Aussie Slang/stuff we say differently to the rest of the English speaking world

G’day: despite what Paul Hogan and his ‘put another shrimp on the barbie’ slogan would suggest, not every person in Australia uses this term. For those not familiar with this iconic phrase, it literally means Good day, or in other words Hello.

Side note – one of the many things wrong with that add, is the fact that Aussies don’t call them shrimp, we call them prawns.

Mate: this is a fairly commonly used word. It is more frequently used by men. If we had to explain its usage, we would say it is in place of using someone’s name, eg. “Hey mate, how’s it going?” This word has a friendly connotation and can be used in reference to people you do, or don’t know.

Sheila: the only time this word is uttered (and even then we’ve never heard it seriously used) is by country Australians. This is a pretty old fashioned word, and in connotes everything that is rural, bogan and unappealing about the Australian language. (We will explain bogan shortly.) For those who don’t know, a sheila is a woman. If anyone ever calls you it, we give you permission to slap them. We are all for this word being phased out entirely.