Fitting in in Australia: the lingo

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 some more words here:

http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

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.