The Illustrated Dictionary of
Australian English

Words and Phrases in Afferbeck Lauder

Ja

jack: veneral disease rhyming slang: jack in the box for pox
jackass ∼ jacko, jacky: a kookaburra
Also called the laughing jackass.
since 1850
jackeroo ♂ ∼ jillaroo ♀: a young person working on a station
The word has been in use since the middle of the 19th century and continues today. The alternate spelling jackaroo is used interchangeably. The first documented use was in Qld, and may have its origins in the colonial phrase jack a 'roo, which means to turn the meat on a spit. Originally they were inexperienced young men with city backgrounds from Britain or Australia, ostensibly engaged with a view to acquiring the practical experience and management skills desirable in a station owner or manager. During WWII it became necessary for women to take on traditional male‑only jobs, and this also continues today with the jillaroo.; since the middle of the 19th century
jack jumper: a type of aggresive bull ant
An insect whose bite can be fatal.
Known as hopper ants or jumper ants Australia-wide.; tassie slang
Jack Lang: aussie slang
A Labor premier of NSW twice, Jack Lang governed in the 1920s and 1930s.; rhyming slang: jack lang for slang
jack of: fed up, tired
He got jack of the place and cleared out.; since the 1890s
jack shit: nothing
All that work, and I ended up with jack shit.; since the 1970s
jack the dancer: cancer
Laconically, jack dancer.; rhyming slang: jack the dancer for cancer
Jacky Howe: a navy or black sleeveless woolen jumper
Traditionally worn by labourers and bushmen.
Named after John Robert Howe, who established a world shearing record by hand-shearing 321 sheep in 7 hours and 40 minutes at Alice Downs, Qld in 1892.
His world record stood until 1950 when it was broken by a shearer using a machine.
jack up: 1 refuse to join in
To show disapproval, to be uncooperative.
2 to raise or increase something
They jacked up their prices.; since the 1890s
jaffa: a very good delivery
After the proprietory name for the orange-flavoured chocolate lollies.; cricket slang
jaffle: a toasted sandwich
jam tart: a spunky young woman
British slang that survived in Aussie up until the 1960s.; rhyming slang: sweet heart for tart
jarmies: pyjamas

Je

jeff: to downsize or reduce funding, to ruin or destroy
In the manner of Jeff Kennett, the Liberal premier of Vic in 1992 – 1999.
Our hopes of getting fair wages have been jeffed.; vic slang
Jeff's shed: the melbourne exhibition centre
Spoken of derisively, owing to the bland architecture of such a large building in a prominent position in the Melbourne CBD, on the south bank of the Yarra River.; melbourne slang
Jimmy Woodser: drinking alone
After Jimmy Wood, in the 1892 poem by bush balladist Barcroft Boake.

Jo

job: to hit or punch
Watch out or I'll job you!
jocks: male underpants
Joe: a military police officer or trooper
After Charles Joseph La Trobe, Lieutenant-Governer of Vic in the 1850s, whose mining regulations were enforced by the police.
On the goldfields the cry of Joe! was used to warn others of the approach of police.
Hence, any police officer.; since colonial times
Joe Blake: a snake rhyming slang from 1905: joe blake for snake
joey: 1 a baby kangaroo , a baby koala; 2 a disparaging term for an anglo-aussie; Used by people of other ethnic backgrounds.
Similar to but not as common as skip.
john dory: 1 a table fish
Of excellent eating quality.
2 a story rhyming slang from 1980s: john dory for story
John Hop: a policeman
Sometimes pronounced jonnop.; rhyming slang from 1900s: john hop for cop
Johnny Raper: a newspaper
After the National Rugby League legend Johnny Raper.; rhyming slang: johnny raper for paper
joint: 1 a home, a place of business, any establishment
Come round to my joint.
2 can even be used for the entire country
They come out here and act like they own the joint!
3 a marijuana cigarette
jo-jo: bindi-eye
A lawn weed introduced from South America in the early 20th century.
Commonly shortened to bindi, with spiky seeds which stick painfully in your feet.
The word comes from Kamilaroi, a nearly extinct Aboriginal language of central and northern NSW, though it referred to another plant entirely.
In the Newcastle, NSW region it is called a joey.; from kamilaroi
joker: a fellow, a bloke
An aussie original, now also used in the US.
He's a funny sort of joker.; recorded in the sydney gazette in 1810
jonnic: genuine or true
Dating back to the 1870s in Australia, originally British dialect.; died out in the 1960s
joogie: a type of freshwater crayfish; Known also as gilgie, from the Aboriginal language Nyungar.
Also spelt jilgie, and colloqualised as joogie.; See yabby for more information.; wa slang from nyungar
journo: a journalist aussie diminutive since the 1960s

Ju

jug: an electric kettle
jumbuck: a sheep
Formerly quite common, now virtually obsolete except for its placement in the national song Waltzing Matilda.
Originally Aboriginal Pidgin English related to the phrase jump up.; from an aboriginal language
jump-up: a sharp rise in otherwise flat country
The area around Tibooburra in north-western NSW is known as
jump-up country.
jungle juice: a strong and rough alcoholic drink
Originally made by aussie diggers in New Guinea during WWII.
Also adopted (the drink and the word) by US soldiers.

Welcome to Australia!

This is a peculiar country where the principles of culture appear to have been turned upside down. Australians seem blissfully unaware of the achievements of their intellectuals… yet they will celebrate long dead horses, yobbo sportsmen, and bushrangers.

They often forget the words of their national anthem… yet it would be wrong to say they are not patriotic, as a song about a suicidal sheep thief seems to instil them with a great deal of pride.

If they like you, they will not give you compliments. Instead, they might call you names like bastard or drongo — and then laugh at all the silly things you have done. If you have red hair, you might be called Bluey. If you are tall, you might be called Shorty. If you are quiet, you might be called Rowdy.

first australians

Long before a word of English was ever spoken in Australia, the Aboriginal languages were heard all over the continent.

Each group or mob has its own language, but those languages spoken close to what later became the main centres of European population were those which have had the most influence on modern Aussie English.

Aboriginal words are likely to have been absorbed into Aussie English as local leaders from both native groups and colonists tried to find some tentative common ground; and as the new arrivals sought to find names for the strange new things they were seeing.

Aboriginal words common in Aussie English include yakka, meaning work–common usage is the collocation ‘hard yakka’, and cooee, first used by Aboriginal people calling each other through the bush.

Also of indigenous origin is bung, from the language Yagara in the Brisbane region, meaning "dead" and by extension "broken" or "useless".

Many place names are Aboriginal — the capital Canberra is so‑named because it means "meeting place" in Ngunnawal, the traditional language of the Ngunnawal and Gandangara peoples.

Commonly used Aboriginal words include many animal names, such as kookaburra, koala, wallaby and dingo.

animals of australia

immigrant influences

Whether convicts or willing migrants, the Europeans who found their way to Australia from the eighteenth century onwards came from a wide range of different groups.

At that time, there were great differences between different British English dialects, so that convicts from different regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland would all have spoken very differently.
Some would not have spoken English at all – being Irish or Scots Gaelic or Welsh speakers.

To understand each other, these groups would have begun to create a common language, and words from various dialects would have become part of a new slang and new idioms.

new australians

The children of those early settlers would have been keen to mark themselves out as Australians, rather than Irish or English, and that meant that new accents and speech patterns developed as quickly as the colony itself did.

It was almost as if an informal Australian school of English and Irish arrivals alike had set itself up. Words which found their way into the language via the convicts include tucker, an Irish word for food, and swag a word from the criminal underworld meaning a parcel of goods taken by a thief, but coming to mean a bushman's bag.

the gold rush days

This era brought words such as fossick into common usage.

The Gold Rush Days

the bushrangers

Many terms come from the bushranger tradition, such as bush telegraph, bail up, and game as Ned Kelly.

the first world war

WWⅠ added another layer of slang, such as dinkum , meaning genuine or real.

diminutives in australia

The use of diminutive forms of words such as arvo for afternoon or barbie for barbecue is common. Some words, such as ute, from utility vehicle, a car with a tray back, have become universal.

While many languages make use of diminutives, Aussie English uses them extensively – there are over 5,000 identified diminutives in use in Australia.