British and Australian English – Vocabulary
Here you will find words which have different meanings or are spelled differently in British and Australian English.
British English | Australian English |
---|---|
A | |
a good job | a good lurk |
Absolutely! | Reckon! |
accident | prang |
afternoon | arvo |
aggressive | aggro |
alcohol | grog |
alcohol | booze |
American | Yank |
angry | berko |
Australian | Aussie, Strine |
B | |
banana | nana |
beer | amber (fluid) |
beer glass (285 ml) | middy, pot |
biscuit | Bickie |
bread | damper |
C | |
car paint | Duco |
cheap wine | plonk |
criminal | bushranger |
chicken | chook |
chocolate | chokkie |
Christmas | Chrissie |
D | |
dockworker | wharfie |
drunk | pissed |
E | |
engine (car or boat) | donk |
English person | pom |
Eucalyptus tree | gum tree |
evening meal | tea |
exact information | good oil |
excellent | ace |
F | |
far away in the outback | back of beyond |
farm | station |
fast sheep shearer | ringer (in the country) |
field | paddock |
flip-flops | thongs |
food | tucker |
G | |
game | brave |
Go away. | Shove off. |
H | |
Have you eaten yet? | Did you eat yet? |
Hi. | G'day mate. |
horses | neddies |
How are you? | How are you going? |
I | |
idiot | dill, drongo |
information | oil |
it | she |
it's fine | she's apple |
K | |
kangaroo | Roo |
L | |
lavatory | Loo |
lavatory (outdoor) | dunny |
Liquor Shop | Bottle Shop |
M | |
Middle of nowhere | back of bourke |
Milk bar (South Wales) | deli |
milkman | milko |
money | lolly (in the country) |
mosquito | mozzie |
N | |
New Zealander | kiwi, enzedder |
nonsense | piffle |
non-stop talk | earbush (old) |
P | |
postman | postie |
pub meal | counter meal |
R | |
remote desert country | never-never |
road for trucking cattle by road train | beef road |
S | |
sandwiches | cut lunch |
sausage | snag |
shark meat | flake |
sheep | jumbuck (mainly in songs) |
a sheep which has lost all its teeth | gummy |
sheepdog | kelpie |
sheepfarmer | woolgrower |
Shut up. | Belt up. |
soldier | digger |
stony desert | gibber (used in the west) |
stupid person | Alf |
sunglasses | sunnies |
swimming costume | bathers |
T | |
tasty food | num-nums (parent to kid talk ) |
tea kettle | Billie |
teacher | chalkie |
to complain | to grizzle |
to give up | to give it away |
to have a look | to gander |
to hunt for gemstones | to fossick |
toilet | comfort station |
tomato sauce | dead horse (old) |
trainee on a cattle farm | Jackaroo |
trousers | daks, strides |
U | |
underpants (men) | jocks |
undertaker | mortician |
V | |
vegetable extract (used for sandwiches) | vegemite |
vegetables | vegies |
W | |
waterhole | billabong |
Well done! | Good on ya! |
Thanks to Alexander, Matt, Richard, Marie and Paula.