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

Having that confusion when using a restroom is bad enough, imagine if they needed to use the toilet.

 

I thought it was Kombi. And as I have seen the video a couple hundred times, it refers to a "old" Volkswagen bus.

Now, if I can just get my head clear of that zombie.

 

Footrot Flats originates from New Zealand.There is a bit of cultural overlap with Oz, but a few specific differences as well.

 

Not that I can recall, but "chook" is still very much in currency as a word.
A certain former premier of Qld used the expression "feed the chooks" as code for answering questions from the press.

 

Not sure what part of Perth you live, but I see them everywhere. We have some planted on our nature strip.

 

This can get very confusing I grew up wearing goloshers, which I've only just discovered aren't pumps plimsolls etc but rubber over shoes.

I'm thinking about starting "Can I explain Nothernisms to you" thread.

 

Just posting to say it's great to see so many other people from Perth/WA on these boards!

 

Nah, you are thinking of boh'oow.

 

I'm just out of Mt Hawthorne. I'm clearly not looking hard enough.

 

Chook = chicken.
"Feed the chooks" is a term for self-gratification. Picture someone with a handful of grain feeding chickens and you might be able to work out the reference. We do need to be mindful that this is a family website.

 

I have older mates that still use the word old 'chook' to describe an old woman, who fusses about.

 

Thanks Rick. That's the versatility of our language.

 

and a bloomin' onion is not very Australian lol

 

I miss my Perth, somebody get me a ticket home !

 

This thread is great, it's something I don't think about how others outside of us perceive us, it's funny
when I see this thread and see it as normal, which obviously isn't outside of us.

 

Lol! come and see all the live music that is booming since ya left!

 

Here is a funny story about Outback (with the fake sounding Aussie voice on the phone and ads)
The first time I went there, they couldn't understand a word I was saying. I enjoyed that. Yea, we love steaks and beers, but most of what they have isn't very Aussie. And look guys it's a Prawn not a Shrimp ..... ok....

 

Well that's a new one for me, never heard a bonnet called a hood in an Aussie setting before.

Plimsolls are sandshoes, that's what the kids called them back when i was a wee laddie.
Plimsoll shoe - Wikipedia
Actually when i was living in England in the sixties the converse canvas type of basketball boots were called 'bumper boots,' have no idea why though.

And yes no one say shrimp here in Oz, they're prawns.

 

Yea that whole scene was almost dead in the ninties ... We were the last band to play at the Lone Star ....
Does the Paddington still have bands, that was a weird place to play

 

A hood?
Car talk for a lotta guys, asking another, 'so whattiya runnin' under the hood?' = what motor is in it etc etc

 

Something America is really missing is a Mrs Macs pie .... I miss a good meat pie ... nothing over here remotely like one

 

I don't know man, but I remember talking to you about it before about the live music scene.
I'm outside of Melbourne, but a lot of it is niche market gigs, 'roots' and 'acoustic' type bands, or more so
2 or 3 piece groups. Can't remember the last time I saw a 5 piece band in a pub, but I'm sure there's a few
joints in Melbourne that still put em on. No money in it though.

 

Just don't get one from a 'Servo'.
Servo = place to refuel your vehicle and get a drink and some hot dried bain marae food that's been sitting for
three weeks! (ok, exaggeration on my part)

 

yea they have that over here too ... the food poisoning ethic is alive and well ... they just have fried everything over here .... corn dogs, pastry with cheese, pretend mexican food, chicken offal is very popular ... they would deep fry dog turds over here lol

 

Chook is used and understood in England to mean chicken.

I've not heard the feed the chooks expression, though I did manage to work out the grain feeding reference!

The other use an old woman who fusses about again I've not encountered, but makes sense.