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A WALKABOUT WALTZ OF SLANG - INDEX
See Also: SITEMAP OF ALL SLANG
DISCOVER ALL THE WORDS OF THE WORLD
COLLECTION OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS
- A Festy Fair Dinkum of a Day! - (English)
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- Cheeky Collection of Candid Colloquialisms
A WALKABOUT WALTZ OF SLANG - INDEX
- Part 1: Stirring the Possum - (People & Animals)
- Part 2: Happy Little Vegemite - (Feelings)
- Part 3: True Blue Values - (Country & Government)
- Part 4: Sozzled Didgeridoo Solo - (Entertainment)
- Part 5: Scratching Your Arse - (Curses & Insults)
- Part 6: Short the Stack - (Abbreviations)
- Part 7: Froth and Bubbles - (Rhyming Slang)
See Also: SITEMAP OF ALL SLANG
DISCOVER ALL THE WORDS OF THE WORLD
Cheeky Collection of CANDID COLLOQUIALISMS
Colloquialisms is the form of language that speakers typically use when they are relaxed. It is the most common functional style of speech and is employed in conversation and other informal interactions. Colloquialisms are characterized by interjections and other expressive devices; it uses non-specialist terminology, and has a rapidly changing lexicon. Some colloquial language contains a great deal of slang, but some contains no slang at all. And it’s common to make use of contractions or profanity. Colloquialisms are distinct from slang or jargon. Slang refers to words used only by specific social groups, such as demographics based on region, age, or socio-economic identity. Jargon is most commonly used within specific occupations, industries, activities, or areas of interest. Colloquial language is composed of many different elements like slang, abbreviations, contractions, idioms, turns-of-phrase, and other informal words and phrases.
An idiom is a phrase or an expression that has a figurative, or sometimes literal, meaning. An idiom's figurative meaning is different from the literal meaning. There are thousands of idioms, occurring frequently in all languages. In the English language alone, it is estimated that there are at least twenty-five thousand idiomatic expressions. Idioms tend to confuse those unfamiliar with them; students of a new language must learn its idiomatic expressions as vocabulary.
Slang is language (words, phrases, and usages) that is informal and that members of particular groups favor (over the common vocabulary of a standard language) in order to establish group identity, exclude outsiders, or both. Slang is liminal language... it is often impossible to tell, even in context, which interests and motives it serves. Slang dictionaries, with thousands of slang entries, offer a broad, empirical view into the motivation l behind slang".
Click here for a more in-depth look at slang expressions
COLLOQUIAL PHRASES AND EXPRESSIONS
A chop short of a barbecue - Stupid
A few tiles short of a roof - Stupid
A head like a dropped pie - Describing someone who is unattractive
All my eye - Expression of incredulity
All there - Expression of praise
All to pieces - Decadence. To fall away. All to smash - to be ruined.
Answer is a lemon - A meaningless reply
Are your ears painted on? – Someone who doesn’t listen
As obvious as dog’s balls – Obvious
As game as Ned Kelly - Fearless in the face of odds; foolhardy. The phrase derives from the name of Australia's most famous bushranger, who was hanged for his crimes in 1880.
As useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking competition – Useless!
As useful as tits on a bull - Something completely useless, can be used in relation to a person
Apples, she’ll be – It’ll be alright
A wigwam for a goose’s bridle - Something absurd or preposterous; used as a snubbing or dismissive reply to an unwanted question
Back in one’s cart - To intrude
Bit of a yarn – To a have a talk or chat with someone
Bloody oath – That’s the truth
Bring a plate – Bring a plate of food to the party
Blow me down – an expression of astonishment
Blowing the froth off a few - Drinking alcohol
Busier than a one armed brick layer in Baghdad – Extremely busy (think of this one as a mental image and you’ll get it
Can’t be bothered – I could do that, but no, I don’t think I will do that because I don’t feel like making an effort
Carrying on – Having a little tantrum
Carrying on like a pork chop - Someone acting silly or crazy
Can’t be arsed - Can’t be bothered to do something
Charge like a wounded bull – A place that charges very high prices
Choc a bloc – Someone who is so full of food as they have had too much to eat
Chuck a sickie - Taking a day off work or school without necessarily being sick
Clear as mud – Something complicated explained but still not understood
Come a gutser - A bad mistake or accident
Cop a bollocking - Receive an angry talking to or chastisement from a boss or a person in authority
Couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny - A comment on a person’s incompetence.
Cracking the shits - Getting stroppy or angry
Crack the whip – Telling someone to hurry up!
Done like a dinner - Comprehensively outwitted or defeated
Do a Bradbury - Be the unlikely winner of an event; to win an event coming from well behind. The phrase comes from the name of Steven Bradbury, who won a gold medal in speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics after his opponents fell.
Do the Harry Holt – Bolt - Leave the party with no announcement Harry Holt was an Australian Prime Minister who disappeared off Victoria’s coast in 1967
Drink with the flies – To drink alone
Drop your guts - To pass wind
Dry as a dead dingo’s donga - To be thirsty, usually for alcohol
Every dog has its day - Your time will come (eventually); be patient
Fair go or fair crack of the whip - Request for a chance or a reasonable opportunity to complete a task
Fair suck of the sav - Exclamation of wonder, awe, disbelief
Fair suck of the sauce bottle - Steady on, be reasonable. This is one of several variations on the Australian exclamation ‘fair go’. It expresses a keen sense of injustice
Fell to the joke - To be taken in
Fit as a mallee bull - Very strong and healthy. A mallee bull is one that lives in mallee country - poor, dry country where small scrubby eucalypt trees called mallee grow.
Flash as a rat with a gold tooth - Ostentatious, showy and a bit too flashily dressed. This phrase is usually used of a man, and implies that although he may be well-dressed and well-groomed, there is also something a bit dodgy about him.
Flat out like a lizard drinking - Extremely busy, at top speed. This is word play on two different meanings of the standard English ‘flat out’. The literal sense is to lie fully stretched out (like a lizard), and the figurative sense means as fast as possible.
Few roos loose in the top paddock - Someone not very bright or slightly crazy
Flat out like a lizard drinking – Very busy
Frame up - Dubious methods
Full as a goog - Extremely drunk; replete with food; extremely full, packed. In Australian English a goog is an egg.
Full up to dolly’s wax - Would you like more dessert? No, I’m full up to dolly’s wax. This rather old-fashioned phrase means that you have eaten enough.
Give it a burl - Venture an attempt; give something a try. This is an Australian alteration of the standard English phrase give it a whirl.
Go off like a frog in a sock – Going crazy
Go troppo – To lose the plot or go crazy
Go with the flow – See how it goes, decide later
Going off like a frog in a sock – Going crazy
Gone west - Dead
Gone walkabout - To go missing or head off without warning
Go the whole pile - To risk everything
Hang on a tick - Please wait a moment
Happy little Vegemite - A cheerful person; a satisfied person. The phrase comes from a 1950s advertising jingle for the yeast-based spread Vegemite.
Have a blue - Have a fight
Have a captain cook – Have a look
Have a go, ya mug - Used to encourage someone to attempt something, usually if they are unsure
Hit the frog and toad – Leaving an event
Hit the Turps - Go on a drinking binge
I’m so hungry I could eat the arse out of a low flying duck – I’m hungry
Like a rat up a drain pipe – Doing something very quickly
Kangaroos loose in the top paddock - Intellectually inadequate
Like a shag on a rock - An emblem of isolation, deprivation, and exposure. It is first recorded in 1845. A shag is a name for any of several species of Australian cormorant, commonly found in coastal and inland waters, where they are often seen perched alone on a rock
Like a stunned mullet - Dazed, stupefied; uncomprehending; unconscious. The phrase alludes to the goggle-eyed stare (and sometimes gaping mouth) of a fish that has been recently caught and made unconscious.
Little Aussie battler - Someone bravely overcoming hardship
London to a brick - Absolute certainty
Lose your block - To get annoyed
Mad as a cut snake - Very angry; crazy; eccentric. The phrase also takes the form mad as a snake. The different senses of the phrase derive from the fact that ‘mad’ has two main senses - ‘crazy’ and ‘angry’.
Make tracks - To proceed; to go away
May your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down - A jocular curse. This expression recalls an earlier time when many Australians kept chickens in the backyard and the dunny was a separate outhouse.
Miserable as a bandicoot - Extremely unhappy. Bandicoots are small marsupials with long faces, and have been given a role in Australian English in similes that suggest unhappiness or some kind of deprivation.
Not within a bull’s roar - Nowhere near - 'The club’s not within a bull’s roar of winning the premiership this season.' A roaring bull can be heard over a great distance, so that to be not within a bull’s roar is to be a considerable distance away.
Not worth a Zack - Not worth anything
No wuckin’ furries - A fun way to say “No f**king worries.” Not a problem or you’re welcome
Not here to fuck spiders - Let’s get the job done
Off like a bride’s nightie - Leaving immediately; making a hasty departure; at full speed. It is likely that this expression was first used in horseracing to refer to a horse that moved very quickly out of the starting gates.
On the turps - Drinking heavily. Turps is an abbreviation of turpentine, and is recorded in Australian English from the 1860s with the meaning ‘alcoholic liquor’.
Playing for sheep stations - Used either seriously or ironically to describe something as a big deal, or make it not seem so important
Poor as a bandicoot - Play on “poor as a church mouse,” but featuring a rat-like marsupial
Put the moz on - To exert a malign influence upon (a person), to jinx. Moz is an abbreviated form of mozzle, which is derived from the Hebrew word mazzal meaning 'luck'.
Queer the pitch - To frustrate; to upset arrangements
Rattle your dags - Hurry up, get a move on. Dags are clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end.
Ripper, you little! – Exclamation of delight or as a reaction to good news
Shoot through like a Bondi tram - Used allusively to refer to a hasty departure or speedy action. Bondi is the Sydney suburb renowned worldwide for its surf beach.
Spare me days - Exclamation of surprise.
Spit the dummy - This has two meanings in Australian English: to give up (contesting or participating), and to lose one’s temper or composure
Stir the possum - To excite interest or controversy; to liven things up. This phrase is first recorded in 1888, and probably developed as the obverse of the phrase to play possum meaning ‘to pretend to be asleep or unconscious when threatened’ (in imitation of an opossum’s supposed behavior).
Straight to the poolroom - A catchphrase used to express the great value of a gift, prize, object, etc. The idiom comes from the 1997 film The Castle
Sticking out like dog's balls - Very obvious
Straight to the pool room - Used to describe something of high quality or to be proud of
Suss it out - To figure out a tricky or unknown situation
Swingin’ the head - To impose, making excuses
Sydney or the bush - All or nothing
Tell him he’s dreamin’ - Used to describe someone with unrealistic expectations
The full bottle - Knowledgeable, an expert
Throw in the marble - To relinquish
Tickets on yourself - Used to describe someone with an inflated opinion of themselves
To be in it up to your neck - To be compromised; implicated in a crime or a misdemeanor
To carry on like a pork chop - To behave foolishly, to make a fuss, to complain, or to rant. This expression is often thought to allude to the spluttering noise of a pork chop that is being fried.
To chuck a wobbly - To lose one's self-control in a fit of nerves, panic, temper, annoyance, or the like. To chuck a wobbly is a variant of the Standard English idiom to throw a wobbly, where wobbly means ‘a fit of temper or panic’.
To come a gutser - Fall over; experience complete failure
To cry blue murder - Appeal for help
To do a Harold Holt - To escape; to make a rapid departure. To do a Harold Holt is rhyming slang for bolt. The phrase is from the name of former Australian prime minister Harold Holt who disappeared, presumed drowned
To get it in the neck - To receive a reverse; punishment.
To give it a bash - To try
To put the acid on - To exert a pressure that is difficult to resist
To waltz Matilda - To carry a swag; to travel the road. A Matilda is a swag, the roll or bundle of possessions carried by an itinerant worker or swagman.
Up the duff - Pregnant
Up the spout- In trouble
Verandah over the toy shop - A man's large protruding belly; a ‘beer gut’. This phrase is a jocular allusion to toy shop in the sense ‘sexual wares’ (with reference to the male genitals). verandah over the toy shop A man's large protruding belly; a ‘beer gut’. This phrase is a jocular allusion to toy shop in the sense ‘sexual wares’ (with reference to the male genitals).
We are even stevens - We are equal, no one owes the other anything
We’ll all be rooned - We will all be ruined. An expression of pessimism. Rooned is an Irish pronunciation of ‘ruined’, used in the refrain of the poem ‘Said Hanrahan’, published in 1921 by John O’Brien, the pen name of P.J. Hartigan
What do you think this is, bush week? - Do you think I’m stupid? An indignant response to someone who is taking you for a fool
What’s the John dory – What’s the story
Wouldn’t work in an iron lung - Extremely lazy. The phrase derives from the artificial respirator that kept polio patients alive by ‘breathing’ for them in the days
Wrap one's laughing gear - To eat something.
Your blood’s worth bottling - You’re a really valuable person! You’re a loyal friend!
You’ve got buckleys – No chance (William Buckley historically had no chance of creating peace between settlers and indigenous people)
A chop short of a barbecue - Stupid
A few tiles short of a roof - Stupid
A head like a dropped pie - Describing someone who is unattractive
All my eye - Expression of incredulity
All there - Expression of praise
All to pieces - Decadence. To fall away. All to smash - to be ruined.
Answer is a lemon - A meaningless reply
Are your ears painted on? – Someone who doesn’t listen
As obvious as dog’s balls – Obvious
As game as Ned Kelly - Fearless in the face of odds; foolhardy. The phrase derives from the name of Australia's most famous bushranger, who was hanged for his crimes in 1880.
As useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking competition – Useless!
As useful as tits on a bull - Something completely useless, can be used in relation to a person
Apples, she’ll be – It’ll be alright
A wigwam for a goose’s bridle - Something absurd or preposterous; used as a snubbing or dismissive reply to an unwanted question
Back in one’s cart - To intrude
Bit of a yarn – To a have a talk or chat with someone
Bloody oath – That’s the truth
Bring a plate – Bring a plate of food to the party
Blow me down – an expression of astonishment
Blowing the froth off a few - Drinking alcohol
Busier than a one armed brick layer in Baghdad – Extremely busy (think of this one as a mental image and you’ll get it
Can’t be bothered – I could do that, but no, I don’t think I will do that because I don’t feel like making an effort
Carrying on – Having a little tantrum
Carrying on like a pork chop - Someone acting silly or crazy
Can’t be arsed - Can’t be bothered to do something
Charge like a wounded bull – A place that charges very high prices
Choc a bloc – Someone who is so full of food as they have had too much to eat
Chuck a sickie - Taking a day off work or school without necessarily being sick
Clear as mud – Something complicated explained but still not understood
Come a gutser - A bad mistake or accident
Cop a bollocking - Receive an angry talking to or chastisement from a boss or a person in authority
Couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny - A comment on a person’s incompetence.
Cracking the shits - Getting stroppy or angry
Crack the whip – Telling someone to hurry up!
Done like a dinner - Comprehensively outwitted or defeated
Do a Bradbury - Be the unlikely winner of an event; to win an event coming from well behind. The phrase comes from the name of Steven Bradbury, who won a gold medal in speed skating at the 2002 Winter Olympics after his opponents fell.
Do the Harry Holt – Bolt - Leave the party with no announcement Harry Holt was an Australian Prime Minister who disappeared off Victoria’s coast in 1967
Drink with the flies – To drink alone
Drop your guts - To pass wind
Dry as a dead dingo’s donga - To be thirsty, usually for alcohol
Every dog has its day - Your time will come (eventually); be patient
Fair go or fair crack of the whip - Request for a chance or a reasonable opportunity to complete a task
Fair suck of the sav - Exclamation of wonder, awe, disbelief
Fair suck of the sauce bottle - Steady on, be reasonable. This is one of several variations on the Australian exclamation ‘fair go’. It expresses a keen sense of injustice
Fell to the joke - To be taken in
Fit as a mallee bull - Very strong and healthy. A mallee bull is one that lives in mallee country - poor, dry country where small scrubby eucalypt trees called mallee grow.
Flash as a rat with a gold tooth - Ostentatious, showy and a bit too flashily dressed. This phrase is usually used of a man, and implies that although he may be well-dressed and well-groomed, there is also something a bit dodgy about him.
Flat out like a lizard drinking - Extremely busy, at top speed. This is word play on two different meanings of the standard English ‘flat out’. The literal sense is to lie fully stretched out (like a lizard), and the figurative sense means as fast as possible.
Few roos loose in the top paddock - Someone not very bright or slightly crazy
Flat out like a lizard drinking – Very busy
Frame up - Dubious methods
Full as a goog - Extremely drunk; replete with food; extremely full, packed. In Australian English a goog is an egg.
Full up to dolly’s wax - Would you like more dessert? No, I’m full up to dolly’s wax. This rather old-fashioned phrase means that you have eaten enough.
Give it a burl - Venture an attempt; give something a try. This is an Australian alteration of the standard English phrase give it a whirl.
Go off like a frog in a sock – Going crazy
Go troppo – To lose the plot or go crazy
Go with the flow – See how it goes, decide later
Going off like a frog in a sock – Going crazy
Gone west - Dead
Gone walkabout - To go missing or head off without warning
Go the whole pile - To risk everything
Hang on a tick - Please wait a moment
Happy little Vegemite - A cheerful person; a satisfied person. The phrase comes from a 1950s advertising jingle for the yeast-based spread Vegemite.
Have a blue - Have a fight
Have a captain cook – Have a look
Have a go, ya mug - Used to encourage someone to attempt something, usually if they are unsure
Hit the frog and toad – Leaving an event
Hit the Turps - Go on a drinking binge
I’m so hungry I could eat the arse out of a low flying duck – I’m hungry
Like a rat up a drain pipe – Doing something very quickly
Kangaroos loose in the top paddock - Intellectually inadequate
Like a shag on a rock - An emblem of isolation, deprivation, and exposure. It is first recorded in 1845. A shag is a name for any of several species of Australian cormorant, commonly found in coastal and inland waters, where they are often seen perched alone on a rock
Like a stunned mullet - Dazed, stupefied; uncomprehending; unconscious. The phrase alludes to the goggle-eyed stare (and sometimes gaping mouth) of a fish that has been recently caught and made unconscious.
Little Aussie battler - Someone bravely overcoming hardship
London to a brick - Absolute certainty
Lose your block - To get annoyed
Mad as a cut snake - Very angry; crazy; eccentric. The phrase also takes the form mad as a snake. The different senses of the phrase derive from the fact that ‘mad’ has two main senses - ‘crazy’ and ‘angry’.
Make tracks - To proceed; to go away
May your chooks turn into emus and kick your dunny down - A jocular curse. This expression recalls an earlier time when many Australians kept chickens in the backyard and the dunny was a separate outhouse.
Miserable as a bandicoot - Extremely unhappy. Bandicoots are small marsupials with long faces, and have been given a role in Australian English in similes that suggest unhappiness or some kind of deprivation.
Not within a bull’s roar - Nowhere near - 'The club’s not within a bull’s roar of winning the premiership this season.' A roaring bull can be heard over a great distance, so that to be not within a bull’s roar is to be a considerable distance away.
Not worth a Zack - Not worth anything
No wuckin’ furries - A fun way to say “No f**king worries.” Not a problem or you’re welcome
Not here to fuck spiders - Let’s get the job done
Off like a bride’s nightie - Leaving immediately; making a hasty departure; at full speed. It is likely that this expression was first used in horseracing to refer to a horse that moved very quickly out of the starting gates.
On the turps - Drinking heavily. Turps is an abbreviation of turpentine, and is recorded in Australian English from the 1860s with the meaning ‘alcoholic liquor’.
Playing for sheep stations - Used either seriously or ironically to describe something as a big deal, or make it not seem so important
Poor as a bandicoot - Play on “poor as a church mouse,” but featuring a rat-like marsupial
Put the moz on - To exert a malign influence upon (a person), to jinx. Moz is an abbreviated form of mozzle, which is derived from the Hebrew word mazzal meaning 'luck'.
Queer the pitch - To frustrate; to upset arrangements
Rattle your dags - Hurry up, get a move on. Dags are clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end.
Ripper, you little! – Exclamation of delight or as a reaction to good news
Shoot through like a Bondi tram - Used allusively to refer to a hasty departure or speedy action. Bondi is the Sydney suburb renowned worldwide for its surf beach.
Spare me days - Exclamation of surprise.
Spit the dummy - This has two meanings in Australian English: to give up (contesting or participating), and to lose one’s temper or composure
Stir the possum - To excite interest or controversy; to liven things up. This phrase is first recorded in 1888, and probably developed as the obverse of the phrase to play possum meaning ‘to pretend to be asleep or unconscious when threatened’ (in imitation of an opossum’s supposed behavior).
Straight to the poolroom - A catchphrase used to express the great value of a gift, prize, object, etc. The idiom comes from the 1997 film The Castle
Sticking out like dog's balls - Very obvious
Straight to the pool room - Used to describe something of high quality or to be proud of
Suss it out - To figure out a tricky or unknown situation
Swingin’ the head - To impose, making excuses
Sydney or the bush - All or nothing
Tell him he’s dreamin’ - Used to describe someone with unrealistic expectations
The full bottle - Knowledgeable, an expert
Throw in the marble - To relinquish
Tickets on yourself - Used to describe someone with an inflated opinion of themselves
To be in it up to your neck - To be compromised; implicated in a crime or a misdemeanor
To carry on like a pork chop - To behave foolishly, to make a fuss, to complain, or to rant. This expression is often thought to allude to the spluttering noise of a pork chop that is being fried.
To chuck a wobbly - To lose one's self-control in a fit of nerves, panic, temper, annoyance, or the like. To chuck a wobbly is a variant of the Standard English idiom to throw a wobbly, where wobbly means ‘a fit of temper or panic’.
To come a gutser - Fall over; experience complete failure
To cry blue murder - Appeal for help
To do a Harold Holt - To escape; to make a rapid departure. To do a Harold Holt is rhyming slang for bolt. The phrase is from the name of former Australian prime minister Harold Holt who disappeared, presumed drowned
To get it in the neck - To receive a reverse; punishment.
To give it a bash - To try
To put the acid on - To exert a pressure that is difficult to resist
To waltz Matilda - To carry a swag; to travel the road. A Matilda is a swag, the roll or bundle of possessions carried by an itinerant worker or swagman.
Up the duff - Pregnant
Up the spout- In trouble
Verandah over the toy shop - A man's large protruding belly; a ‘beer gut’. This phrase is a jocular allusion to toy shop in the sense ‘sexual wares’ (with reference to the male genitals). verandah over the toy shop A man's large protruding belly; a ‘beer gut’. This phrase is a jocular allusion to toy shop in the sense ‘sexual wares’ (with reference to the male genitals).
We are even stevens - We are equal, no one owes the other anything
We’ll all be rooned - We will all be ruined. An expression of pessimism. Rooned is an Irish pronunciation of ‘ruined’, used in the refrain of the poem ‘Said Hanrahan’, published in 1921 by John O’Brien, the pen name of P.J. Hartigan
What do you think this is, bush week? - Do you think I’m stupid? An indignant response to someone who is taking you for a fool
What’s the John dory – What’s the story
Wouldn’t work in an iron lung - Extremely lazy. The phrase derives from the artificial respirator that kept polio patients alive by ‘breathing’ for them in the days
Wrap one's laughing gear - To eat something.
Your blood’s worth bottling - You’re a really valuable person! You’re a loyal friend!
You’ve got buckleys – No chance (William Buckley historically had no chance of creating peace between settlers and indigenous people)
This site is a part of
A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS BY KAI
The Collection Includes:
Defining the Brain: Website | Downloads (science)
A Beautiful Word: Website | Downloads (rare/obscure)
The Logophile Lexicon: Website | Book (literary)
Defining New Ideas: Website | Book (creativity)
Author Homepage: Bookshelf by Kairos
Words posted by @kairosoflife on Twitter under the hashtag #beautifulwords and on my vocabulary bulletin boards on Pinterest - Submit Feedback
Original content © 2020 Copyright, Kairos.
A SERIES OF BEAUTIFUL WORDS BY KAI
The Collection Includes:
Defining the Brain: Website | Downloads (science)
A Beautiful Word: Website | Downloads (rare/obscure)
The Logophile Lexicon: Website | Book (literary)
Defining New Ideas: Website | Book (creativity)
Author Homepage: Bookshelf by Kairos
Words posted by @kairosoflife on Twitter under the hashtag #beautifulwords and on my vocabulary bulletin boards on Pinterest - Submit Feedback
Original content © 2020 Copyright, Kairos.
