We are slowly adjusting to the Australian way of speaking. The most common thing with the Australian language is to shorten a word and add the letter Y or IE to the end. Relatives become relies, sunglasses are sunnies, the grocery chain Woolworths is known as Woolies and, of course, Australians become Aussies. There other terms that are less obvious: speedo bathing trunks are "budgie smugglers" (an excellent term), chickens are called "chooks" and a picnic cooler is an "eskie". The best term that we have come across is "bogan". The term "bogan" is similar to the North American term "white trash", but has a much broader definition. Bogan can be used for people who are tacky (such as the girl that we saw walking down the Queen Street Mall, spraying her underarms with deodorant as she walked along), it can be used for people who have mullet haircuts and wear singlets and shorts as formal wear. Most commonly it is used for celebrities who are unbelievably tacky and walking proof of the saying "you can't buy class".
There is also a fabulous use of the letter "o" in so many place names and the secret is that they aren't actually pronounced as "o" or they are not pronounced at all. Indooroopilly is pronounced Inderpilly, Mooloolaba is Moolulaba and Toowoomba is Tuwumba. The secret is to say the word really quickly. It gets confusing and our attempts at name-place pronunciation leave the Australians doubled over in laughter, but we are slowly getting better.
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