Wednesday, January 3, 2007

And all this time, I thought they spoke English!

This is kind of a neat article; it talks about Australian words/expressions and how they originated.
It seems they have a whole other language down under-- things I've never even heard of. Before reading this article, I was pleased with myself for knowing "mate," "dingo," and "crikey," but now I'm convinced that if I ever actually traveled there, I would be utterly lost trying to figure out what the heck people were saying.

Here are some samples:
Dog's Eye = meat sandwich
Dinkum = genuine, true

Chunder in the dunny = Throw up in the toilet

Manchester = bed linen

Stoush with a larrikin = Fight with a troublemaker

Rorts = frauds, con tricks

Furphy = a rumor.


The article also says that Australia is changing its citizenship requirements; if you want to live there you will need to prove that you know the meanings to these unique words they use!

5 comments:

Desert Songbird said...

I feel pretty smart knowing "dinkum" -- the rest of them were new to me!

Schmoop said...

Same here...I knew dinkum, but the rest was Greek to me...er...Aussie.

Mo and The Purries said...

I knew vegamite, and that ain't even on there, blokes!

can you believe my sister is moving to Australia?
my nephews will be spouting from their dinkums and I'll have no idea wtf they're talkin' bout, willis!

Desert Songbird said...

So, Morgen, she actually got the job offer in Australia and is moving, huh? Interesting.

Now you need to save up your bucks and take a trip Down Under (and check out the hunky men Down Under, too!)

Mo and The Purries said...

DS: I always check out hunky men down under --- oh, wait, you meant in Australia!

;)