Where "A Stubby Short of a Six-Pack" Comes From
A "stubby" is the short, squat 375ml beer bottle, a word first recorded in 1965.
This particular version of the joke emerged from the late 1990s, splicing that very Australian word onto the American "six-pack."
“He locked the keys in the ute again, a stubby short of a six-pack that bloke.”
“Don't mind Gary, he's a stubby short of a six-pack but he's got a good heart.”
He tried to pay with a photocopied twenty — a stubby short of a six-pack, that one.
How Aussies Actually Use It
A good-humoured, non-malicious way to call someone a bit dim, usually said among friends.
This is a joking insult, usually said with a smile. The speaker is not calling someone stupid in a cruel way, but suggesting they are a bit slow or have done something silly. It is a description of a moment as much as of a person: someone who forgot the tickets, or missed an obvious point, might get called this by mates.
Like most phrases of this kind, the tone depends on who says it and to whom. Among friends it is teasing, but said to someone you barely know, or in a workplace, it could come across as rude. It is also usually said about a third person, not directly to their face. Learners can pick from similar expressions, such as "a few roos loose in the top paddock", and they all mean roughly the same thing.
See also: A Few Roos Loose in the Top Paddock (same joke, different image), Not the Full Quid (another way to say not too bright), Stubby (the bottle in the phrase).
Part of a big family of similar Aussie insults — "a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock," "not the full quid" — that use everyday imagery for the same joke.
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