One of the first gifts I received from "M" when we were dating was this Australian phrasebook which has a subtitle of Understanding Aussies & Their Culture. I looked at this book and thought - How hard can it be? Surely, it's not that different from the US. Well, I was wrong. It's taken me almost 2 1/2 years to understand most of the phrases I hear. In the first 6 months of living in Australia, I came home from work almost every day and asked "M" what something meant. Even now I hear the occasional phrase where I have to ask for interpretation. Here are a few of my favorites:
Breakfast = Brekkie
The Big Smoke = City. Some of the Offshore guys I interview who live outside of Perth refer to Perth as The Big Smoke. As you can imagine, I had no idea what they were talking about when they said "So, you live in the big smoke!"
Cheap as chips = Very inexpensive
Flat out = Being very busy
Rug up = Dress warmly
Spewing = Very upset
Charge like a wounded bull = To charge high prices, expensive
Looks likes a dog's breakfast = Something that looks terrible
As rare as hen's teeth = Very rare
The list is endless, not to mention all of the shortened words and slang. I can honestly say that being in Australia, I have learned a second language : ) And I'm becoming fluent!
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