Not the act but the word; that great Australian term for sexual congress that gets looks of horror when explained to overseas visitors. Rooting. Such an earthy descriptive word but it's being taken over nowadays by foreign synonyms such as shagging, screwing, banging, bonking and, god help us, getting laid. Arse is another term sliding out of usage, at least in the print media, where time and again it is judged far more prudent to use the US expression "butt" to describe someone's behind.
Pig's bum to that, I say...
And yes, while we've still got a vast ocean of Aussie terms in common usage - words such as blue, flog, lob, pash, spew, sanga, piker, sheila, bodgy, bludger, cark and chocka - there are a great many that are dropping off faster than a speeding P-plater. Country folk reading this might well chuckle when I make that claim because many terms now considered ironic or old-fashioned by your average urban emo/DJ/stylist, live on in rural or coastal Australia, which I reckon is flippin' untold.
And yes, while we've still got a vast ocean of Aussie terms in common usage - words such as blue, flog, lob, pash, spew, sanga, piker, sheila, bodgy, bludger, cark and chocka - there are a great many that are dropping off faster than a speeding P-plater. Country folk reading this might well chuckle when I make that claim because many terms now considered ironic or old-fashioned by your average urban emo/DJ/stylist, live on in rural or coastal Australia, which I reckon is flippin' untold.
And I fear that, one day soon, we'll have saved the northern hairy-nosed wombat thanks to the noble efforts of environmentalists and grudging intervention of politicians, but some of the following words will be deader than the Tassie tiger.
Some endangered species include:
Bonzer and ripper: A proclamation of extreme satisfaction. Being called a bonzer bloke or sheila 30 years ago was high praise, now there's a generation of Australians who think it's a hair gel. Or the new iPod.
Brasco: An admittedly unclear term for toilet.
Durry and dart: Synonyms for cigarette, the speaking of which in fashionable (rich) suburbs sees you eyeballed like an escapee from prison.
Burl: To attempt something. e.g. "I handed him a nicotine patch and said 'Give this a burl instead, ya nong.'"
Stiffy: A sadly fading term for the male erection rendered somehow naive by yet another Americanism, the "hard-on".
Ooroo: Thousands of grandmas working in tuck shops (school canteen) don't know any other way to say goodbye, god love 'em.
Donger: Another word for penis. No wonder women think men are obsessed.
Clacker and freckle: Your bottom or anus. Moving right along.
Nuddy and starkers: Nakedness. Often while swimming, drinking or reciting bush poetry.
Rack off: Piss off, you heard me.
Squiz and gander: To take a look at something or someone.
Togs: Cossies. Not those clingy, lycra man-pants that make men look like a holidaying Italian waiter.
Bum crawler: Another native overrun by the introduced foreign term "brown-nose". Being called a bum crawler used to be the greatest insult for someone who sucks up to you, now it's a search term on porn websites.
Bum crawler: Another native overrun by the introduced foreign term "brown-nose". Being called a bum crawler used to be the greatest insult for someone who sucks up to you, now it's a search term on porn websites.
Veg out: Replaced by chillin', which is hardly as thrilling.
Brass razoo: An imaginary coin of trivial value, as in "I'm so broke I don't have a brass razoo."
Yakka: Hard work. See the shorts.
Clobber: While daks and strides still linger as names for pants, the all-purpose term for clothing gets less use than Anthony Whatmough’s dictionary.
Chunder: Writing in The Times Literary Supplement, Barry Humphries explained the word's meaning as being "the act of involuntary regurgitation". To spew.
Foo foo valve: As in "that looks heavy, watch out you might burst a foo foo valve".
Cobber: Your mate, who you'd help if they were chundering or bursting a foo foo valve.
Wowser: C.J. Dennis, author of The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke defined it as "an ineffably pious person who mistakes this world for a penitentiary and himself for a warder".
Galah and drongo: Rarely invoked by persons under 30, both are all-purpose insults conveying reasonable contempt.
Nong: See above.
Flip-flops: A description for thongs, which means G-strings in other countries and certainly confuses Americans when Aussie men and women talk about "wearing thongs to the beach".
Wigwam for a goose's bridle: A fantastical and useless item, the invoking of which snubs off an unwanted question, similar to saying "none of your business", i.e. "What's that in your pocket, mate?" "A wigwam for a goose's bridle, you drongo."
If any of you know of any other Aussie slang terms that you’re not sure about, let me know and I’ll add them on for you.
