One of the most infamous Australian idiosyncrasies is the word for flip flop: the 'thong'.
In the USA a thong is a piece of underwear. In Australia, it's what they call flip-flops. Sometimes they also call them "double-pluggers".
'Thongs' are sandals that can be worn to the beach and lots of other places. Thongs are uniquely Australian slang.
Thongs – not the underwear
Flip-flops, pluggers, or what we call slippers. The Aussie version of thongs isn't to be confused with the underwear that gives you a permanent wedgie.
In the UK and the US jandals are known as flip-flops (which comes from the noise they make when walking in them) and in Australia they are known as thongs and South Africans called them plakkies.
The shoe known in Australia as a "thong" is one of the oldest styles of footwear in the world.
See also: 'Dirty Bird' (KFC). “Let's pop into Maccas after the footy.”
The undergarment is usually called a g-string (or colloquially, bum floss) in Australia, however, due to U.S. influences in Australia the word thong is now also used.
In Australia, a swag is a portable sleeping unit. It is normally a bundle of belongings rolled in a traditional fashion to be carried by a foot traveller in the bush.
WHY DO AUSSIES CALL THEM THONGS? The word THONG means restraint, referred to as the piece of rubber that is used to slide between the big and second toe to keep the soul of the sandal.
Informal. a sudden or unexpected reversal, as of direction, belief, attitude, or policy.
'Gumboots' And 'Jandals'
Both are colloquial, loveable Kiwi icons. The Gumboot is not some type of gummy candy, it's simply your wellies or Wellington Boots to use the proper term. A Jandal is your equivalent of a flip-flop or thong (ask the Aussie's for their answer on thongs!).
Rather than a form of fashion whimsy, Australians take their thongs seriously. Even the naming of them — after the structural make-up of the shoe's fastening rather than the onomatopoeic “flip flop” used by other countries — flies in the face of the Australian preference for shortened diminutives and nicknames.
Aussies had to be using unique and cool name and thus, they started calling it Stubby and since then, everyone in Australia share a deep connection with Stubby Holders. Though, Queenslanders still loves to call it a 'cooler' or 'cool can'.
Sheila = Girl
Yes, that is the Australian slang for girl.
Grog is a general term for beer and spirits (but not wine). Australians enjoy having a few beers or a bevvie (short for beverage), a frostie, a coldie or a couple of cold ones. Beer is also known as liquid amber, amber nectar or liquid gold.
Chook comes from British dialect chuck(y) 'a chicken; a fowl' which is a variant of chick. Chook is the common term for the live bird, although chook raffles, held in Australian clubs and pubs, have ready-to-cook chooks as prizes.
Daks: Australians call their trousers 'daks'. If someone mentions 'tracky daks', they're talking about sweatpants.
Bogan. Someone of lower social status, unsophisticated or trashy.
In the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand, the term chips is generally used instead, though thinly cut fried potatoes are sometimes called french fries or skinny fries, to distinguish them from chips, which are cut thicker.
A sandwich. Sanger is an alteration of the word sandwich. Sango appeared as a term for sandwich in the 1940s, but by the 1960s, sanger took over to describe this staple of Australian cuisine.
Australian and New Zealand English uses "chips" both for what North Americans call french fries and for what Britons call crisps. When confusion would occur between the two meanings, "hot chips" and "cold chips" are used.
The preferred Australasian term for fanny pack is bum bag.
Regional equivalent terms
Although the term "bogan" is understood across Australia and New Zealand, certain regions have their own slang terms for the same group of people. These terms include: "Bevan" or "Bev" in Queensland. "Booner" in Canberra.