His Living in America: G'day and Other Shortened Words.

The A-Z Challenge continues with the letter G.

Two of Australia's most famous landmarks.

One thing that I learned very quickly when I first came to America was that although Australia and America may both speak English, we don't all use the same words. Australians love to shorten many of their words and that is the topic for today's post. Some of them are well known outside of Australia, like "G'day", but others are almost unheard of outside of the great land down under. 


Here are just a few of them:

Ambo: Short for ambulance driver or paramedic. "Please move over for the Ambo."

Arvo: Short for afternoon. "See you sometime in the arvo."

Bikkie: Short for cookie. "Want some bikkies with you tea?" 

Bottle-O: Short for bottle shop or liquor store. "Can you pick up some Toohey's from the Bottle-O?"

Brekkie: Short for breakfast. "What's for brekkie?" 

Bundy: Short for Bundaberg Rum which is one of Australia's most popular rums. "Bundy is my favorite liquor!"

Chewie: Short for chewing or bubble gum. "Want a piece of chewie?"

Chrissy: Short for Christmas. "What do you want for Chrissy?" 

Cozzie: Short for swimming costume/swimsuit. "Don't forget your cozzie, you are going to the pool after school."

Out at the footy game

Footy: Short for football. "You going to the footy tonight?"


Garbo: Short for garbage collector. "That garbo is making a lot of noise picking outside."

Grundies: Short for underwear. "Do I have any clean grundies?"

Kero: Short for kerosene. "Kero is getting pretty expensive these days."

Kindie: Short for Kindergarten. "Cara is starting Kindie next year."

Lippy: Short for lipstick. "Does this color lippy look good with my skin tone?"
 

Time for Macca's

Macca's: Short for McDonald's. "Wanna grab some brekkie at Macca's mate?"


Pav: Short for Pavlova, a very popular dessert in Australia. "Please make pav for my birthday dinner."

Pokies: Short for poker machines/slot machines. "Going to play the pokies tonight?"

Polly: Short for politican: "That polly doesn't know what he is talking about." 

Prezzy: Short for present/gift. "I brought you a prezzy for your birthday."

Postie: Short for postal worker. "I can't wait for the postie to show up with the mail."

Pozzy: Short for position. "I got a great pozzy in line to buy tickets."

Me and some of the rellies.

Rellie: Short for relatives. "Heading off to Newy to see the rellies."

Sanga: Short for sandwich. "Want a ham and cheese sanga for lunch?"


Servo: Short for service station/gas station. "I'm going to the servo for some petrol."

Smoko: Short for smoke break/coffee break. "Is it time for a smoko yet?"

Sunnies: Short for sunglasses. "It's sunny outside so you are gonna need your sunnies."

Swaggie: Short for swagman/hobo. "Wonder where that swaggie is going?"

Tinnie: Short for a small metal boat. "I'm going out fishing on the tinnie later on."

Trackies: Short for tracksuit. "I'm wearing trackies for my run today because it's cold."

Taking the ute out for a spin on the beach.

Ute: Short for utility vehicle/truck. "Can I take the utes to the shops?"

Yakka: Short for hard work. "Lifting that furniture was hard yakka!"

Yobbo: Short for a loud and obnoxious person. "My mate is a real yobbo after he has a few drinks."

There are many more Aussie slang words that I will save for a future post. What is your favourite aussie slang word?