Do the following sentences make sense to the Aussies on here? The people I have speaking these sentences are supposed to be native Australians.
...the convict galahs in Darwin or Canberra cut our grass or just do bugger all.
Go be a quandong, with one up the duff.
You larrikan! Watch your laughing gear, or you'll end up like a lily on a dustbin.
Is he the king pin or a clanger?
As an Aussie who loves slang, I'd never used those sentences in anything at all. In most cases you're mixing slang terms in a wrong way. apart from the specialists who use the word in it's official usage I've never heard of anyone using the word quandong.
It's remotely possible some limited area usage in West Australia may use something odd like you have, but anyone using them would be seen as a total idiot in most of Australia.
Also, convicts do not provide an out of prison labour source in Australia and Canberra has no prisons, they pay NSW to house the long term prisoners.
forgot to add 'lily in a dustbin' is region British slang and neither term is used in Australia as slang.
Clanger is referred to an action not a person. I.e. - the raid was a real clanger after Fred drove the car into the shop instead of stopping in front of it.
Would it make a difference if the people using this slang were specifically from the Alice Springs region?
These terms came from the Wander Inn Bunbury (Australia) Backpackers guide to Australian slang. It's on the southwestern coast, south of Perth.
Lord knows we have massive regional slang here in the US. You have someone from the south tell you, "Bless your heart", that's a savage insult.
You have someone from the south tell you, "Bless your heart", that's a savage insult.
It's even worse if they tack on "you're so special".
Dominions Son
8/14/2020, 11:15:04 AM
@StarFleet Carl
You have someone from the south tell you, "Bless your heart", that's a savage insult.
It's even worse if they tack on "you're so special".
My experience is different. When I've heard it used, "bless your heart" was meant to express sympathy or fondness for someone, like when a little girl stubs her toe.
When I've heard it used, "bless your heart" was meant to express sympathy or fondness for someone, like when a little girl stubs her toe.
Or, to refer to a middle-aged man as a (potentially retarded) little girl.
My experience is different. When I've heard it used, "bless your heart" was meant to express sympathy or fondness for someone, like when a little girl stubs her toe.
Granted, I don't know that many Southerners, but I have relatives in the South on my mothers side. The few times I've heard it used, it was done very sarcastically.
When I've heard it used, "bless your heart" was meant to express sympathy or fondness for someone
Bless your heart, you're doing the best you can.
Means you're too dumb to pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
There's a HUGE difference between a northern and southern bless like this.
ETA - I'm FROM Indiana. I LIVE in Oklahoma.
Means you're too dumb to pour piss out of a boot with instructions on the heel.
I have always loved that expression! I'm from New Jersey, and I've heard my dad say it quite a few times.
LOL!
These terms came from the Wander Inn Bunbury (Australia) Backpackers guide to Australian slang. It's on the southwestern coast, south of Perth.
One of the issues with localised slang in Australia is why I made the original comment on 'limited usage in Western Australia.' Most of Australia has a very mixed colonisation background, but a few pockets of South Australia and Western Australia have a very limited colonisation background. parts of South Australia were settled by large numbers of Germans and that gives those areas a different feel and slang to the rest of the country. Bunbury, WA is another case of a very concentrated localised colonisation with its own distinctive slang; in this case it's of a limited area of Scottish heritage.
Alice Springs has one of the most mixed colonisation heritage in Australia due to the way it came about and was established. Out of all of the slang words you mention I would expect larrikin, galah, and bugger would be the only ones they use while they stare at you in wonder if you use the others.
based on the content of what you've written, I think it more likely 2 of them to be as below, and I can't even guess at what you're trying to say in the other one.
...the galahs in Darwin or Canberra do bugger all for us out here.
You larrikan! Watch your gob, or you'll end up pushin' up daisies.
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My brother Gary is already helping a couple of other authors with their Aussie slang, so I suggest you may want to have him help you too.
I'm also providing a couple of other authors some editorial help, so it won't be an issue if you want me to cast an eye over the actual work done.
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Most Australian slang is based on a mix of slang from London and Dublin with a fair bit of Yorkshire slang included.
I can't even guess at what you're trying to say in the other one.
Is he the real deal or just a fraud? The slang book used clanger as 'telling a really big lie'. It mentions 'Claytons' as a fake. King pin, of course, is used in mob terms as a big shot.
Oh, and the other sentence was to be someone living on welfare, and pregnant all the time.
Is he the real deal or just a fraud? The slang book used clanger as 'telling a really big lie'. It mentions 'Claytons' as a fake. King pin, of course, is used in mob terms as a big shot.
While I've only visited Western Australia a few times on holidays and lived my life on the east coast, with most of it in NSW, I can truthfully say I've never heard anyone use the word clanger to mean a big lie, but I have heard it used to mean some action or activity was a big mistake. Although I'm more used to hearing people say something came a cropper than was a clanger.
Never heard king pin used to mean someone important until the late 20th century due to it being picked up from the US movies and books. The leader of criminal gangs was usually referred to by their name, nickname, or simply the boss.
Claytons is used as slang for fake or faux, but this only started in the 1970s following an advertising campaign stating the non-alcoholic Claytons was the drink to have when you're not having a drink. It coincided with a major campaign against drink driving by having a designated driver. Thus the designated driver could have a soft drink that looked like he was drinking whiskey by drinking Claytons and dry etc.
As to being a pregnant and living on welfare, never heard any of that. Someone living on welfare when they're fit enough to actually work but aren't looking for a job is called a dole bludger. There are many regional terms for a single mother who makes a living by frequently getting pregnant by different men, and the nicest I've heard was a professional breeder.
If the use of the terms you mention came from a single source, I would regard the source as extremely suspect.
There are lots of Australian books, movies, and TV shows you can use for sources of Aussie slang. However, I'd concentrate on anything from before 1990 for the more accurate works. While some of the movies are very jingoistic like the Crocodile Dundee series most are fairly accurate with the use of slang and daily language. The series Anzacs, The Sullivans, Return to Eden, Cop Shop, Homicide, Blue Heelers, All Saints, The Flying Doctors, McLeod's Daughters, Spy Force, and Bell Bird are good options, so are any movies with Chips Rafferty in them.
I've heard (and used) clanger to mean a statement that turns out to be wrong. Sometimes a deliberate lie, but possibly misspoken. For example, "The tourist made a clanger when he said he wanted to visit Austria to see the kangaroos." Or possibly, "The tourist dropped a clanger ..." or "Yeah, that was a real clanger."
I would tend to use "came a cropper" for something physical. Like someone tried to jump over the fence and came a cropper when his feet caught on the top rail.
There are lots of Australian books, movies, and TV shows you can use for sources of Aussie slang.
Robert G. Barrett wrote a whole series with Les Norton, a Queenslander. Practically every time he opens his mouth he says something in slang. They're good thrillers and hilariously funny, too.
Plus, for those who still want to know, Les found what happened and where to Harold Holt. (Hint: Bondi Icebergs.)
~ JBB
king pin
"Where did the term kingpin come from?
Kingpin involves a very simple derivation. It comes from the game of bowling. The kingpin is the number 1 pin, placed right at the front of arrangement of 10 pins. It is also called the headpin."
Kingpin involves a very simple derivation. It comes from the game of bowling.
I spent a couple of decades in competition bowling at the local and state level, and some restricted national comps. yet I never heard any bowling pin referred to as a kingpin at all. So I don't know where that comes from as being a bowling term.
However, I have heard and read about it being an important mechanical term in regards to steering systems.
I spent a couple of decades in competition bowling at the local and state level, and some restricted national comps. yet I never heard any bowling pin referred to as a kingpin at all.
I believe the term is archaic as it relates to bowling.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kingpin
Definition of kingpin
1 : the chief person in a group or undertaking
2 : any of several bowling pins: such as
a : headpin
b : the pin that stands in the middle of a triangular arrangement of bowling pins
3a : kingbolt
b : a pin connecting the two parts of a knuckle joint (as in an automobile steering linkage)
First Known Use of kingpin
1773, in the meaning defined at sense 2
I suspect that is the first usage for the definition2 as the Collins dictionary shows recorded usage going back to the 1750s and I know it was a maritime usage word in the middle ages - looking for a definitive reference for you.
...the galahs in Darwin or Canberra do bugger all for us out here.
FYI. This phrase would be widely understood to mean the government and the bureaucrats. Nothing partisan about it. All the politicians and all the beurocracy are galahs. And if they do bugger all, it means they do nothing.
I read those sentences and I couldn't stop laughing at how bad they sounded to me. Sorry.
The problem with those Backpacker guides is they are mostly written by tourists/backpackers and in such a way as to caricature the locals.
Very few people would actually use sentences like that unless, as Ernest said, they are from regions that have been mostly isolated from immigrants.
Talking abut Claytons, well that is a non-alcoholic drink that looks like whiskey but isn't. The ad jingle was 'Claytons, the drink you have when you can't have a drink.' It was aimed at helping to reduce the road toll as drink driving was seen as a scourge back then. So Claytons because slang for something that looked correct but was a fake.
So that last sentence might be 'Is he the king pin or is he a Claytons boss?'
"Bless your heart" said to a kid who just fell down, usually followed by applying a pat on the head or a bandaid. That's meant to be comforting.
"Well, bless your heart" said to an adult means something like "well, that was a stupid thing to do or say, but I respect your right to be dumber than a box 'o rocks".
"Well bless your little heart" means that if a rat was looking for a heart (or brain) transplant, yours would be insufficient. Often used when referring to politicians.
One other use is when referring to relatives: "Aunt Bessie (bless her heart)..." usually accompanied with rolling of the eyes. Everyone is supposed to know what Aunt Bessie's problem (often of the mental variety) is. Anyone not knowing is not expected to ask.
At least that's the way I've always understood it.
