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Thursday, May 24, 2007

Sensitive New Age Spy - A Translative Glossary

I noticed while reading Geoff McGeachin's Sensitive New Age Spy that someone not overly familiar with the Australian vernacular might struggle with the meaning of a few words and phrases used in the book. So I've put together a little list of translations that could come in handy while you're reading.

Graveyard Shiraz - high quality red wine from Brokenwood Wines in the Hunter Valley. The fact that Alby and Julie drank 3 bottles of it the night before is meant to make you jealous.

Bondi Icebergs - this is a reference to a swimming club who swim in the outdoor ocean-side pool throughout the winter months. The members start off the season by chucking great hunks of ice into the water before jumping in (crazy dills).

dill - an idiot, a thick-o, a dickhead.

walloper - slang for policeman.

buggered if I know - I don't know (it's not a request).

like nuns in a brothel and
like dog's balls - to be very, very obvious. (Use: Bugger me dead, that bloke sticks out like dog's balls in that Hawaiian shirt)

bugger me dead - a common Australian oath (again, this is not a request, usually...)

pash - a passionate kiss.

stubbies - a pair of shorts popular with workmen, usually you see a size 16 arse crammed into a size 12 pair of stubbies to best display a tantalising hint of bum-crack.

Blundstones - a brand of work boots.

pollies - short for politicians (which is short for lying bastards).

crook - very bad, poor. Come to think of it, this could also be used to describe pollies... (Use : he is a crook driver - must be a P-plater)

P-plater - a driver who holds a provisional licence, usually a teenage hoon who thinks the speed limits are just a rough guide.

struth - an Australian exclamation, often of surprise (Use: Struth, look how fast that P-plater's going, what a dill!)

rooted - a polite way to say fucked. (Use: get rooted!)

motza - a lot of money, usually when talking about a gambling win. (Use: we won a motza, lets celebrate with a bottle of Grange)

Grange - acknowledged as Australia's finest, highest quality red wine. I tried some once...tasted like red wine, funnily enough.

Arnhem Land - aboriginal land in the north-east corner of the Northern Territory.

larrikin - someone who is always up for a practical joke - may possibly be mistaken for a bit of a dill.

As I said all of these terms are to be found in Sensitive New Age Spy and it's quite likely I missed 1 or 2 others. If I did I guess you'll just have to wing it, ignore it or possibly stew on it and feel like a bit of a dill.

2 comments:

Peter Rozovsky said...

Thanks for this useful and entertaining list. Dickhead is part of American speech, too. It means dickhead. The word seems to be more common in Australian English, though, to judge from the Australian crime novels and interviews with Shane Maloney that I've read.
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Damien said...

Maybe we've just got more call to use the word dickhead over here, who knows. I've gotta admit, said with enough feeling, it is a satisfying name to call someone.