Boofheads, utes and de factos: essential Aussie vocabulary

South Africans take words like bakkie and doos and tsotsi for granted. We say things that make no sense to anyone else on the planet, like, “I’ll be there just now. No, not now-now, just now.”

Similarly, while Australians might speak English, they have a vocabulary all of their own; one which may be quite confusing for outsiders. Here are a couple of terms (in no particular order) you’ll need to familiarise yourself with if you want to make sense of what Australians are on about:

De facto. n. News reports are always going on about so-an-so’s “de facto”. This is confusing until you realise it’s an Australian term for “common law spouse”.

Bogan. n, a. I’ve written about bogans before. Essentially, they’re the equivalent of Australian rednecks. On the train other day I overheard two high school students (one gay, one black, both very aware that they were quirky and interesting misfits) discussing how weird it was that an Indian classmate had a “bogan accent”.

Ute. n. The Australian term for bakkie. Bogans frequently drive utes, especially if they are painted purple or lime green and come with V8 engines. Australians don’t seem to have gone for double cabs with quite the same enthusiasm as South Africans.

Wog. n. South Africans may assume that this is a racial epithet applied to black people, but in Australia it is used to refer to anyone of Mediterranean origin, ie Greek or Italian. Just yesterday, a colleague of Italian origin made reference to “every wog and his dog” in a meeting.

Boofhead: n. Standard term for idiot, presumably considered polite enough to be printed in mainstream newspapers. Generally applied to rugby league players and the hosts of TV shows devoted to rugby league. Variations include boofheadedness and boofy, the quality of being a boofhead.

Clown. n. Standard term of contempt for politicians. Generally used to refer to the New South Wales state government.

Daggy. a. Uncool, unfashionable. A derivative of “dag”, which refers to the faeces stuck to a sheep’s bum.

Slab. n. As in “slab of beer”. Australians do not buy cases of beer, they buy slabs. Recently, the organisers of a motorsports events decreed that attendees could not bring more than one slab of beer in with them, as anyone who required more than 24 beers to have a good time was not welcome.

I will be collecting and disseminating more essential vocabulary in the weeks and months ahead. Suggestions are most welcome.