In Australian English, diminutives are usually formed by taking the first part of a word, and adding an ending such as a, o, ie, or y.
I've noticed a recent trend for Australian social media users to adopt the American informal second-person plural pronoun "y'all". Come on, Australia, we can do better. The correct term is "youse".
"When you tell an Australian that there's an 'r' in the way we pronounce 'no' they're like 'Mmm… no, there's not,'" says Hume. That's because the Australian accent is non-rhotic, so an "r" isn't pronounced unless it comes before a vowel.
Why Do Aussies Use So Many Abbreviations? 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.
Contributor's comments: "But" at the end of a sentence is used in Sydney where it is the same as putting "but" at the beginning of a sentence. Thus "But I didn't do it!" is the same as saying "I didn't do it, but!"
Sheila = Girl
Yes, that is the Australian slang for girl.
Too easy means something along the lines of that is easy to do and no problem (also known as no wakkas!). Example: After ordering a coffee, the waiter tells you that it is “too easy”.
These Australianisms have been largely replaced by the international cops, coppers, pigs or bacon. However the older, more affectionate wallopers is also still used.
While some Australian speakers would pronounce “no” as a diphthong, starting on “oh” as in dog and ending on “oo” as in put, others begin with an unstressed “a” (the sound at the end of the word “sofa”), then move to the “oh” and then “oo”.
Cheeky: Used widely in Aboriginal Australia, the word cheeky isn't only used to refer to insolence but also behaviour that is dangerous. A dog prone to biting people, for example, would be described as “cheeky”.
Yeah nah yeah = yes. No wonder you're confused! A commonly-used word here is mate, which normally means friend. But pay attention to the person's tone when they say it – sometimes, it's used in a passive-aggressive way, and it probably means the opposite of friend!
Bum nut's origin does not need much explanation—it's a humorous re-imagining of an egg as a roundish (nutlike) product of a hen's rear end. Australians use a couple of other colloquial words for a hen's egg. The Australian English word googie or goog is an informal term that dates from the 1880s.
The most common verbal greeting is a simple “Hey”, “Hello”, or “Hi”. Some people may use Australian slang and say “G'day” or “G'day mate”. However, this is less common in cities. Many Australians greet by saying “Hey, how are you?”.
Contributor's comments: The word "bubs" was short for "babies".
A female kangaroo is known as a 'flyer' or a 'doe' and a male kangaroo a 'buck' or a 'boomer' (hence the nickname of the Australian men's basketball team, the Boomers). They live in social groups called mobs.
Sharks themselves have been dubbed 'Noah's arks', in an example of Australian rhyming slang (another import from our British origins), sometimes abbreviated to 'Noahs'.
What does it mean? Another word for friend. Common in Britain as well, but used even more enthusiastically by Aussies, who pepper the ends of their sentences with a longer, stretched out “maaaaate” that conveys friendliness and establishes a relaxed bond between the speakers.
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.
Early European settlers to Australia — many of whom were convicts — were from all over Great Britain and Ireland, and their speech patterns blended to form the new Australian accent.
Beaut!/Beauty!: beaut, beauty or 'you beauty' is a very Australian way to say that something is great.
hottie (plural hotties) (slang, Australia, New Zealand, now rare) Synonym of hotshot. (slang, originally Australia) A physically or sexually attractive person.