AUSTRALIAN Culture and Language Help!

[Mudblood_and_Proud_of_it]

Hello all,
I'm currently writing a fic involving Hermione when she goes to Australia to find her parents. As she will be in Australia for a while, I will need anything anyone could tell me about Australia's culture in general. For instance, is there any special lingo they often use? Are there any special traditions I could include? Could you describe the general look of Australia (Sydney, if you want specifics)? Are there any landmarks I could mention?
Thanks in advance for the help, and I hope I haven't been to vague. If you are wondering if you should omit something, put it in because I am aiming to make this as authentic as possible! Thanks again!
Mapoi

[Merlin_Helz]

Australia is such a diverse place; it really depends on where you are going in Australia. Australia has 6 states and 2 territories. We have a population of about 20 million.

Capitals are in blue
East Coast
Bottom
Victoria- Melbourne
Victoria is the southern most state on the mainland. It has a population of around 5 million people. Melbourne is a pretty modern city, with suburbs and the like.
Middle
New South Wales- Sydney
NSW has the most people. Some famous landmarks in Sydney include Bondi Beach, The Sydney Opera House and The Sydney Harbour Bridge. They also have suburbs in Sydney.
ACT- This is a small territory that contains the nations capital- Canberra.
Top
Queensland - Brisbane
Queensland is most famous for its beautiful beaches. The Gold coast is a stretch of beaches that are particularly famous. The thing about Queensland beaches is there are so many, you can find yourself totally alone on a beautiful beach.

Middle
Bottom
South Australia- Adelaide.
Sadly I don't know much about SA, I’ve only been once when I was little.
Top.
Northern Territory- Dawin
The Northern Territory, while the size of Queensland, only has 600,000 people. Due to lack of population it is called a territory. It has some famous landmarks, such as Uluru and the most amazing waterfalls, rock pools and natural landmarks.

West
The entire west coast is take up by Western Australia or WA where the capital is Perth. Once again I’ve never been there.

Other
Tasmania- Hobart. That island from the bottom of Australia. It has colder weather then most of Australia and a smallish population.


Speech-

Accents vary through Australia- for example Steve Erwin was from Queensland. One thing we do a lot all over is shorten words.
Eg. Good Day – G’day
Aus-tra-li-a – “stray-ya” “stral-ya” (We don’t write it like that, but we often pronounce it that way)
Barbecue- Barbie (Throw a steak on the Barbie)
And many many more

Everyone says Mate a lot. It is very common if you fall over in the street for a complete stranger to help you up and say "You right mate?"
This is the best site I have found on the internet for Aussie slang.


Culture-

AFL- Australian Rules Football. There are 16 teams who try and kick the ball through 4 goal posts. If it is between the middle two it is 6 points (or a goal) and if it is between the outer two it is a behind (One Point). Sometimes referred to as “Aussie Rules.” While most states have at least one team, it is much more popular in Victoria and the Southern States.
(Those crazy other states love Rugby :P)

In general we love sport.

The leader of out country is known as the Prime-Minister. At the moment our PM is Kevin Rudd, but from 1996-2007 the PM was John Howard. We have an election every 3 years and you can be voted in as many times as you like. We have two main parties- Liberal and Labor. Kevin Rudd is Labour, John Howard was Liberal. It is compulsory if you are a citizen over 18 to vote at every election.

Aussies are generally open people and pretty friendly. We call English people “Poms” in an affectionate kinda way, and Americans “Yanks.”

I’m not sure about other states, but in Victoria we often make jokes about Tasmanians (in the same way Americans mock Alabama) and we mock New Zealand. We get annoyed when you mix up NZ accents with Aussie ones (Same way Americans get annoyed if you mix them up with Canadians.)

In many ways Australia is like America and England. We speak English, we go to movies, we go out shopping ect.

That’s all I can think off for now. Feel free to PM me.

[cirelondiel]

Yes - someone's interested in Australia! Prepare for an essay...

Geography (mainly WA)

West
The entire west coast is take up by Western Australia or WA where the capital is Perth. Once again I’ve never been there.

Luckily, I am a Perthite, so I can fill in this part.

WA is the largest state, with 1/3 of Australia's area, but it doesn't have a particularly large population. Perth has approximately 2 million people, I believe, and is apparently the most isolated city on Earth. WA is rich in resources such as iron and gold, and our mining industry is huge. We're currently experiencing a boom so there are lots of people living up north earning huge wages as truck drivers in the mines etc. On that note, an interesting place for tourists to visit is the town of Kalgoorlie, which was born out of the gold rush after A guy named Paddy Hannan discovered gold there. Kalgoorlie's Super Pit is a massive open gold mine which you can go see. It also has a tourist mine where you can go into a mine shaft, see what life during the gold rush might have been like for prospectors, and sieve for gold in a stream. There's also an interesting museum and some old hotels. Like much of WA, it's a dry place with red dirt stretching in all directions and it's HOT.

Perth is situated on the coast and on a river, the Swan, and is surrounded by hills. Near the top of the river is the Swan Valley area, with many vineyards. Closer to the coast is the city, with just a handful of tall buildings and a few nice old ones around among all the flashy modern office building. The Bell Tower, located right on the river, is also popular for tourists. Perth has been labelled Dullsville by the more 'hip' cities because of it's lack of nightlife, but it's a calm and peaceful place which is lovely to live in. On the coast are beaches such as Cottesloe, which is quite well-known (but not as much as Sydney's Bondi). To the south-west is the port town of Fremantle, a love heritage town which has markets, the old jail, cafes and restaurants to amuse you. Water sports are popular in Perth, taking advantage of our location.

Off the coast of Perth is Rottnest island, home of a small marsupial, the quokka.

The South-West region of WA includes Bussleton, home to the southern hemisphere's longest wooden jetty (you can go the end of it and go into an underwater observatory); the Margaret River wine region with many famous wineries (Margaret River itself is a pretty and small little town which is very nice to visit); many lighthouses; and large forests such as the Valley of the Giants where you can take a tree-top walk through some huge and very old trees (karri trees, I think).

The north is much drier than the green south-west. One notable town that I can think of is Broome, which is known for its pearls and beautiful beaches (the typical image of Broome would be camel rides on the beach!).

Phew. Sorry for rambling, you don't even want to know about WA, Mapoi, but hopefully some of that will be useful to someone, someday.

Queensland - Brisbane
Queensland is most famous for its beautiful beaches. The Gold coast is a stretch of beaches that are particularly famous. The thing about Queensland beaches is there are so many, you can find yourself totally alone on a beautiful beach.

Queensland is also known for it's, um, theme parks, I guess? Like Dream World and Sea World. I've only been there when I was really little, and my memories consist of staying in a high-up apartment, seeing a hot-air balloon and eating Vegemite.

Another important Australian landmark is the Great Barrier Reef, which I have never seen but it is very well-known and very long.

Northern Territory- Dawin
The Northern Territory, while the size of Queensland, only has 600,000 people. Due to lack of population it is called a territory. It has some famous landmarks, such as Uluru and the most amazing waterfalls, rock pools and natural landmarks.

Oops, that should say Darwin. Uluru is called Ayre's Rock in English, but the Aboriginal name, Uluru is used now. It's that big red rock

For Sydney, the Opera House and Harbour Bridge are must-mentions. Every tourist in Sydney would go see them.

We have a LOT of desert. Lots and lots. And it's a hot country: 40 degree temperatures are not uncommon in summer (we measure in Celsius, not fahrenheit) and have drought problems. It doesn't snow.

Language
The stereotypical accent you would know is the broad accent, but as you get into bigger cities most people speak with the standard accent (ie. not really long drawling vowels etc.).

One thing I would note is nicknames: we love to shorten (or sometimes lengthen!) names in ways like this: Jonathan = Jonno, Goodman = Goody, Smith = Smithy, Jackson = Jacko, Steve = Stevo, etc. As you can see, that may be either first or last names.

About 'mate': personally, the only person I call mate is my little brother (we also call him buddy all the time, but that seems very American here). I don't know many girls who use the word mate, it's much more a male thing, although they will use it for both sexes. I defintely think women would tend to use mate only for strangers more than their friends. But that's just my experience.

I never say g'day, either. Kids (city ones, at least) tend to say hi or hey in my experience. Again, g'day seems more a male thing to me.

Some things to remember (Australian - American or British):
thongs = flip-flops (the underwear is called a g-string here)
bathers = swimsuit, swimming costume (at least here - I believe that swimmers, swimsuit etc are more common in some states)
jam = American jelly
jelly = American jell-o

That's all I can think of for now...

Food
Deserves its own section, no?

We love our barbecues (barbies) and will often have friends over for one. Steak, sausages (snags) and beer are staples for a good barbie.

Vegemite! The dark, salty spread with its signature yellow and red label is beloved by many Aussies and hated by almost everyone I've met who's not from Australia. I'm pretty sure I've never met a tourist who likes it. It's typical for schoolchildren's sandwiches and on toast for brekky. (Oh, there's another exaple of us shortening words!) The best thing, IMO, is cheese and vegemite toasted sandwiches. Mmm, my favourite weekend lunch.

Meat pies are another typical Aussie food, especially when you go the footy.

For dessert, (and I really hope that Tash - Pondering - doesn't see this) a unique Australian concoction is the pavlova, a light, excessively sugary meringue-like cake topped with cream and in-season fruit.

We're also the home of the lamington (I don't know if other countries have this?), a sponge cake coated in chocolate sauce (or maybe strawberry) and then rolled in coconut.

Culture

AFL- Australian Rules Football. There are 16 teams who try and kick the ball through 4 goal posts. If it is between the middle two it is 6 points (or a goal) and if it is between the outer two it is a behind (One Point). Sometimes referred to as “Aussie Rules.” While most states have at least one team, it is much more popular in Victoria and the Southern States.
(Those crazy other states love Rugby)

WA only has two but it seems to be much bigger than rugby, actually! I see rugby as an eastern states thing. So there you go.

Cricket is the big sport in summer. I can't stand it. Everyone's heard of Don Bradman. A notable (?) cricketer of our times is Shane Warne, with all his lovely text-message scandals etc. What a great representative of the sport

But as Helen said, in general we adore sport. You should have seen the arrival of our Olympic team home yesterday morning! Whoa!

I’m not sure about other states, but in Victoria we often make jokes about Tasmanians (in the same way Americans mock Alabama) and we mock New Zealand. We get annoyed when you mix up NZ accents with Aussie ones (Same way Americans get annoyed if you mix them up with Canadians.)

Yes, jokes about Tasmanians being isolated and in-bred abound I don't know how anyone could mix Aussie and NZ accents up, and I haven't really noticed anyone mocking NZers much here. Then again, I'm a born Kiwi so maybe they just don't do it around me (I don't have an NZ accent, though - I think it's awful now!). There is a fierce rivalry between Aus and NZ in sport, though, especially in rugby (which the Kiwis are better at).

Australia Day is the 26th of January and involves fireworks and lots of barbecues, beer, and celebrations. The 25th of April is Anzac Day, which is a much more solemn event to commemorate our ANZAC soldiers. Christmas is also a big holiday, spent with family and friends.

All in all, we're pretty laid-back and open people. The values of mateship, good sportsmanship and a fair go and important to us.

Phew, I'm running out of steam. Okay, one more thing: we have a wide variety of bizarre creatures, like kangaroos, emus, platypuses, quokkas, echidnas, koalas (which are not bears, despite being called koala bears sometimes) etc. You can buy meat of kangaroo, crocodile etc in supermarkets but it's not common (I've never tried anything like that!). And it's not incredibly common to see those creatures around, especially if you live in a city. You may see kangaroos in the wild in rural areas, but koalas aren't commonly seen.

Okay. I've been getting less detailed as I've gone along, haven't I, but oh well. I hope something in here will be useful to someone. My inbox is always open to PMs from anyone who wants to asks me questions about Aussie life Feel free to drop me a message any time.

-- Chelsea

[OliveOil_Med]

I have a question as well.

In a Australia, what education would someone need in order to become a reseptionist?

I know in the U.S., jobs that use to be able to be filled by a fairly intelligent high school graduate now need two year degrees. My professors say it's becoming a real problem, the declining value of a college diploma.

[Azhure]

Yay! Finally, someone needs help with Australian culture!

In a Australia, what education would someone need in order to become a reseptionist?

You don't really need any post-school qualifications, just a good English and maths mark. However, it is often recommended that you take various courses at university to increase your chances of getting employed in a better workplace.

These courses can include:

- Business
-Office administration
-Hospitality
-Medical reception skills and medical terminology.

Of course, a lot of these depend on what sort of receptionist you want to become (medical, office, school, law, retail...)

There are also a few traineeships available. These include Business, and Hospitality.

So you can become a receptionist straight out of school, but you will have a much better chance if you get do a decree, bachelor decree or a diploma in one of the courses.

That's all of my knowledge on the subject, so someone else may want to fill in the gaps?

Okay, I do have time, so I will help a little with the language.

Overall our general language is a lot like British, but we also do have a fair bit of American - this is really confusing when writing in British English for MNFF because it's hard to tell which is which.

For the whole 'G'day' thing, it is very uncommon to hear that in everyday life in the city. A few people do use it, but most say 'hi' or 'hey'. In the country, however, the abbreviations are more common. As for 'mate' it is definitely a guy thing. I very, very rarely hear a girl say it.

One thing Chelsea forgot is that a swimsuit is also known as 'togs'.

As for our national song, it is not Waltzing Matilda. Since the Olympics has just concluded, you may know that our theme song is Advance Australia Fair. Also, don't get your ideas of our language from Waltzing Matilda; it's an old song, and we don't use half of those words, although we do know what they mean.

Oh, and do not ever say 'put a shrimp on the barbie' if you have an American accent. We do not say this over here, and a lot of Aussies find this offensive. We say 'prawn', not shrimp. The idea of 'put a shrimp on the barbie' is a misquotation that are sometimes used in tourist advertisements in America. I know this is slightly random, but please don't use this phrase. Some Aussies may love it. But it's not worth taking the risk.

For more Australian information, visit this webpage: link.

And that's all I have got time for. I will be back!

~~Azhure~~

[cirelondiel]

One thing Chelsea forgot is that a swimsuit is also known as 'togs'.

Really!? Well, you learn something new every day. I thought togs was a New Zealand thing because that's what we called it there, but no one in WA calls them togs, at least. But other states do? I didn't know that!

Well, that just goes to show that there are a few things that have different names in different states. I read an article in a newspaper once about the slang that teenagers use in different states and saw a few words I'd never heard before. So it's probably a good idea to check with someone who lives in the area you're writing about to find out what people in that area say, just to be certain

I think Azhure's answer to the receptionist question is pretty thorough. It's not a career I've ever looked into myself, but I would imagine that a diploma from TAFE or some sort of business institution would be a good qualification, and a university degree would almost be too much education! For some positions high school graduation would be adequate. It's not a profession that has strict high standards; it would vary depending on the employer and the specific job.

-- Chels

[xOxLyDzxOx]

I have a few things to add:

Food
Vegemite. We Aussies adore the stuff, it practically runs through our veins, but I know that people from other countries often dislike it. It's an aquired taste.

The barbeque. I have never been to a house that doesn't have a barbeque. It's generally the 'man's domain' - they get very protective and are likely to try and hit you with a shovel if you try and touch it.

Damper: camp fire bread cooked in the coals. Mmm. I'm hungry.

Beer: liquid gold. A slab is often worth more than your life, and my dad always jokes that the man I marry has to be able to open the door with his feet, because he should be carrying a slab on each shoulder as an offering to my dad

Our native wildlife
Just to bust a myth here; Kangaroos - we don't keep them in our backyards. That's illegal Unless, if like me, you have a farm and they just wander across as they please. You can't help something like that. If you have a license you can raise dingoes, but I'm not sure about the specific restrictions on it.

Australia is home to eight out of ten of the most deadly snakes in the world. A common, extremely nasty one, is the King Brown, also called the mulga, if you want local terminology. Another is the brown snake, which is different from the mulga, and which is considered to be one the most deadly snakes in Australia, as even a little one can deliver a fatal dose of venom. The third I'll mention is the Red Belly Black snake, which is common right along the East Coast, and is also venomous.

Footy
It's the greatest game in the world. Hands down.

The sixteen teams are:
Richmond 'Tigers' (Victoria)
Collingwood 'Magpies' (Vic)
Essendon 'Bombers' (Vic)
Geelong 'Cats'(Vic)
St Kilda 'Saints' (Vic)
Western Bulldogs 'Dogs' (Vic)
Carlton 'Blues' (Vic)
Fremantle 'Freo' or 'The Dockers'(WA)
West Coast Eagles (WA)
Sydney Swans (NSW)
Brisbane Lions (Qld)
Hawthorn 'Hawks' (Vic)
North Melbourne 'Kangaroos' or 'North'(Vic)
Adelaide Crows (SA)
Melbourne 'Demons' (Vic)
Port Adelaide 'Power' (SA)

A few things to remember:
Everyone hates Collingwood, unless you actually go for them.

Footy grounds across the states are; Melbourne Cricket Ground, affectionately known as the MCG of simply the 'G, Telstra Dome, Skilled Stadium, also known as Kardinia Park (all Victoria), The Sydney Cricket Ground or SCG (which is like the MCG's lame, try-hard cousin. It's Sydney - they just want to be like Melbourne ANZ Stadium (Sydney), AAMI Stadium (SA), Subiaco, also known as Subi, (Perth), the Gabba (Brisbane) and Aurora Stadium (Launceston). They also play at other venues occasionally but those are the main stages.

Language
It really depends on who you are speaking to. I personally say g'day a fair bit, and people do say 'mate' a lot, because anyone is a mate. 'Bloody hell' is a lovely phrase we use when frustrated.

A bit of lingo:
Noah's ark = shark
Flat out like a lizard drinking = fairly self explantory and never fails to make me smile.
You beaut = That is wonderful!
Aggro = My goodness, that brute was aggressive!
Bangers = sausages
Barney or Blue = arguement
Bingle = A spot of bother.
Bluey = Redhead
Ranga = Redhead (From the word 'orangutan')
Slab = of beer. The most magical word you can use, guaranteed to win you friends.
Bushed = tired
Go Bush = get out of the city and, well, go bush.
Fair Dinkum = Are you genuine, good sir?
Drongo, Tosser, Drop-kick = Loser
Grog = Alcohol
Hard yakka = My, this work is difficult.
Joe Blake = snake
Smoko = tea, cigarette break. A break from work in general (usually lasts all day
RDO = rortered day off (we take em all the time)

Generally we shorten lots of words, but it's difficult to pinpoint unless you live here, because it's so natural to us. As a general rule, anything with more than three syllables is shortened

Concerning the states
There's a friendly rivalry between the states and we like to tease each other.

Sydney is often referred to as uptight. Queenslanders, home of 'Brisvegas' (Brisbane), are generally referred to affectinately as bogans or yobbos. South Australia are the 'backwater' (makes me laugh every time I hear that) and Perth, well, Perth is Perth.

Culture
Australians practically live on the beach. We love our swimming, surfing, tanning etc. The bigger the waves, the better.

If you're drunk and it's three in the morning, a kebab is the way to go.

Australia Day is a just one big party.

Footy Grand Final Day stops the nation.

Melbourne Cup (horse racing) is iconic.

The Holden. One word: legendary. (It's a car, by the way)

Anyway, I think that's about it from me. I could go on forever, so if you have anyway questions, feel free to pm me.

[Merlin_Helz]

You don't say "Put a Shrimp on the Barbie?" I suppose I don't say that much either. *Looks sheepishly at Azhure* but we do say "Chuck a couple of snags on the Barbie." My Dad does say that.

I say G'day all the time.... Maybe thats just me. (Probably not a city thing)

Mate is a guyish thing.

Language varies greatly all over Australia, as you can see from the small arguments on this thread. The Stereotypical Australian's you see portrayed overseas are more like Queenslander's and NT.

AFL is popular among Victoria, SA, WA, Tasmania and NT (Although the latter two do not have there own teams due to lack of population). Sydney and Queensland, while having large fanbases in AFL also love Ruby. The Sydney Swans are the only AFL team from Sydney. Their colours are red and white and as you can guess, their mascot is a swan. (They won the Premiership in 1996 and 2006).

Sydney is probably one of the places in Australia where not very many sterotypes apply. It a very modern city as well as being quite fashion conscious. It is very much the gay capital of Australia, holding the annual Mardi Gra.

Haha xOxLyDzxOx. I think we are the only country in the world who get a Four Day weekend for a horse race. (Melbourne Cup Weekend)

We also celebrate the Queens Birthday- really any excuse for a holiday.

This ad shows our love for holidays. (This is not a real ad-it is Aussie humor from a show- The Guren Transfer. The challange is to make an ad for a chosen topic.) .

Someone from overseas once told me they couldn't tell the difference between NZ and AUS accent.
?!?!
What the?

If you're drunk and it's three in the morning, a kebab is the way to go

This is evidence. Seriously this is a real ad from AUS TV.

Maybe to understand our culture you have to watch our beer adds.

[ms. leading]

Oooh, I love this thread, lol.

One thing Chelsea forgot is that a swimsuit is also known as 'togs'.

That's a QLD term, I'm pretty sure. Mostly in NSW we simply call them "swimmers" though. Or you know, a bikini.

I come from rural Australia, and I've only just picked up on the fact that sometimes people do actually say 'g'day mate.' But it's never young people, my dad says it if he's passing someone on the street. "You right, mate?" is fairly common, too. But young people around here tend to just use "You right?" if someone needs help or if they're acting strange, haha.

Like Helen said, we love to abbreviate things, but mostly names. We even abbreviate abbreviations of names!

We NEVER say "shrimp on the barbie", except when referring to the misconceptions people have of our country. I've only ever heard "snags on the barbie" which is "sausages on the barbeque." Vegiemite - I'll have to talk about this even though it's already been mentioned - is put on toast, but only a little bit is necessary. For the best vegiemight on toast, you'll need a far bit of butter to go with it. I'm craving some right now, actually. Oh, and it smells horrible, by the way.

Rural Australians are fairly curious people, because we're, well, lacking in cultural variety. Not so much these days, though. But if theres suddenly anything or anyone different, we're interested to know about it and understand it.

Australia is hugely influenced by American culture, from the amount of American TV we have to ever increasing number of fast-food chains. But I could go on about that for days.

Um, I'm trying to think of some common slang. There's "footy" which I think was previously mentioned, as in football, either Rugby League/Union or AFL. I can't believe I just wrote an entire sentence about football. Anyway, we're (as in, everyone but me) huge on our sport, it's watched religiously. There's "arvo" - this afternoon. I don't know if people know this but we say "lollies" rather than sweets or candy. Erm "maccas" instead of McDonalds. Erm, people say "She'll be right" as in "it'll be okay." There's also "sunnies" instead of sunglasses, and "thongs" rather than flip-flops.

There obviously aren't kangaroos hopping around everyone's backyards, but there are wallabies hopping around mine Wallabies are basically small kangaroos, and I only have them in my backyard because I live in a rural area.

It doesn't snow.

It snows in Perisher, Jindabyne, Thredbo, blahblah. And doesn't it sometimes snow in Canberra? I try to avoid the subject of snow, though. lol

I've look in the job guide, and you don't necessarily need formal training to be a receptionist, and only year ten is required to be one. But as Azhure said, there are traineeships in Business and Hospitality that give qualifications for that job.

Oh, and Mapoi wanted to know about the look of Sydney. Just thought I'd point out that there are restaurants along the harbour with views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I don't know how that'd help, but you never know. The city looks like your average city, and there are more rural areas within an hour or two away.

And by the way, not all Australians are friendly and welcoming. I was watching a show on Indian call centers and what they teach them about Australian culture, and the students were informed that no Australian would comit a crime, and if anyone in Australia ever did, it would be a foreigner. This is, of course, ridiculous. As Azhure said, there are things such as bogans.

Some of these words you guys are posting I have never heard of before, and I wonder if we're just other countries more reasons to laugh at our slang. Eh...

Only Australian's and New Zealanders can tell the difference between the two accents, they are strikingly similar if you're looking at it from someone else's perspective. New Zealanders just pronounce vowel sounds differently.

I'll stop now.
~ Cassie

P.S. I'm also open to a PM or two from anyone who has any other questions!

[Azhure]

You don't say "Put a Shrimp on the Barbie?" I suppose I don't say that much either. *Looks sheepishly at Azhure*

*glares* Don't worry, it's not something I personally take offence to, but a lot of Aussies will get annoyed at you when you say it (especially if you're American).

Okay, I have more Aussie lingo (Australian language help)!

Ankle biter - A small child
Arvo - Afternoon
Barrack - To cheer (I think that's called 'rooting' in other countries, but don't say 'rooting' here - it means... well... having relations... *grins at Mods innocently*)
Bikkie - Biscuit/cookie
Biro - Pen/ballpoint
Bloody oath, mate! Yes, that is correct
Bogan - Typically a lower-class person, but it is often used as an insult.
Cuppa - A cup of tea/coffee
Greenie - An environmentally-minded person
Pom, pommy, pommie A British person
To come the raw prawn - To be generally disagreeable
Yank - An American person
Zonked - Exhausted

Those are only some of the terms my mum's boyfriend uses...

Anyway, I'm zonked this arvo, so I'm off to have a cuppa and maybe a bikkie or two!

~~Azhure~~