Comment by toomanybeersies | Hacker News Reader

Comment by toomanybeersies | Hacker News Reader

toomanybeersies

I'd love to see one of these for Australian English, although I don't think it would be possible. Aussies have a love of metaphor a simile that's unmatched in any other dialect of English, especially if you hang out with bogans (basically Australian Rednecks, for lack of a better description). It's basically the opposite of America, where instead of trying to be excessively polite, we try to be excessively offensive. The other habits of Australians are to shorten words down and add an "O" to the end, and to swear excessively.

Here's a couple of my favourites:

"Not here to fuck spiders" => Not here to waste time

"Mad as a cut snake" => Very angry

"Busier than a one armed brickie in Baghdad" => Very busy (a brickie is a bricklayer)

"Built like a brick shithouse" => A large, muscular man

"Crack the shits" => get annoyed

"Dog act" => something done to a friend that's uncalled for, e.g. skipping your round at the pub

"Stitch up" => A scam or a trick

"Sick cunt" => An outstanding person

"Old mate" => Someone who's not your friend

"Smoko" => Morning break at work

"Misso" => Girlfriend (short for missus)

"Ambo" => Paramedic (short for ambulance)

"Servo" => Service Station (gas station for Americans)

"Seppo" => American

"Pokies" => Poker machines

"Yeah nah" => either yes, or no, depending on context. Can also be used as filler in a sentence.

This leads to beautiful sentences, such as:

"Yeah nah, the misso cracked the shits at me 'cause I spent the whole arvo at the pokies"

Here's a decent sized list of Aussie slang: https://nomadsworld.com/aussie-slang/

"Seppo" => American

Seems related to the cockney rhyming slang:

Septic tank = Yank

http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/septic_tank

It is. Also as a Brit I love calling American's "Septics".

To clarify the "yeah, nah". It often depends on the order, e.g:

"Want to go out tonight?" "Yeah nah let's stay home." ('nah' last = no)

"Should we leave now?" "Nah yeah let's go." ('yeah' last = yes).

Sometimes "yeah nah" by itself said strongly can be synonymous with "no way". Sometimes "nah yeah" said strongly can be synonymous with "hell yeah".

Australian is the best dialect of English.

And for extra points explain the addition of “but” as a sentence final. Maybe it reverses the meaning of what proceeded it, maybe it is just a full stop.

“Nah yeah but.”

As an American living in Australia this one took me a while. Just substitute “though” for “but” and you’ll have the meaning.

“You don’t look tired.” “I feel tired but.”

For a long time I just kept waiting for the rest of the sentence. “You feel tired but....but what?”

All of these strike me as being very similar to Southern American phrases.

"Cuter than a bug's ear", "Madder than a stuck pig", "Don't piss on my shoes and tell me its raining" etc are all examples of sayings that sound very similar from the South.

For full context of "Smoko" see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc

Looks like a third of the country has watched that video. The others were all on smoko.

“Not bad” - something is pretty good, or at least better than expected. Had to laugh when I saw that phrase on the linked page.

“Not bad at all” - something is really good

“Munted” - trashed or unserviceable

"Built like a brick shithouse"

Interestingly this has a different meaning in the US, and explains the Commodores 'Brick House'[1]

"Busier than a one armed brickie in Baghdad"

At the risk of over analysing, I wouldn't employ a one armed brickie, unless he were cheap ofcourse.

[1] https://www.idioms.online/built-like-a-brick-shithouse

> "Old mate" => Someone who's not your friend

Yeah, I dunno about that. I reckon "old mate" refers to someone you don't know particularly well, rather than someone who specifically isn't your friend. Synonym with "bloke".

Often used as a slight pejorative, especially if you can’t immediately recall old mate’s name.

This is correct. "Old mate at the servo blew a plugga" - some guy at the gas station broke his flip flops

There's a rich vein of terms for occupations where Ambo comes from: Brickie, Sparkie, Chippie, Truckie, Garbo, Cabbie, Firie, Cockie...

Ambo has made its way over to the UK and is slowly starting to spread. There's not much use among the public yet. Usage tends to be by commissioners and providers.

Where I'm from -- Northern California, USA -- "built like a brick shithouse" was used frequently, and exclusively, to describe very sexy females. It had nothing to do with muscularity per se, and would never have been used to describe a man, not even in jest.

At least, in the 80's it was thus.

From southern Pennsylvania, in the 90s-00s, I've heard it used for both men and women. If you forced me to subtitute another phrase, I'd probably say "well-built." (Edit: maybe "better-built than the average")

For men, (to me) it means that they're big, strong, and muscular.

For women, (to me) it means that they're whatever kind of woman the speaker prefers.

So, as a kid, Arnold, Sly, and Hulk Hogan were all built like brick shithouses. But so was Cindy Crawford.

There's also a little thing Aussies employ called sarcasm that often goes through to the keeper.

Love these.

Also, don't forget to watch the five "How to Talk Australians" clips on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHQRZXM-4xI

Hilarious

It should be pointed out that the word 'Seppo' meaning American comes from the rhyming slang of a septic tank rhyming with 'yank', and then seppo being the shortened form of septic tank.

Very good list, I hear my dad's voice when I read these.

My goodness. That’s why one really has to love you Aussies!

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