Funny Australian slang often involves colorful, descriptive, or absurd phrases for everyday things, like calling a mouth a "cake hole" or saying someone's "not the full quid" (silly/stupid), or describing a boring night out as "bush telly" (staring at a campfire). Other humorous terms include "spitting the dummy" (throwing a tantrum) or calling someone a "dag" (a quirky, lovable character).
Bogan (/ˈboʊɡən/ BOHG-ən) is Australian and New Zealand slang to describe a person whose speech, clothing, behaviour, or attitudes are considered unrefined or unsophisticated.
dag. An unfashionable person; a person lacking style or character; a socially awkward adolescent, a 'nerd'. These senses of dag derive from an earlier Australian sense of dag meaning 'a "character", someone eccentric but entertainingly so'.
Here are 5 common Aussie slang words/phrases: G'day (hello), Mate (friend), Arvo (afternoon), No worries (no problem/you're welcome), and Barbie (barbecue), with many Aussies shortening words (like Brekkie for breakfast, Servo for gas station) and using colourful terms for everyday things.
Barbie. “Barbie” is a short form of barbeque. In Australian English, “-ie” is also added to lots of abbreviated words. The word “selfie” is a good example of this; it was coined by an Australian man in 2002! How to use it: We're having a barbie tomorrow – do you want to come?
Common Australian slang for a girl includes "Sheila" (older, sometimes dated or slightly derogatory), "chick," or just using general terms like "mate," "gal," or "lass," with context and tone being important, but "girl" is still widely used; some slang, like "moll," can refer to a girlfriend or a promiscuous woman, while "bogan" describes an unsophisticated person.
A Flaming Galah is Australian slang for someone who is a bit doofus, a bit of a fool, a bit of a mentalist but nonetheless is a very loveable creature. A Flaming Galah is a person who makes a fool of themselves but isn't afraid to laugh at themselves when everyone else starts laughing at them.
"Oy oy oy" in Australia is most famously part of the patriotic chant "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!" used at sporting events to show national pride, but "Oi" also functions as a general Australian informal interjection, like "hey" or "excuse me," to get someone's attention. The chant itself comes from the British "Oggy Oggy Oggy" cheer for Cornish pasties and became popular in Australia after the 2000 Olympics.
The $10 note is referred to as a "tenner" or again, less commonly, a "Blue Swimmer", other variations of this nickname exist such as the "blue grenadier", it may also rarely be called a "blue tongue", in reference to the Australian blue-tongue lizard.
Face Like a Dropped Pie
Meaning: A disappointed or sullen expression. “He had a face like a dropped pie when he realised his team wasn't gonna win.”
A drongo is a slow-witted or stupid person: a fool. This great Australian insult was originally an RAAF term for a raw recruit. It first appeared in the early 1940s, but its origin reaches back to the name of the racehorse Drongo, who ran around in the early 1920s.
(good day): Used interchangeably with hello and hi, but more characteristically Australian/New Zealand, and perhaps the most informal of these options. Also used in the constructions G'day, mate (a greeting to a friend or acquaintance) and G'day, stranger (ironically, to a friend not seen in some time).
Spotting a "bogan" involves recognizing stereotypes related to working-class Australian culture, characterized by specific clothing (flannel shirts, Ugg boots, thongs, mullet haircuts), vehicles (Holdens, Falcons, V8s), attitudes (anti-authority, directness, "bogan pride"), and behaviors (drinking beer, gambling, listening to specific music, enjoying outdoor activities like fishing/hooning). It's a cultural archetype, not a rigid definition, often involving unrefined tastes, loud music, and a strong sense of self-confidence, notes ABC News.
Here are some Aussie slang words that you might not know. Woop Woop is used to refer to a place in the middle of nowhere. People use it to signify that a location is far away, unfamiliar to them, and difficult to get to.
General greeting, used instead of “hello”, both day and night. Often combined with “mate”, as in… How do you use it? “G'day, mate!” (mostly used by men though, not so often by women.)
The most Australian thing to say often involves casual abbreviations, laid-back optimism like "She'll be right" or "No worries," and unique slang for everyday items, such as "Arvo" (afternoon) or "Barbie" (barbecue), often delivered with "mate," making phrases like "G'day, mate, chuck us a coldie at the barbie this arvo?" quintessentially Aussie.
(figurative, generally derogatory) A human considered to resemble monkeys in some way, including: (informal, sometimes offensive) A naughty or mischievous person, especially a child. Stop misbehaving, you cheeky little monkey!
Slang. ducats, money; cash.
Another classic case of Australians shortening everything. Meaning 'thank you', ta is usually used for the times when you are in a rush or want to send a quick text to show your appreciation for something.
"Oi oi oi baka" is a viral TikTok trend where someone (usually a high school student) gets up on a chair, desk, or table and shouts "Oi oi oi baka!" at school or in public. It may be inspired by a character named Bakugou from an anime called My Hero Academia. In Japanese, the phrase means, "Hey, hey, hey, idiot!"
In informal situations, people say or shout 'oi' to attract someone's attention, especially if they are angry.
The bird that goes "woop woop woop" in Australia is the Pheasant Coucal, a large, ground-dwelling cuckoo known for its distinctive, resonant, bubbling call that sounds like "oop-oop-oop-opp" or "whoop-whoop-whoop," often heard morning and night, and sometimes mistaken for rain.
Australians primarily call sausages "snags," a popular slang term often used in the context of a "sausage sizzle" (a casual BBQ, often for fundraising) or a "democracy sausage" (sausage in bread at polling stations). Other less common terms might include "snarler" or "snork," but "snag" is the overwhelmingly popular and recognized term, stemming from the idea of a quick grab or light meal.
' Very commonly in Australian English galah is used to refer to a fool or idiot. This figurative sense is recorded from the 1930s, and derives from the perceived stupidity of the bird. The following quotations give an indication of how the term is used: 1951 E.