I am officially the new chum on the block, or a new mate in town. Translation: I am new to Melbourne. Since my time here, I have truly tried to live the Aussie lifestyle. I’ve even tried a little surfing and interacted with wildlife.
I have picked up on some of the lingo and norms within Melbourne. I spent a 30-minute Uber ride to St. Kilda’s Beach talking with the driver, writing down all of the popular slang words that are used here. I will admit the driver was an older man so I am not sure how much of the slang he told me is actually used by the millennials here, but this is the list I have.
- Jumper is a sweatshirt without a hood.
- Dunny is the bathroom.
- Macas is McDonald’s.
- Cloak is a coat check.
- Sunnies are sunglasses.
- A chemist is the pharmacy.
Some expressions used here are:
- Fair dinky means are you for real.
- Slip, Slop, Slap. Slip on a shirt, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a hat. Some additions to this saying are Seek and Slide. Seek some shade, slide on some sunnies.
- Dry as a dead dingo’s donger should be used when you are expressing how thirsty you are.
- I reckon, and/or see what you reckon, means I think.
- Bloody ripper means awesome.
There have only been a couple of social norms I have noticed. First, there is no jaywalking. Of course in the city of Philadelphia, where I am used to, jaywalking is also not allowed legally but socially it’s weird if you don’t jaywalk. Here in Aussie, no one jaywalks ever! I was actually yelled at by a very concerned suitemate because I jaywalked across a small street when it was very much evident that no cars were coming anytime soon.
Second is that Australians are very heavy drinkers, which I did not realize before this trip. Not to say that the Australians I’ve met drank every day, however, when they go out, they go hard.