Colloquial Expressions

[Andrew Fergus]

If I said :

"Gidday mate. Bring a plate to the barbie at the bach." or "Sweet as." or "Are you crook?"

have you any idea what I have asked you to do? And what's with the sweet and (apparent) slight on your character?

While colloquial expressions can be confusing I also think they are amusing. There is an interesting article from a "Pom's" perspective on "Kiwi" vocabulary here:
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/89/kiwi.html

The article will help you decipher the phrases at the top of this post.

Given this is an international community, it would be nice to hear about colloquial expressions from your country. So post a link, or post a phrase or two!

Cheers, Andrew

 

[SydneyGeek]

Yeah, "bring a plate" confused the hell out of us when we first moved to Oz. After turning up with an empty plate, we realised that we should have brought a plate OF FOOD.

I've always liked "a sandwich short of a picnic" myself...

Denis

 

[Richard Schollar]

After 15-odd years of watching Neighbours every day I feel pretty much fully conversant with Aussie slang. Of course, I no longer watch it, so maybe I'm now out-of-date?

 

[steve case]

I am told that "bubbler" is a Milwaukee term.

 

[Andrew Fergus]

A search on Google for the terms bubbler and Milwaukee returned about 34k hits so I think your claim is safe.....and I thought a bubbler was a bubbling pool of mud!

Following on from Denis' sandwich / picnic phrase I have also heard the phrase "he's a couple of cans short of a 6-pack" but I'm not sure of its origin.

Andrew

P.S. Richard - I think you might find a few common colloquialisms between Aussie and NZ but the Aussies have some pretty odd-ball phrases (like doona & esky) and quite a few colourful similes! Great link here for Aussie slang: http://www.aussieslang.com/slang/australian-slang-a.asp

 

[Lewiy]

This is quite an interesting site:

http://www.geocities.com/informalenglish/dictindex.html

Basically a complete dictionary of slang phases in the English language!

 

[Jon von der Heyden]

I frequently confuse my friends with the phrase "Just now".

In South Africa "Just now" can mean I did it just now indicating the past.
...or...
I will do it just now, which could mean I will do it immediately, or it may mean I'm getting round to it - indefinitely!

It's a great response in the office when the boss asks when I'll get round to doing something

 

[RichardS]

In line with the sandwich and cans short, another term is;

"He's got a couple of 'roos loose in the top paddock."

We Aussies have hundreds of ways of commenting that someone isn't quite all there. "Couple of bob short of a quid" is another. Must mean there are a lot of us not all there.

Richard

 

[SydneyGeek]

And then there's the one who's not too smart --
"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer"

In South Africa "Just now" can mean I did it just now indicating the past

More South African words --
tackies -- running shoes / sandshoes
stoep -- balcony
braai -- barbeque

Managed to get a few Aussies to switch to tackies and stoep when we first arrived in Melbourne...

Denis

 

[Joe4]

And then there's the one who's not too smart --
"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer"

We have that one here to in the states, but my favorite version is
"a few sandwiches short of a picnic."

Here in Western New York, one phrase that catches non-locals off guard is if someone asks you if you would like to go out for a "few pops". That means to go out and have a few drinks (of the alcoholic persuasion).

When we travelled abroad to New Zealand and Australia, the one that caught us off guard was when we saw "bugs" on the menu. We were beginning to question or choice of restaurant when the waitress explained to us that they are prawns!