What Aussie slang do you not understand?

Question

I am from australia and find it interesting when people from overseas cant understand us sometimes and wonder what we are talking about.

Answer 1

why is there something wrong with "mate"????!?!?!?!

people say bandmates and housemates

doesn't necessarily mean you sleep with them

Answer 2

I don't understand any of it-but I have nothing against Aussies.I don't understand Rab C Nesbitt either!!!

Answer 3

I'm Australian, but I'm guessing that our metaphors(?) are the things that confuse most other people (or maybe just weird them out, I don't know). Flat out like a lizard drinking. Dry as a dead dingo's donger. He's got a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock. But these are mostly stereotypical slang phrases that the majority of Aussies don't seem to use.

I think sometimes I say things without realising that it's Aussie slang, so I get rather confused when non-Australians are confused by it. :D

I've noticed America has weird names for bedding, like duvet and comforter. I don't know about you, but I call it a doona.

I think we also confuse them with our shortening of words and/or adding "o" on the end.

Zib; Lay off it, mate. :P We'll call our mates what we want to call them.

Answer 4

They call eachother "mate" isn't that a little animalistic? A mate is someone you sleep with so produce offspring. It's a little too harsh a word to use. How about friend or buddy?

Answer 5

I'm Australian, my partner is Scottish, and there are loads of things I say he finds odd. "Doona" instead of "duvet", he says it sounds like an Indian dish. "Googie" and "full as a goog" are weird things I picked up as a kid that he thinks is hilarious. They don't have "bogans" either.

I had an American friend who would launch into hysterics every time I shortened anything to have an O on the end, such as "arvo" (afternoon), "doco" (documentary), "vego" (vegetarian).

I find it is less the slang and more the references they don't understand. Something like "Not happy, Jan" will cause many a furrowed brow in the UK...