Aussie Slang Words With Surprising Backstories

Are these words really Aussie?

Plenty of words feel as Australian as a meat pie, and Aussies use them every day. But when you look at the dated evidence in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, some of them first show up in print somewhere else, or were borrowed from another language.

One caution before we start. The earliest recorded example only shows what someone wrote down first. It doesn’t prove who said the word first, and plenty of everyday speech was never written down. Think of these as clues rather than final answers.

1. Tom Collins

“Tom Collins” is old Australian slang for a rumour, named after an imaginary man blamed for spreading gossip. But the earliest dated example in Green’s Dictionary of Slang is from a New York newspaper column in 1874, which printed “Where’s Tom Collins?” The earliest Australian example Green’s gives is 1894, from a Perth newspaper that describes the joke of sending friends off to look for him.

2. Ropeable

If you are “ropeable”, you are in a very bad temper. Green’s tags it Aus./N.Z., but its earliest cite is from 1874 and is flagged British. The first Australian cite it lists is 1885, in the Williamstown Chronicle.

3. Skite

To “skite” is to boast, and Green’s tags it mainly Aus./N.Z. Its earliest cite, from 1860, is tagged British, and the first Australian cite is the Sydney Bulletin in 1885. Green’s notes possible links to Scottish and northern English dialect, including a 1988 comment that it is short for “blatherskite”.

4. Bonzer

“Bonzer” means excellent, and it is as Australian as a word can sound. Yet Green’s earliest cite is from 1901 in a New Zealand newspaper, and the first Australian one is 1903, in the Melbourne Herald.

5. Stubby

A “stubby” is a short, squat 375ml beer bottle, and Green’s tags it “mainly Aus./N.Z.” But its very earliest cites, from 1936, are American. The first Australian cite it gives is from 1968.

6. Hooroo

“Hooroo” is a classic Aussie way to say goodbye. In Green’s the earliest cite is from 1861 in an American book, where it means “hooray”. The goodbye sense is tagged Australian, and its earliest Australian cite is 1919.

7. Shickered

“Shickered” means drunk, and it was borrowed into Australian English from the Yiddish word shikker, which also means drunk. Green’s earliest cite is 1898, in the Sydney Bulletin.

8. Knackered

Plenty of Aussies say they are “knackered” when they are exhausted. Green’s tags it UK, Irish, Scottish, Canadian and Australian, with its earliest cite in 1935 from a British book. For the “exhausted” sense, its earliest Australian cite is 1986.

9. Sanger

“Sanger” (also “sanga”) is a sandwich, and the earliest cite is Australian, from the Sydney Truth in 1894. But Green’s tags it Aus./Ire., so Australia does not have it to itself.

So what makes a word Aussie?

Mostly it’s how Australians took a word and made it their own. Australian English has always borrowed from Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, America and other languages, then changed the meaning, the spelling or the spirit of what it borrowed. A word that arrived from somewhere else and became part of everyday life here is still part of the way Australians speak.

Want to test yourself? In Aussie-fy, our daily game, you get an everyday word and have to spot the genuine Aussie slang for it, with every answer checked against Green’s. Missed a day? The Aussie-fy archive has the answers to every past round.

Sources

All dates and region tags come from Green’s Dictionary of Slang: tom collins, ropeable, skite, bonzer, stubby, hooroo, shickered, knackered, sanger.