Australian colloquialism

1
Australian colloquialism
2
The colloquialism

• The term 'slang describes a characteristic of
  speech (or writing) where a speaker (or writer)
  feels free to express themselves informally and
  often outside the confines of correct grammar or
  social niceties. These expressions are usually
  cheeky, personal and amusing.
• A significant proportion of slang refers to
  vulgar or 'taboo' concepts and events. But not
  all humorous or memorable phrases can be
  classified as slang it is important to consider
  how frequent and widespread the use and
  recognition of the term is among the general
  population.

3
Colloquialisms in dictionaries and language
guides

• Examples of slang are usually found in everyday
  speech, however, they are also collected from the
  radio, television, newspapers, books and
  advertising.There are a number of dictionaries
  devoted to documenting both past and present
  Australian colloquialisms.

4
The Australian idiom

• Linguists and other cultural theorists value the
  study of Australian colloquialisms as a way of
  observing how the Australian character has
  developed through language. For example, 'having
  a bash' at something is similar to 'giving it a
  burl', and both phrases reflect a history of
  Australian improvisation and hard work. 'Don't
  come the raw prawn' began its life as slang used
  by Australian service personnel in World War II,
  and is still used to warn off someone when they
  attempt to impose their will.
• Sydney Baker, author of a number of important
  20th century works about slang, believed that the
  Australian's 'greatest talent is for idiomatic
  invention. It is a manifestation of our vitality
  and restless imagination'.
• The Australian fondness for continually adapting
  English through shortening, substituting and
  combining words contributes to a vocabulary that
  most Australians understand, and what could be
  called the Australian 'idiom' or 'vernacular'.

5
Substitutions, abbreviations and comparisons

• Colloquialisms can be incorporated into language
  in a number of ways the most common of which are
  substitution and comparison. A common form of
  substitution is when rhyming slang removes one
  part of a phrase and replaces it with a word that
  rhymes, for example to 'have a Captain Cook'
  means to have a look.
• Substitution could also include a 'metaphor',
  where one word or idea stands in for another.
  There is no town in Australia called 'Woop Woop',
  however it has been a popular and evocative
  byword for a backward and remote location, and
  has been in use throughout the 20th century.
• Colloquialisms that take the form of a comparison
  often raise startling images, for example 'flat
  out like a lizard drinking' (working very hard on
  a task) or 'standing like a bandicoot on a burnt
  ridge' (feeling lonely and vulnerable). Dazed and
  confused, someone will wander 'like a stunned
  mullet' in a furious rage, they will be 'mad as
  a cut snake' and in a state of undeniable
  lifelessness they will be 'dead as a maggot'.
• Australians also demonstrate a strong impulse to
  abbreviate and alter word endings, resulting in
  'barbie' for barbecue, 'arvo' for afternoon,
  'cossie' for swimming

6
Convict sources

• Following the settlement of Australia as a
  British penal colony, the language that emerged
  reflected the distinct conditions of settlement,
  authority and punishment.
• Author Amanda Laugesen, in her book Convict
  Words Language in Early Colonial Australia,
  explains how a 'pure Merino' was a sly way of
  describing settlers 'who pride themselves on
  being of the purest blood in the Colony'.
• In another example, Laugesen explains how
  ex-convicts who took up airs and graces on their
  release were dismissed as 'felon-swells' or
  'legitimate exquisites'.
• Many of these historically specific terms have
  now disappeared from common usage. For example,
  the word 'pebble' once referred to a convict who
  was difficult to deal with and had the hard
  qualities of stone. A 'paper man' was a convict
  who had been granted their documents proving a
  conditional pardon. 'Magpies' and 'canaries' were
  not only birds they also were words that
  described the black and yellow, or straight
  yellow uniforms worn by convicts.
• However, there are cases of words emerging from
  the convict underworld, enduring through history
  and remaining peppered through the conversation
  of Australians today. The term 'swag', which once
  referred to the booty stolen by a thief, has
  become a way of describing a valued bundle of
  items carried by a traveller. The well-known
  Australian song Waltzing Matilda has helped to
  cement this term in the popular imagination

7
Aboriginal languages

• One of the most important influences on
  Australian English has been Aboriginal languages.
  There are a number of Aboriginal words that have
  been adopted colloquially within Australian
  English, for example 'boomerang', ' humpy' or
  'corroboree'.
• Other hybrid words have emerged through a
  'pidgin' or early adaptation of English words to
  describe aspects of Aboriginal life. The phrase
  'gone walkabout' was originally used in the early
  19th century to describe the migratory movement
  of Aboriginals across Australia. Now it is used
  in a more general, and sometimes inaccurate, way
  to describe a journey away from home. Australian
  newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald even reported
  in 1981 that 'Lady Diana takes a Royal walkabout
  in her stride' (25 July 1981, p.10).

8
Gentle Insults

• A significant number of Australian colloquialisms
  are affectionate insults or backhanded
  compliments. A clumsy friend or colleague may be
  called a 'dag', 'galah', 'drongo' or 'boofhead'.
  There are also many ways of saying that someone
  is not very useful, for example
• 'couldn't find a grand piano in a one-roomed
  house'
• 'couldn't blow the froth off a glass of beer'
• 'a chop short of a barbie'
• 'useless as an ashtray on a motorbike'.

9
Perverse reversals

• Albert Tucker, Max Harris Joy Hester, Tarax
  Bar, Flinders Station, Melbourne, c. 1943,
  photograph gelatin silver. Image courtesy of
  National Library of Australia.
• As writer, poet and member of the modernist
  literary and artistic movement the Angry
  Penguins, Max Harris points out in his book The
  Australian Way with Words , 'one of the
  Australian ratbag traditions is to take a word
  and perversely use it as the opposite of its
  intended meaning.' A well-known illustration of
  this is the word 'bluey', a nickname for someone
  with red hair.

10
Nicknames describing Australian States

• In the spirit of friendly rivalry, Australian
  states and territories are identified through
  nicknames. For example, Queensland, where the
  northern climate encourages tropical fruit
  growing, is the land of 'banana benders', and
  Western Australia, home to some of Australia's
  most magnificent beaches, is populated by
  'Sandgropers'. Some terms are less established,
  for example Victorians were once called
  'gum-suckers' when the resin from gum trees (type
  of Australian tree also known as a Eucalypt) was
  used as an early substitute for chewing gum.

11
Lost phrases

• It is important to remember that a key feature of
  colloquialisms, slang or 'Australianisms' are
  that they are never static and often shift
  meaning or spelling over time. Inevitably,
  Australian English is constantly shedding
  colloquial phrases.
• It is unlikely that someone will ask you to share
  a 'puftaloon' (a fried scone) at a 'shivoo'
  (party). Even in the colder, southern regions of
  Australia, it is rare to hear the phrase 'cold as
  a polar bear's bum'. However, browsing through
  current and historical dictionaries can offer a
  fascinating map reflecting the changing economic,
  political and cultural influences in Australian
  society.