Originally Posted by ozzieeagle

It's a Sydney term from the 50's and aludes to those night cart men.... Their tins usually had kick dents in them..which is what I remembered.... I've seen a few like that....They didn't have those in the UK. (thats a idea for a thread actually so here goes)........



Most graphic ones I've heard have all come from Sydneysiders.

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow

Well, I've been alive for a very long time, Kimmy! I've never heard it spoken, but then I've never lived in the mining towns of WA. There are plenty of local slang expressions, all over the world, of course, which aren't common elsewhere. I can think of a few from the Darling Downs that I've never heard outside the area, and others from Toowoomba, and yet others from the parts of Brisbane that I've lived in. For me, those are in the nature of family expressions, and don't really count as "Australian". For instance... in our house we have a wonderful expression "two tuppenies!" meaning "spare no expense!" that had its origin in Kangaroo Valley in the 1960s.

However, I'm being too fussy. Do you have any more from the mining towns that have made it to the mainstream? Maybe "flat out like a lizard drinking" is one of them. That, too, isn't one I've heard in real life, except from city-folk. Sounds a bit too Crocodile Dundee to be real, but maybe not. In my part of the bush, words were reckoned to be too precious to spend unnecessarily!

Originally Posted by InVinoVeritas

A very old friend of mine is always describing places as "out in the wop-wops". His father was Governor-General of New Zealand for some years so I have always assume it is an NZ expression.

Originally Posted by spouse of scouse

I don't know if 'prang' is exclusively Aussie slang, but we say it a lot.

Originally Posted by spouse of scouse

I'll kill ya, ya mongrel!

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow

Or: "...ya drongo!" Is drongo still in use? I hope so; it's a splendid word.

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow

Or: "...ya drongo!" Is drongo still in use? I hope so; it's a splendid word.

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow

I've just been checking out some old photos with my brothers (by email), and debating how old one of us was in one of the photos. A toddler's age was reckoned to be four months, and one of the boys said, "He looks a bit hairy-arsed for four months!" That expression was - in our youth - usually applied to young male teenagers who seemed older than their given ages. I wonder if it's still in use today. Perhaps some BE member will tell us if they've heard it since he or she immigrated. Thanks.

Originally Posted by spouse of scouse

I still use 'stone the crows!', 'useless as tits on a bull', 'hard yakka' (said that to a Pom last week, to be met with a blank stare).

Were you born in a tent?
oo'roo
He/she has a kangaroo loose in the top paddock
He/she is a stubbie short of a six-pack
Mad as a cut snake
Couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery
Smoko

I doubt you'll need a translation for any of those, but sing out if you do

Originally Posted by Gordon Barlow

Another expression my wife and I use from time to time, when something drags out for a lot longer than it should: "Dear God! It's like Nellie Melba's farewell!" I wonder if that's still current, in Oz.
(From Americans I've heard "It's like Frank Sinatra's farewell!" in the same situation.)