Are there any "Australianisms" in lyrics that we can explain to you non-Australians?

The two bits from Men At Work I'm unsure of are these...

"head full of zombie"

"men chunder"

I know Kombi vans and bog rolls, Fosters and kinkachus though... no worries there, yer alright Bruce, good on yer, etc.

I mean I've been around, read Ginger Meggs and Footrot Flats, seen Skippy and Home & Away....

 

That's explained by the last line... "so we tanned his hide when he died Clyde, and that's it hanging on the shed." Waste not want not, but you can't write 'abos' anymore. Oh bugger, I just did, I feel a right wally now. Sorry Bruce.

 

Qwerty if I may, a cobber is a friend, pal, mate, chum, buddy, cohort, etc.

 

A "cobber" is a mate, a friend. Generally an adult male.

 

Chunder is short for 'watch under'.

 

"Sport" is an abbreviation of "a good sport" (as in a good sportsperson), so a "sport" is a good person. Was used as an alternative to calling someone "mate", it's a term of affection.

 

Reported developed when the convict ships established the Western civilization in our country. Those on the upper decks would call "watch under" as a warning to those on the lower decks that they were to vomit with sea-sickness, and were advising to stand clear. Chunder = to throw your voice = to have a chuck = to spew, and many, many more colourful phrases. Many being lost to the younger generations.

 

To translate.
Struth = a term of exclamation and surprise, similar to the British "Good Gosh!" or "My goodness!".
Flaming = notable or noticeable.
Bloody = a universal emphasiser. It's a bloody-good and bloody-useful word to have in our vocabulary, but those in polite society do not approve.
Galah = our native parrots, very noisey and destructive. In this context a Galah is a somewhat comical person.

 

And nobody says it anymore.

 

In the early 80s, Peter Russell Clarke recorded a version of Waltzing Matilda that explained the words. It’s quite good for those unfamiliar with it.

Just don’t google Peter Russell Clarke bloopers if ALL the four letter words recognisable in any dialect of English offend your sensibilities.

 

Strewth is short for 'God's truth'

 

New Zealanders tend to use some of the Aussie lingo but not all of them, like fair dinkum and cobber.

Heck, I remember coming back from a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon in Vegas and these Canadian tourists behind me were wondering about the term "crook," meaning a person is sick. Kiwis and Aussies are not that much different from each other...

And speaking of Kiwis, I had many locals while on holiday in the US not even knowing what a Kiwi is - and I'm not talking about Kiwifruit either (or the Chinese Gooseberry).

So lo and behold - the National Bird of New Zealand, the Kiwi (OK, sorry to step off topic, a little...)

 

Okay, here's another list of Kiwi-isms.

 

Yes, the similarities are there but there are also some differences. Like, for some reason, you wear Jandals, and we wear Thongs. And for an even stranger reason, people in other countries think thongs are some kind of erotic underwear. Anyone here will tell you they are plastic footwear (except for millennials, but we won't discuss their clothing choices).

Now, back to song lyrics.

 

Most words mentioned here are old unused anachronisms.

More and more I find the young taking up US English from it's dominance on the Net.

Is there a song with "chook " as a lyric. ?

 

*Rubber * footwear.

 

No questions, just some ponderings....

Why aren't The Saints, Midnight Oil, and Aussie rules football (the toughest guys in sport outside of NHL hockey) more popular in the rest of the world?

 

Most people in the USA actually think New Zealand is a fictional country created by Flight of the Conchords

 

Some people say thongs in the US. Others call them flip flops. Depends on the region I guess.. My mom always said thongs.

 

What's a jacaranda? I reckon it's
sweet-as!

 

Jacaranda is a type of tree native to Mexico and planted across Australia , my town is lined with them on the main street .

 

Little Creatures IPA = Nectar of the Gods .

 

Plimsols?

 

They mention it in this song. Melbourne band, rolling blackouts!