Where "Fair Suck of the Sav" Comes From
The "sav" is a saveloy — a cheap, bright-red processed sausage associated in Australia and the UK with snack bars, school canteens, and fairs. The expression protests unfair treatment by demanding an equal share: if only one saveloy is going around, everyone deserves a fair suck of it. The phrase, in use in Sydney since the 1970s, belongs to a set of Australian fairness idioms built on the same principle as "fair go."
It sits alongside "fair suck of the sauce bottle" and the absurdist "fair suck of the Siberian sandshoe" — a family of variations on the theme. When Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used the closely related "fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate" on Sky News during his first term (2007–10), linguists and commentators noted it as a politician performing Australianness — the phrase was real, but the context made it conspicuous.
Source:
"Fair suck of the sav, mate, I was here first!"
How Aussies Actually Use It
It's used when someone feels they're being hard done by, or simply wants a fairer share of something.
It's said with a wink more often than real anger, even when the complaint is genuine.
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