A Strine in time saves Nine

Here's what happens when you do a little Internet research on Strine...

"SPEAKING AUSTRALIAN SLANG OR "STRINE"

G'day,mate..how are you, to-die? (pronounced "Good-die, mate..how are you, to die?) which means "Good-day, my friend...how are you doing today ?" (in BBC English) is how you'll often be greeted in Australia.... and it's not someone rudely asking how you are going to pass away.

Aaaahh....the refinements of Australian English or "Strine" as it is known. Australians also tend to speak with a rising intonation which makes their sentences sound like questions. So, please don't think you are always being questioned !

The term "Strine" derives from saying the word "Australian" through both closed teeth and the nose - a local accent that some "scholars" claim arose from the need to keep the mouth ("trap") shut against blow flies ("blowies"). "



Then I looked for Australian pictures and found this one that said "You know you're Australian when.." and nothing more...so can ANYONE explain this one to me? Joolz, what does this mean?

This book would come in handy if I am ever so blessed as to get to visit Australia....

This is a Kookaburra bird from Australia, very pretty, isn't it?...

And here is a kangaroo laughing at my attempts to conquer Strine...

Little koalas are just too cute...when my son was younger, he LOVED all things Australian and only wanted to see the Aussie animals or fauna when we went to the zoo!

Now there are some very talented kangaroos in Australia as this fellow shows by his sign...

Some more valuable info from the Internet on Strine...



"Don't get into a blue. Know a bit of Strine and you'll be fine.

In a pub you could get asked to shout. Don't holler your head off. You're just being reminded it's your turn to pay for the next round of drinks.

If you're visiting Australia and are non-Australian but you do speak English, you should have no real problem understanding the local lingo. (We try to make sure we use only words that we think are common to your kind and our kind of English.)

When there's tucker and grog
In a social setting, especially when there's tucker and grog, or just grog (or plonk), we do tend to slip into our dialect, which means: Hey, you're one of us, so none of this Queen's English bizo.

So whether it's this morning or this arvo, a few good words to know in the pub are middy and schooner, with a fair sprinkling of mate here and there. Don't be a mug or a lair, be fair and do your shout -- reckon that's the go.

Listen to your mate's corker of a story, and don't go crook if you can't come up with your own ripper yarn. And don't tell the bloke to rack off, sport, or you could get into a barney and in all sorts of strife.


Or you need to go to the loo
If you need to go to the rest room, comfort room, or whatever else you call that room , that place is the loo, or call it toilet. A dunny is a different thing altogether.

Whatever you talk about, don't act the wowser as everyone tends to be given a fair go, fair dinkum, mate. And don't go acting the yobbo either.

Also, it doesn't hurt to say ta or thanks for anything done for you; you'll hear a lot of taing around, thanks is so much a part of the Aussie language.


And so, Half your luck, mate."

AUSSIE SLANG
MEANING IN PLAIN ENGLISH
HOW THE AUSSIES USE IT...

"avago"
Have a go
"Avago, ya mug" (Have a go, you mug)

"barbie"
Barbecue
"Throw a yabbie on the barbie"

"ankle biter"
young child
"She has an ankle biter to feed"

"banana bender"
Queenslander...because they grow lots of bananas in Queensland
"He's a banana bender"

"battler"
One who struggles for a living
"What a tough battler!"

"beaut"
beautiful
"That's a beaut...!"

"billy"
Tin container used for boiling water to make tea
"Can you pass the billy?"

"billabong"
Waterhole in semi-dry river
"And his ghost may be seen roaming at the billabong" (from "Waltzing Matilda)

"bickie"
biscuit
"Let's have a bickie..!"

"bloke"
Man, used like "guy" in the US
"That bloke...!"

"blowie"
Pesky Australian blow fly
"There's a loadful of blowies out today"

"bludger"
scrounger
"You dole bludger" is one who lives off social security payouts

"BYO"
Bring Your Own drink to a restaurant
"It's a BYO only"

"Bonzer"
Terrific
"That's a bonzer ...!"

"Bottle Shop"
Liquor shop
"Let's drop by the Bottle Shop"

"Bull dust"
Bullpoop
"What a load of bull dust...!"

"Bunyip"
The Australian equivalent to the mythical "Yeti/Bigfoot". Lives in a billabong.
"Bunyip, Bunyip, Bunyip...!" (if you ever see one)

"bush"
The countryside
"Let's go to the bush..."

"bushranger"
Outlaw, highwayman
"Ned Kelley - the bushranger"

"cask"
Boxed bag of cheap wine
"Let's get a cask at the bottle shop"

"chook"
Chicken
"There's a chook in the fridge"

"chunder"
To vomit
"I feel as I'm going to chunder"

"crooked"
Sick
"I'm feeling real crooked..."

"Crissie"
Christmas
"Where will you be, this Crissie?"

"dag/daggy"
Mild term for fool or unfashionable person
"What a dag..."

"daks"
trousers
"Where's my pair of daks?"

"Digger"
Australian soldier, or any old male character
"He was a digger... in WW2"

"dinkie die"
The truth
"That's dinkie die, I swear..."

"dingo"
Australian native wild dog
"He's as wild as a dingo..."

"dinkum"
Genuine or honest
"That's real fair dinkum..."

"dunny"
Toilet
"Excuse me, where's the dunny?"

"esky"
Cooler
"Let's bring an Esky to the picnic"

"footy"
Australian football
"Let's go to the footy this weekend..."

"garbo"
Garbage collector
"The garbo will take it away..."

"good on ya"
Well done or "Good for you" in the US
"Great job...good on ya"

"greenie"
A conservationist
"He's a greenie..."

"grog"
Alcoholic drink
"He's had too much grog..."

"Kiwi"
A New Zealander"
"He's a Kiwi..."

"knackered"
Tired
"I'm really knackered today...!"

"mate"
Friend (does not mean spouse"
"G'day, mate"

"milk bar"
Small general store
"Go get some bickies at the milk bar"

"mozzie"
Mosquito
"Bloody mozzies...!"

"ocker"
Australian male of crude manners
"He's a real ocker of a bloke"

"oodles"
Plenty
"Oodles of noodles..."

"Pom/Pommie"
English person
"He's a Pommie"

"Pissed"
Drunk (not angry, as in American)
"I think he's totally pissed, now"

"poof/poofter"
Male homosexual (derogatory)
"What a poofter..."

"ratbag"
Trouble maker
"He's a real ratbag..."

"Sheila"
Female (derogatory)
"Where's your Sheila?"

"sickie"
Sick day off work
"I'm taking a sickie..."

"she'll be right"
It will all be o.k
"She'll be right, mate...!"

"stingers"
Jellyfish
"Beware of stingers...!"

"stubby"
Small bottle of beer
"Let's have a stubby first, shall we?"

"stunned Mullet"
Someone who looks shocked
"He's looking like a stunned Mullet"

"tall poppies"
High achievers
"The tall poppies should pay more taxes..."

"Tassie"
Tasmania
"Let's go holiday in Tassie..."

"trap"
Mouth
"Shut your trap...!"

"tucker"
Food
"Let's dig into the tucker..."

"uni"
University
"He studied at a uni..."

"ute"
"Utility" truck - a pickup truck
"I drive an ute..."

"Vegemite"
Brown yeast sandwich spread which Australians grow up on, but is regarded by most foreigners as "semi-toxic".
"I'll have a Vegemite sandwich, thanks..."

"whinge"
Complain
"What a whingeing Pom..."

"wog"
Someone who comes from the Mediterranean countries (derogatory)
"He's a wog"

"wowser"
Killjoy, prude
"Don't be such a wowser...!"

"yack"
To talk
"Can you stop yack-ing?"

"yonks"
A long time
"It's been yonks that I've seen him"

"yabbie"
An Australian shrimp-like sized lobster with claws
"Let's throw a yabbie on the barbie..."

Some humor from an Australian site...

Canadians: Endure bitterly cold winters and are proud of it.
Brits: Endure oppressively wet and dreary winters and are proud of it.
Americans: Don't have to do either, and couldn't care less.
Aussies: Don't understand what inclement weather means.
*************
Americans: Spend most of their lives glued to the idiot box.
Canadians: Don't, but only because they can't get more American channels.
Brits: Pay a tax just so they can watch 4 channels.
Aussies: Export all their crappy programs, which no one there watches, to Britain, where everybody loves them.
*****************
Joke about Australian yobbo
A man and his wife were sitting in the living room and he said to her, "Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."
His wife got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all of his beer.

~~~Thank You Lord for the blessings of new ways of communicating, may we remember that kindness is always a universal way of communicating.