Celebrating The Things That Make Australia Unique
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AUSTRALIAN SLANG
Places
Aussies have a great sense of humour. When our American friend Sara came to visit us the first time, she asked where the bathroom was, being in need of the services there. David, our resident larrikin, replied, "down the hall and the first door on the left." She returned and again asked for the bathroom. He gave her the same directions. So she looked again.
Now desperate, Sara returned saying she couldn't find it. "Ah," David said with a grin on his face, "Do you want to wash your
Places >> page 1 page 2
| The Lucky Country | Australia (of course) |
| The Alice | Alice Springs, Northern Territory |
| The Gong | Wollongong, New South Wales |
| The Rock | Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock), Northern Territory |
| Top End | northern end of the Northern Territory |
| The 'G | short for the MCG, the Melbourne Cricket Ground |
| The 'Gabba | Woolongabba Cricket Ground |
| Coat Hanger | Sydney Harbour Bridge |
| Gold Coast | popular tourist area on the Queensland coast from Southport to Coolangatta |
| North Island | what Tasmanians call mainland Australia |
| Tassie | Tasmania |
| Sunshine State | Queensland (slogan "Beautiful one day, perfect the next") |
| Brizzie | Brisbane, capital of Queensland |
| Bris Vegas | Brisbane, capital of Queensland |
| Brisneyland | Brisbane, capital of Queensland |
| Ekka | annual Brisbane Exhibition show (state fair in USA) |
| City of Churches | Adelaide |
| City of Lights | Perth |
| Garden State | Victoria |
| Westralia | Western Australia |
| RSL | Returned & Services League. Social clubs for returned service personnel. People mistakenly refer to all Service Clubs and Memorial Clubs as RSL Clubs. Only clubs associated with the RSL should be called RSL Clubs. |
| Woolies | Woolworths Supermarket, also knitted woollen clothing |
| Chemist | drug store, pharmacy. Also person filling prescriptions. In the USA the place is called a pharmacy, while the person is called a pharmacist. |
| Doctor's Surgery | doctor's office |
hands or use the toilet?" Blushing Sara said, "the toilet", and he gave her directions to it.
Tip ... mouse over words in table willturn on highlighting
Yes, in Australia, the toilet and the bathroom are often in different places. And yes, he knew exactly what she wanted the first time she asked. As we said, Aussies have a great sense of humour . . . especially at the expense of our American friends.
Aussie town called Burpengary
Talking about names, care to guess how that town got its name? Makes you wonder if a bloke named Gary who burped a lot lived there.
The truth is that the name comes from Burpen-gar which means "the place of the green wattle tree."
Then there are these interesting names . . .
Banana Queensland is known for it's beef cattle but not bananas.
Orange New South Wales is a place where they grow lots of apples.
Eggs and Bacon Bay Tasmania, however, probably does serve a great brekky at the local cafes.
An then there's Boing Boing in the Northern Territory. The Aboriginal name means "mosquitoes buzzing". We'll take their word for it that they have lots of mozzies.
And if you're ever near Pyramid, Queensland (sorry, no pyramids), you might want to take a short trip to Mount Puffandwheeze just to say you've been there.
Fair dinkum mate. We don't make these things up.
