Is there such a language as “Australian”? Although in Australia, they speak English, often times they have expressions, sayings or even words that are completely different than the English spoken in Canada. Australians use many of the same words in shortened versions. For example no one says University. They refer to it as “uni”. In addition, it isn’t portfolio, rather just “folio”. The expression “no worries”, is also an Australian expression. I use this expression all the time, therefore being in Australia, I felt like I was fitting in, as I said no worries rather than you are welcome by nature.
With spelling, Australians spell, colour, and mum the same as Canadians, however if a word has the letter Z in the middle, they replace it with an s. For example, it is “organisation”, with an “s” not organization!
Throughout my stay, I began to pick up on the expressions, and actually use some of them. It is like learning a new version of English.
Some of the vocabulary and expressions I learned:
G’day mate: Hello Friend (common greeting)
Dogs breakfast: A mess
Lollies: Candy
Pig’s arse!: I don’t agree with you
Cactus: Not functioning
Jumper: Sweater
Nappies: Diapers
Woop Woop: Name of an unknown town in the middle of no where
Footy: Australian rules football
Earbashing: non-stop chatter
A great and useful website for “Australian”
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html#P