While Australians do speak English, it often gets muzzled
between their accents and jargon. They abbreviate everything, literally
everything. Everyone gets a nickname out of affection, and word pronunciation
is often off. Oregano…is oregAHno…like origami, but not. Basil is BAAAAsil.
Maroon is Maroan. You get the point. Over the past few months, I’ve come across
certain word substitutions:
Jam = jelly
Jelly = jello
Jumper = sweatshirt
Box = to borrow
Brekkie = breakfast
Rubbish = trash
Hotcho = hot chocolate
Toastie = Panini
Arvo = afternoon
Uni = university
Lolly = candy
Skull = chug
Keen = excited
Bogan = white trash
And some super cool phrases are:
Get amongst it = get with it/get on my level
Too easy = I get it/alright
check out this site for a bit more:
http://www.koalanet.com.au/aus
It took me quite a while before I could have a full on
conversation with an Aussie, but the more time I spend with them, the more I
find myself keeping up with their jargon. And I will most definitely be
bringing a lot of these words back to the states with me.