Transcript of AE 980 - 12 Australian Slang Words You Should Know

I went to the servo and bottle-o, this arvo on the way to a mate's barbie, but I was attacked by mozzies as I was just wearing my bathers. It was so chockers there because one of the workers had pulled a sickie and decided to bugger off for the day. So, I was like, yeah, ta but no thanks. I couldn't be stuffed waiting around to get served, so I too decided to bugger off.

What?! What the fu-?!

G'day, you mob. What's going on? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today is going to be a great episode where I teach you 12 different Aussie slang terms that are used in everyday English. Before we get started, I'm going to include a quiz in the description below that you can do after you finish this episode, to test your skills if you have learnt the meaning of all these words. Okay.

So, go and do that and let me know in a comment below how you went. Did you get 12 out of 12? And stay to the end of today's episode, because I'm going to teach you a nice little Australian slang swear word that you definitely need to know. All right. So, let's get into it.

Number one, arvo. Arvo. Arvo means afternoon, and we use this all the time in Australian English, you know, will you be coming over in the "arvo". Pete's coming over tomorrow "arvo". I'm going to the beach in the "arvo". And there's a top tip, you'll often hear "sarvo".

And it often is paired with the word "the" although actually this is a sort of contraction of "this arvo". So, "this arvo", as in this afternoon, will get contracted to just "thi' sarvo". So, it sounds like you're saying "the sarvo", for example, you might say, are you coming around "this arvo?" And you'll contract that down to, are you coming around "thi' sarvo?" "Thi' sarvo". Is Pete coming around "thi' sarvo?"

Yeah, he's probably going to come around "thi' sarvo". "Thi' sarvo". So, "arvo" meaning afternoon is so common you'll hear this everywhere in Australia. Number two, servo. Servo. Servo is the equivalent of what Americans would call a gas station. We would call this a petrol station or a service station, right, where you get service, I guess, for your car. So, anyway, we've contracted this down to just "servo" instead of service station.

So, this is where you go to get petrol to put it in your car, to fill your car up, to go on a road trip. The "servo". So, for example, people fill their cars up with petrol at the "servo". They might also go inside the "servo" after they've filled up with fuel to get some food and drink. I'm going to pop down to the "servo" thi' sarvo. Is that all good?

Number three, bottle-o. Bottle-o. I wonder if you've heard this one before. Bottle-o is Aussie slang for a bottle shop, a place that you can go to buy alcoholic drinks, alcoholic beverages. The local "bottle-o" sells great wine and whisky. My mate Barry works at the "bottle-o" and he's going to be down there, thi' sarvo after he also finishes work at the servo. Did you want to come with me to the "bottle-o" thi' sarvo?

Number four, mozzie. Mozzie. I wonder if you know what this is. A mozzie is a mosquito. A mosquito. These are incredibly annoying in Australia, they are usually out and about in huge numbers during summer, especially after rain. That's when they breed up and they usually ruin people's barbecues. Right. "Mozzies" always ruin summer parties. Ugh, I hate when I get bitten by a "mozzie". There's a bunch of "mozzies" at the servo.

Number five, and this is a two for one, I'm going to give you two here because both of these slang terms are used all around Australia, but people often just use one of them. So, you may hear either or. Bathers or togs. Bathers or togs. This is Aussie slang for a swimsuit or swim costume. But to be honest, both of those words are so weird, you know, no one would ever say swimsuit. No one would ever say swimming costume.

You would say "bathers or togs" or maybe even "cosi". That's another one for you. Short for costume. I got to the beach, thi' sarvo and I realised I'd forgotten my "bathers". Or I can't believe he's still in his "togs". It's like 12am. Some guy's wearing his "bathers" in the bottle-o. Number six, chock-a-block or chockers. Chock-a-block or chockers.

So, this is when somewhere or something is very crowded, there are a lot of people or there are a lot of things. It's really full. This was originally "chock-a-block", usually "chock-a-block" full of something. Maybe your fridge is "chock-a-block" full of Tim Tams. You know, or the bottle-o is "chock-a-block" full of guys in their bathers buying beer. But we can contract this down to just "chockers". "Chockers".

So, there's Australians making a slang term from a slang term. How goods that? I went to the servo, thi' sarvo, and there were loads of people trying to get petrol. It was just "chockers". It was "chockers". I went to my mates' barbecue and he chucked all the meat on the barbecue at once. It was just "chockers" full of meat. You're probably wondering why I haven't said the Australian slang term for barbecue.

That's because number seven is barbie. Barbie. This can be the doll that small children, often girls play with, a Barbie doll. But more commonly, at least for me, I'm going to use this word to refer to a barbecue, a barbecue.

Let's put another shrimp on the barbie.

This is either the machine on which you are cooking meat, device, machine. It's a barbecue, right. There's coals or gas that you're using to cook food. You usually do this outside where you might get attacked by mozzies in summer after you've gotten home from the beach and you're in your bathers. But a "barbie" can also be the event of gathering together to cook food on a barbecue. Right.

So, people come over to your "barbie" to see you cook food on a "barbie", so that they can eat it. Right. It can be the event and it can be the actual device that you cook the food on. For example, when I got to my mates' place, he was having a "barbie". When my friends came over on the weekend, I was cooking on the "barbie". Oh no, the "barbie" was great, but everyone ran out of beers. "Barbie".

Number eight, esky. Esky. If you go to a barbie, you're going to probably see an esky. An esky is a cooler, an insulated food and drink container, often filled with ice, usually also filled with beers, maybe, you know, some soft drinks. You go to a barbie, and you see that your mate has an "esky", you to open it up, it's full of beers. It's chock-a-block full of beers. My mate's "esky" is full of drinks.

I might also go to the footy and take my "esky" to the footy with my food and drinks inside the "esky". And I think this is a contraction of the word Eskimo. I don't know if this was a brand of "eskies". I don't know how it ended up becoming that. That's my assumption. "Esky". "Esky".

Number nine. Number nine is the phrase, can't be stuffed. Can't be stuffed. If you can't be stuffed doing something, it's that you can't be bothered doing something. It's almost like you're too lazy, you're too tired, can't be bothered doing it, can't be stuffed.

I just "can't be stuffed", mate. He "couldn't be stuffed" going out this weekend to his mate's barbie. My car has no petrol in it, but I "can't be stuffed" going to the servo. I love to buy a few beers but I "can't be stuffed" going to the bottle-o. "Can't be stuffed". This is a very common and great Aussie expression that you should definitely learn and use.

Number 10, to pull a sickie. To pull a sickie. A sickie here is a sick day off work. So, when you're sick and you don't go to work, you're having a sick day. But usually when we say, "to pull a sickie", this is an expression that suggests the person is pretending to be sick in order to avoid going to work. They're pulling a sickie. And you may also hear this when people are referring to wagging school, right.

They don't- The students don't want to go to school, so they pretend to be sick and they "pull a sickie". Pete didn't come in to work today, he "pulled a sickie". He was pretending to be sick. The kid didn't go to school because he "pulled a sickie". Because he wanted to go to the bottle-o and harass someone older to buy them beer, right. "To pull a sickie. To pull a sickie".

Number 11, and the last one before we get into the interesting Australian swear/slang word. Okay, number 11 is ta. Ta. Ta is just short for thanks. Don't ask me where it comes from, but you will hear this all the time in Australia. Ta.

Imagine that you go to the shops, and you've just bought some bathers or maybe you've bought some food to chuck on your barbie and the person behind the till, the register with the money in it. Gives you your change, you might just say, oh, "ta".

Right, thanks. If I go to the shops and someone opens a door for me and then I get to walk through, I might say to them, oh, "ta". Thanks mate. "Ta". And lastly, if, you know, I forgot something at my dad's house, you know, maybe it's an esky. I left the esky at my dad's house when he was having a barbie. He decides to drive over to my house and drop the esky over. I might see him and say, oh, "ta", Dad. Thanks. "Ta. Ta".

So, this is a nice little informal way of saying thank you. "Ta". All right, so as I promised, number 12 is a- An awesome, very common Australian swear slang word, bugger. Bugger. Bugger is a rude slang term in Australia, and it has very many different uses, okay. It's often used as a politer version of the F-word. The average Australian probably wouldn't even consider bugger to be rude, to be honest.

Aussies make sure that you comment below and let me know. Is bugger rude? What do you reckon? What's your two cents? Let me know. Do you use the word "bugger" yourself and do you consider "bugger" to be rude? So, just like the F-bomb, right, F-U-C-K. The word "bugger" is incredibly versatile in its usage in Australian English, and it can be used as either a noun, a verb or an exclamation.

We'll go through each of these. But just to give you a bit of context, originally the word "bugger" referred as a noun to a man who penetrates the anus of another person during sex or as a verb, the act of doing that. So, for example, the "bugger buggered" someone. However, Australians would never use "bugger" to mean this, and I would expect that most Australians probably don't even know that's where the word originally comes from.

So, there's a bit of interesting history for you. And again, Aussies let me know in the comments if I got that wrong. Did you know that's what I meant? So, let's go through first how "bugger" is used as a noun in informal Australian English every day. So, it can be used as a term of abuse, usually for men, you know, who's that stupid "bugger"? What's that "bugger" doing? What's that stupid "bugger" doing?

It can also, ironically, be used as a term of affection, when you're being really friendly with someone. So, if my son was playing outside and he suddenly fell over, I might say, what did you do, you silly "bugger"? You know, you poor "bugger". The poor "bugger" hurt himself. The poor little "bugger". And then lastly, it can be an annoyingly awkward thing. Man, this packet of cigarettes is a real "bugger" to open.

I can't open the door; it's being such a "bugger". Now let's go through how the word "bugger" can be used as a verb. So, we can say "to bugger" meaning to cause harm or damage to something. If I fall over whilst I'm running, I might injure my leg. I've "buggered" my leg. Oh, man, I can't come to work. I'm going to pull a sickie because I've "buggered" my leg. I've "buggered" my leg.

We can also use this as a phrasal verb, to bugger something up, right. To completely ruin something. I "buggered" up my leg whilst I was running. I was writing an essay for school, but I "buggered" it up. I completely ruined it. I stuffed it up. I screwed it up. I "buggered' it up. We can also use "bugger" in a phrasal verb, bugger off, which means go away.

So, if someone comes and annoys you whilst you're doing something, you might say, oh, "bugger off', you know, go away, get out of here. If someone's making fun of you, you might just say to them, "bugger off", mate. You may even use this to mean that you are leaving somewhere. Oh, it's seven o'clock, mate. The barbie's great, but I've got to "bugger off". I've got to leave. I've got a runoff. I've got to head off. I've got to "bugger off".

Lastly, bugger can be used as an exclamation, in pretty much the same way the F-word, the F-bomb can be used. However, as I mentioned earlier, saying "bugger" out loud is usually the politer, less rude version. Imagine that you have stubbed your toe against a table, you can use "bugger" to express anger or annoyance. So, I hit my toe and I might say, oh "bugger, bugger". Ow! You know, instead of using the F-bomb.

Secondly, you can use it for shock and surprise. And you may have seen this in that famous New Zealand ad for Hilux, where they pretty much use this word all the time to show shock and surprise.

Bugger. Oh, bugger me. Bugger.

Oh, bugger. Bugger me. Bugger me. So, if you won the lotto, you know, imagine that you just won a thousand dollars using a scratchy or at the races when gambling, you might be like, "oh, bugger", I just won a thousand dollars. And you can even use this as a verb. "Bugger me", I just won a thousand dollars. So, there you go, guys. That is it for today.

Don't forget, if you want to test your knowledge, if you want to complete the quiz, go down into the description and follow the link and let me know in a comment below. Did you get 12 out of 12? And also let me know if you've heard these before and if you yourself use these on a daily basis.

So, thanks for joining me, guys. Make sure you like the video, if you liked it. Subscribe to the channel and hit that bell notification button if you want to see the next lesson and share this with anyone else learning Aussie English. Thanks for joining me. See ya next time.