Saturday, September 28, 2024

OZ SLANG, CONTINUED


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This post continues the thread that was started last week about the loss of Australian slang and colloquial expressions, may from childhood days that are no longer heard today.

Some have been lost because what they described has disappeared, hence there is now no need for the workers and trucks that used to remove the human waste pans from the outside toilets, euphemistically called ‘night soil’ but the workers and truck being more descriptively referred to as ‘dunny men’ and ‘dunny cart’.


By the way, ‘dunny’ dates from the early 1800s and is Scottish in origin, from dung + ken (house) to give “dunnekin” as another name for the outhouse. Once the toilet moved inside, Australians and New Zealanders dropped the kin and kept with the dunny.

The main influence from the pervasive globalised effect of American culture, hence chips are now fries, mate is buddy and biscuits are now cookies.

So toady some more rich but disappearing slang, but no apologies for some of the rude content.

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Not here to fuck spiders:

Meaning:

From the Urban Dictionary at

Australian slang. The term is derived from and is another way in saying, “not here to fuck around. I am here to get the job done”.” Stop wasting time we have things to do”.

It also can be used as declaration that a person has arrived at place of work or sporting team etc…with set of goals and is determined to meet them.

Can be used as reply to obvious question.

Also can be used around women and children as “not here to fornicate with arachnids’"

Comments:

If there’s one thing Australia is not short of, it’s spiders – Redbacks. Funnell Webs. Trapdoors. Huntsmen . . . but what perverted mind would originate an expression that relates to not having sexual relations with them?

Certainly the expression is clear, unambiguous and immediately puts a stop to any dissent. It’s also a sarcastic reply to a question that has an obvious answer. It’s offbeat, blunt and sarcastic:

"Do you want another beer?"
"We're not here to fuck spiders mate!"

‘C’mon, get off your arses and get to work. You’re not here to fuck spiders.’

Where did it originate? No idea.

Margot Robbie discussed the expression on the Graham Norton Show, at:

A Swedish guest on the show mentioned a Swedish expression 'You can't just expect to come sliding in here on a shrimp sandwich."

Robbie gave the Oz equivalent.

Graham Norton: Graham: "But, in Australia you COULD find a spider to f*ck."

Comment from a contributor: ‘No Graham, in Australia the spider f*cks you.’

Another commented: “We’re not here to f*ck spiders” has got to be the greatest saying in the history of mankind

Also watch standup comedians Steve Hofstetter and Daniel Muggleton discuss the phrase during an Oz performance:

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Sparrow’s Fart:

Meaning:

The earliest time of the morning. About the time when all the sparrows get up and let out a little fart signifying their awakening.

- Urban Dictionary

According to the veteran chronicler of English slang Jonathon Green, the expression “sparrow's-fart” is a late 19th-century coinage, when country folk knew a thing or two about dawns.

The expression supposedly came about because those hours before dawn are quiet enough to hear a bird fart.

It remained a popular expression in Oz and is still used by many today.

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As full as a …

An Aussie can be full for many reasons, mostly from eating or drinking.

That’s where the expressions ‘As full as. . . ‘ come in –

“as full as a goog” (where “goog” means egg – an item that is always completely full, packed to the shell);

“as full as a state school”;

“as full as a school hat rack”;

“as full as a boot”;

“as full as a fat lady’s sock”;

“as full as a stripper’s dance card”;

“as full as a stuffed pig”;

“as full as the family dunny”;

“as full as Santa’s sack on Christmas Eve”;

“as full as the family album”;

“as full as the last bus (or last tram)”; and

“as full as a cattle tick” (picture a cattle tick swollen with blood).

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flash as a rat with a gold tooth

Meaning:

Ostentatious, showy and a bit too flashily dressed. This phrase is usually used of a man, and implies that although he may be well-dressed and well-groomed, there is also something a bit dodgy about him. In spite of a superficial smartness, he is not to be trusted. In spite of the gold tooth, he is still a rat. First recorded in the 1970s.

1978 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 27 August: Eddie is the ultimate lurk-man ... Eddie is as flash as a rat with a gold tooth.

2006 D. McNab Dodger: What brought him unstuck were his brazen schemes and lavish lifestyle. He was as flash as a rat with a gold tooth.





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