people tell me to my face that “Everybody in the whole world doesn’t like Americans because they think you are stupid. True Fact.” and that “You are a typical American… loud, self centered, only cares about herself.”

Now I obviously don’t hold much value in these judgments given that the first was from a drunk Norwegian Uni Student who is ridiculously pompous and I hadn’t met a single person who knew him and didn’t recognize that. The second was my roommate who was angry because I didn’t want to go out with him.

I heard some nice things about us, including from a very sweet South Korean High School boy I met on my plane back from LA who told me that “I think… American girls are…. a lot prettier than Korean girls” as he looked over at me from behind his thick framed glasses. Overall, its all about who you talk to and how absorbed they are in themselves and their culture.

Reflections on OZ

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I was meaning to post this while in Australia but apparently forgot about it. These are from the early days in OZ with my new thoughts in BOLD

1) The Money looks like Monopoly money. The notes are smaller than American bills and for some reason the 50 and 100 dollar bills, even though they are different colors than the 5,10, and 20 notes are longer.

Also, the coins are really strange. There’s a 50 cent coin that is huge, and is dodecahedronal (12 sided) and this is so much bigger than the 1 dollar coin and the 2 dollar coin. I really don’t understand why the 2 dollar coin is smaller than both the 50 cent coin and and 1 dollar coin, because I would assume it would be bigger because it’s worth more. Although, I suppose size doesn’t always reflect worth.

OZ coins (notes the first two coins displayed are no longer in circulation)

I have to say that after returning to America, it took me a few days to get used to the money. I believe I have mentioned this before in a post, but I couldn’t believe how small are coins are to the OZ ones. Even their 20 cent coin is bigger than our 25 cent! Now I am used to it, but wanting our money to become more colorful! Psh green. Oh and Pennies which I once claimed were awesome: no they are just a pain. I am now for abolishing pennies in favor or rounding to the closest 5 cents.

2) The toilets, both here and in NZ have a 2 button flush system. The first is a half flush, just for pee and the second button is a full flush for poop. This makes a lot of sense to change the water pressure based on what you are flushing and I wonder if America will pick it up one day. It certainly conserves water!

3) Vegemite: Half of the Aussies I’ve talked to love it, the other half hate it. I have yet to try it (hopefully will try it sometime this week) but most Aussies agree that I will hate it.

I tried Vegemite and it was a mistake! So disgusting. The thought of it now makes me gag. Whatever you do, if you ever try this nasty product, do not try it on a sailboat you will remain on for over 24 hours. You will regret this moment if you do.

4) During my first couple of days in Australia, I had two different people tell me they thought I was Irish because I have an “Irish Accent”. No idea where this is coming from, except when I was talking to these people I had a bit of a cold so my voice sounded off. But Irish? I think not.

I also towards the end started getting a lot of people thinking I was from Canada instead of US, which I encouraged because its fun to pretend you are from another country!