Australia is known for many things, including swathes of tropical beaches, marine reserves, Aboriginal culture, cute koalas, rolling wine country, and lush rainforests.
If you say “no” with an extra syllable or two, chances are you are actually saying naur, an Australian-ism defined by its listeners, not its speakers, which continues to be one of the internet's favourite jokes.
It surely sounds strange to those who are familiar with American or British English, but it is a very common expression in Australia. G'day is a shortened form of 'Good Day' and it is the equivalent of 'Hello.
There are also a number of terms for Australia, such as: Aussie, Oz, Lucky Country, and land of the long weekend.
Australia is known for many things, including swathes of tropical beaches, marine reserves, Aboriginal culture, cute koalas, rolling wine country, and lush rainforests.
For starters, mainland Australia is the world's largest island that also tops as a continent. In fact, Australia is considered the 2nd driest continent after Antarctica. The busy Sydney harbour or the skyline of metropolitan Melbourne make it seem unbelievable that nearly 40% of Australia's land is uninhabitable.
Up on the board there's Stigz, Butch, Rat, Pook, Wozzel, Boof, Bullpit, Foxy, Snake, Sparra, Nobby, Froggy, Bear, Ferret and Stall. And it doesn't stop at nicknames for people.
The paper (first and second series) hundred-dollar note was nicknamed the "grey ghost", "grey nurse", or the "Bradman" in recognition of its proximity to the 99.94 batting average of cricketer Donald Bradman.
Hooroo = Goodbye
The Australian slang for goodbye is Hooroo and sometimes they even Cheerio like British people.
Australia is the only continent in the world without an active volcano. Australia has three times more sheep than people. The largest Greek population in the world beside Athens in Greece can be found in Melbourne Victoria. An Australian man once tried to sell New Zealand on eBay.
Australia is one of the largest countries on Earth, and the only country that covers an entire continent. Although it is rich in natural resources and has a lot of fertile land, more than one-third of Australia is desert.
The temperate climate is a huge contributing factor that attracts many people from other developed countries, such as England, to migrate to Australia. Because Australia is located in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are inverted as well so you can experience a unique summery Christmas.
After Dutch navigators charted the northern, western and southern coasts of Australia during the 17th Century this newly found continent became known as 'New Holland'. It was the English explorer Matthew Flinders who suggested the name we use today.
Nenagh Kemp, a psychologist at the University of Tasmania, told Australian Geographic her theories behind why Australians use these shortened words so often. Her theory is that Australians use them as a way of coming across as more friendly and less pretentious.
Among other things, it has been used in reference to Australia's natural resources, weather, history, its early dependency of the British system, distance from problems elsewhere in the world, and other sorts of supposed prosperity.
Mate. “Mate” is a popular word for friend.
Mate and friend are interchangeable in Australia. And we will often refer to our friends as “a mate of mine” or “our mates”. Guys will have a boys night out with “their mates”.
In Australia it's perfectly fine, how about other countries? Yes, saying “damn it” is swearing. Specifically, it is profanity—an oath that is taboo for religious reasons. In this case, it is a shortened form of “God damn.” The speaker is asking God to condemn someone or something to hell.