Aussie expressions

Aussie expressions

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Australian cat

Australia

Joined
20 Jan 09
Moves
386935
14 Nov 12

How many of these can you recognise / translate?
a few roos loose in the top paddock
flat out like a lizard drinking
the most fun you can have with your pants on
got you by the short and curlies
couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
an ankle

Some of them may have been stolen from somewhere else, I'm not claiming originality here. 🙂

ml

out on bail

Joined
20 Jun 09
Moves
12298
14 Nov 12

Originally posted by Kewpie
How many of these can you recognise / translate?
a few roos loose in the top paddock
flat out like a lizard drinking
the most fun you can have with your pants on
got you by the short and curlies
couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
an ankle

Some of them may have been stolen from somewhere else, I'm not claiming originality here. 🙂
All of them, except 'an ankle', unless it means ankle biter, which refers to young children.

rc

Joined
26 Aug 07
Moves
38239
14 Nov 12

Originally posted by Kewpie
How many of these can you recognise / translate?
a few roos loose in the top paddock
flat out like a lizard drinking
the most fun you can have with your pants on
got you by the short and curlies
couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
an ankle

Some of them may have been stolen from somewhere else, I'm not claiming originality here. 🙂
i shall give a few equivalents


1. you are not the full Bob (Dylan being assumed and intended to rhyme with shilling, an old money measurement before decimalisation) meaning you are crazy

2. doing the back crawl home (dead drunk)

3. you couldn't cause anarchy in a nursery (ineffectual organisation)

Constant Gardener

The Plot

Joined
07 Aug 12
Moves
52005
14 Nov 12

S
Lead, Follow, or..

Saint Petersburg, FL

Joined
17 Aug 06
Moves
131356
14 Nov 12

Originally posted by Kewpie
How many of these can you recognise / translate?
a few roos loose in the top paddock
flat out like a lizard drinking
the most fun you can have with your pants on
got you by the short and curlies
couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
an ankle

Some of them may have been stolen from somewhere else, I'm not claiming originality here. 🙂
"Arvo" comes to mind..

Australian cat

Australia

Joined
20 Jan 09
Moves
386935
14 Nov 12

Haven't heard "arvo" in years, maybe I'm mixing in the wrong circles. We do have a habit of shortening every other long word that way.

Ankle is a nasty insult, the implication being "two feet lower than an a-hole". Can even be used in mixed company because the wowsers don't recognise it as profanity.

Ro

Joined
11 Oct 04
Moves
5344
15 Nov 12

This one has been gaining popularity in recent years

'I'd like to congratulate the England team'

🙂

C
Cowboy From Hell

American West

Joined
19 Apr 10
Moves
55013
15 Nov 12

Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt.

Constant Gardener

The Plot

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07 Aug 12
Moves
52005
15 Nov 12

Australian cat

Australia

Joined
20 Jan 09
Moves
386935
15 Nov 12

Nobody picked me up on wowsers, so I assume it's worldwide.

Treat Everyone Equal

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Joined
04 Oct 06
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602252
16 Nov 12

Originally posted by Kewpie
Nobody picked me up on wowsers, so I assume it's worldwide.
Large headlights, if you get my drift! 😉

Australian cat

Australia

Joined
20 Jan 09
Moves
386935
16 Nov 12

No, it's apparently Australian after all. From our national university:

"The term wowser - surely one of the most impressive and expressive of Australian coinages - is used to express healthy contempt for those who attempt to force their own morality on everyone. The person who abstains from alcohol (for whatever reason) is not thereby a wowser: s/he's just probably very fit. But when s/he tries to force everyone else to do as s/he does, then s/he is a wowser. Or as C.J. Dennis defines the term: 'Wowser: an ineffably pious person who mistakes this world for a penitentiary and himself for a warder'."

IP

Joined
15 Jun 10
Moves
46318
17 Nov 12

I have an Aussie friend who refers to the outback as the 'yip yip', and another who refutes this and calls it the 'wup wup' (wup as in woof). Can anybody clarify? (Or are they just both insane, and therefore should I chose my friends more carefully?)

Australian cat

Australia

Joined
20 Jan 09
Moves
386935
17 Nov 12

Originally posted by Indonesia Phil
I have an Aussie friend who refers to the outback as the 'yip yip', and another who refutes this and calls it the 'wup wup' (wup as in woof). Can anybody clarify? (Or are they just both insane, and therefore should I chose my friends more carefully?)
Australians use "Woop Woop" to refer to a place far out in the wilderness as anyone can get. That's the usual way to spell it. Your guy is showing another Aussie habit, mangling a well-known expression. Aussies like to be nonconformist, mostly we spell real words correctly but occasionally we make our own just to show our individuality.

looking for loot

western colorado

Joined
05 Feb 11
Moves
9664
17 Nov 12

I guess Originally posted by Kewpie
How many of these can you recognise / translate?
a few roos loose in the top paddock
flat out like a lizard drinking
the most fun you can have with your pants on
got you by the short and curlies
couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery
an ankle

Some of them may have been stolen from somewhere else, I'm not claiming originality here. 🙂
I guess roo is a kangaroo. Love Australia!