Appendix:Australian English terms for food and drink
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General vocabulary list
[edit]- arse nuts or bum nuts - eggs
- avos - avocados
- baked dinner - usually a meal of roasted meat such as beef or lamb and vegetables
- barbie – short form of barbecue (also written as BBQ); an outdoor meal of cooked chops and sausages (snags or bangers) and usually garnished with "dead horse" (tomato sauce) or sometimes BBQ sauce
- bikkie - biscuit, also it cost big bikkies - it was expensive
- billy - teapot, container for boiling water
- billy - a deep, round tin used to make tea (or used more generally for cooking) over a campfire
- brekky – short for breakfast
- Breville - a toasted sandwich. Breville is the name of a company that makes sandwich toasters
- bubble and squeak - a pan-fried dish made from leftovers, in particular roast meat and vegetables
- cap - cappuccino coffee
- chewie - chewing gum
- chockie - chocolate
- chook - chicken
- counter lunch/countery - pub lunch
- cuppa – a cup of tea or coffee
- cut lunch - sandwiches
- damper - bread made from flour and water
- dead horse - tomato sauce
- deli - South Australian name for a small shop open at times when other shops are closed and selling food, cigarettes and convenience items. From 'delicatessen' A deli does not necessarily sell fine foods, as would a delicatessen in other states. Also known as a milk bar, corner shop in the rest of the country. Most of Australia considers "deli" to be short for "delicatessen".
- dingo's breakfast - a yawn, a leak and a good look round (i.e. no breakfast)
- dog's eye - meat pie
- emu's eye - a method of frying an egg, using a slice of bread with the centre removed to contain the egg on a barbecue plate or frying pan
- esky - large insulated food/drink container for picnics, barbecues etc. Short for Eskimo, the word is a registered trademark
- fairy floss - candy floss, cotton candy
- fizzy drink - used to describe any carbonated drink/soft drink (non-alcoholic)
- flake - shark's flesh (sold in fish & chips shops). Also a chocolate bar (candy bar) with 'Flake' as its trademark name
- icy pole – one of several regional generic names for a frozen flavoured water product; also known as an ice block, popsicle, ice stick, or by jingo. (Known as an ice lolly in some countries.). Another term, paddle pop, generally refers to a basic ice-cream on a wooden stick, due to a popular brand of the product bearing that name
- jaffle - A toasted sandwich. Essentially the same as a 'Breville' but jaffles are toasted in an iron fire toaster rather than in an electric sandwich maker. Traditionally canned spaghetti or baked beans are used in a jaffle
- jug - electric kettle
- little boys - A tongue in cheek term for cocktail sausages. More correctly known as 'cocktail frankfurts'. Americans know them as 'cocktail wieners'
- lolly (plural: lollies) – confectionery (cf. American candy, UK sweets).
- lolly water - used to describe soft drink/soda and any alcoholic drink of low alcoholic content. Used as a term of derision, the second meaning is typically used by seasoned drinkers. Can also describe a drink which is too sweet
- lunch bar - a small shop selling food items between 6 a.m. and 3 or 4 p.m., usually located in an industrial area for the convenience of workers.
- maggot bag - a meat pie
- mash - mashed potatoes
- mystery bag - a sausage
- pav – pavlova, a large plate sized kind of meringue dessert, with cream and fruit topping. Also used in New Zealand English
- pie floater – a meat pie floating in a bowl of pea soup. Generally limited to South Australia
- plate, bring a - instruction on party or BBQ invitation to bring a plate of food to share; it doesn't mean the hosts are short of crockery
- poofter beer - a derogatory term for any of a variety of canned and bottled pre-mixed coloured alcoholic drinks if drunk by a man
- sultana - a raisin
- sanger - a sandwich
- banger, snagger or snag – a sausage
- sav - saveloy (see also "fair suck of the sav")
- snag - a sausage
- snake - a steak
- spag bol or spag bog - spaghetti bolognese
- spud – potato
- tucker - food
- tucker-bag - food bag
- veggies - vegetables
Processed pork
[edit]According to linguists, the easiest way to tell which part of Australia someone comes from is to ask them what they call bland-tasting, processed pork, sold under various brand names in plastic-wrapped tubes. Similar products are known in North America as baloney and in the UK as pork luncheon meat. These are known by different names in different regions of Australia.
- Belgium sausage – Tasmania (A beef variant is known as beef Belgium.)
- Byron sausage – New England; New South Wales, Northern Rivers (where it was originally made)].
- devon – Victoria, New South Wales (except Hunter Valley and New England), Tasmania, Australian Capital Territory
- empire sausage – Hunter Valley
- fritz – South Australia and Broken Hill, New South Wales
- German sausage or pork German – Victoria and northern Tasmania
- veal German or luncheon – Queensland
- Mortadello - Queensland
- polony – Western Australia
- round meat – Northern Territory
- strasburg or strasbourg or stras – Victoria, Tasmania (The name is used for a spicier, wider-sliced processed meat in other areas.)
- wheel meat – Tasmania
- windsor sausage – North Queensland
Drink, drinking and drunkenness
[edit]- amber fluid - beer
- binge - to consume large quantities of alcohol
- blow in the bag - have a breathalyser test; originates from the days where you would blow into a plastic bag with crystals in it. If the crystals changed colour, you were over the limit.
- blotto - drunk to the point of being incoherent and/or unable to stand
- blow chunks - to throw up
- booze bus - police vehicle used for catching drunk drivers. Also BAD (Breath Alcohol and Drug) bus
- boozer - a pub
- bottle shop – a shop selling alcoholic drinks (for external consumption). cf. British English off-licence
- bottlo or bottle-o - (pronounced IPA(key): /ˈbɔt.l̩ˌəʉ/) diminutive form of bottle shop; ; originally a man with hessian bags going around picking up beer bottles in the late 19th and early 20th century.
- (to)break the seal- to urinate for the first time during a drinking session. This reputedly leads to further, frequent urination - see half hour wanders
- Bundy - Bundaberg Rum
- BYO - unlicensed restaurant where you have to bring your own alcohol, also similar party or barbecue
- cab sav - cabernet sauvignon (a type of wine or the variety of grape from which it is made)
- charged - drunk
- Clayton's - a non-alcoholic cordial drink advertised as "the drink you have when you're not having a drink'. Used as an adjective to denote something second-rate, worthless or false, as in 'Working at Maccas is a Clayton's job'. i.e. a job you have when you haven't got a job.
- cleanskin - bottle of wine without a label. Usually bought in bulk by companies who then add their own personalised label and use the wine as e.g. gifts to clients
- coldie - a cold beer
- Darwin stubby – a very large bottle of beer. Derived from NT Draught bottles, which came in sizes up to 2 litres.
- dead soldier or dead marine – empty beer bottle
- drink with the flies - to drink alone
- drunk tank - police cells used for holding offenders arrested drunk and disorderly
- echo - in South Australia stubbies were sold with a deposit and returnable for recycling and were therefore known as echoes
- franz lizst - rhyming slang for pissed
- full - drunk
- gin's handbag - a wine cask. ('gin' is a highly offensive term for an Aboriginal woman)
- goog, as full as a - drunk; goog is a variation of the northern English slangword goggie meaning an egg
- goom - methylated spirits (also known as "metho" or "white lady")
- goon – cheap cask wine, also can mean the bag containing the wine also know as a goon bag
- goon of fortune - drinking game where a (full) goon bag is tied to a Hill's Hoist (rotary clothes line) and spun, with the person standing closest to where the bag stops taking a drink. Game ends when all players fall unconscious and/or all the goon is consumed and the pubs are all closed and therefore unable to replenish supply
- grog - liquor, beer
- gutful of piss - drunk
- gutst - drunk
- hammered - considerably drunk
- half cut or half-charged - moderately drunk
- half hour wanders - almost clockwork 30 minute interval pressing requirement to urinate when comsuming alcohol, occurring after break the seal initiated
- heavy - full strength beer (in comparison to "light", ie low alcohol, beer)
- hotel - often just a pub
- Jimmy Woodser - one who drinks alone rather than in a school (semi-defunct)
- king brown- 750ml bottle of beer, used in Western Australia; see tallie
- legless – drunk
- longneck - 750ml bottle of beer; used in New South Wales and South Australia; see tallie
- loose - see also maggoted, drunk, pissed etc - term to describe very drunk. "I'm so loose". Also can be used to describe an event where drinking will be involved - "things are going to get loose"
- maggoted - term to describe one as extremely drunk
- off one's tits or off one's face – to be extremely drunk or otherwise intoxicated
- piss - alcohol
- pissed – drunk, also pissed as a parrot
- piss tank also 'piss head' - one noted for excessive consumption of alcohol
- piss-up – a drinking session, a party/get-together – usually one where excessive alcohol consumption is expected; sometimes heard in the phrase couldn't organise a piss-up in a brewery i.e. disorganised and/or ineffectual
- plonk - cheap wine (from WWI rhyming slang, plinkety plonk, vin blanc (Fr. white wine)
- plonko - a person who drinks cheap wine; a wino
- poofter beer - a derogatory term for any of a variety of can and bottled pre-mixed coloured alcoholic drinks if drunk by a man
- roadie - a final drink, usually had before heading home/parting ways with drinking partner or school
- rotten - drunk
- rubbity - a hotel; rhyming slang for "rubbity dub dub", a pub
- school - a group of people drinking together, taking it in turns to "shout"
- shout - turn to buy - a round of drinks usually ("It's your shout.")
- slab - a carton of 24 bottles or cans of beer, recently augmented in some states by the block, which contains 30 cans.
- slaughtered - considerably drunk
- skin full - drunk
- skull/skol (a beer) - to drink a beer in a single draught without taking a breath
- smashed - considerably drunk
- Stollies - Stolichnaya vodka, especially in pre-mixed form
- stonkered - drunk
- stubby - a 375 ml bottle of beer
- stubby holder - polystyrene or neoprene insulated holder for a stubby
- tallie - a 750 ml bottle of beer; see longneck
- tanked - Being drunk
- technicolour yawn or chunder - to throw up, see also blow chunks
- throw-down - a small bottle of beer which you can drink ("throw down") quickly
- tinny - can of beer
- tired and emotional - drunk, originated with ex TV current affairs host Mike Willesee appearing live one night having a giggle fit and slurring his words. Explained away by management the next day as due to him being "tired and emotional".
- turps - any alcoholic drink
- turps, hit the - go on a drinking binge
- VB - abbreviation for Victoria Bitter, a brand of beer
- wedge also topper or tweeny - If a member of a school has finished his drink and no one else has, he may order a drink for himself while he waits for the others to finish theirs. This is having, or slipping, a wedge. Someone who does this still has to take his 'shout' when his turn comes round.
- wobbly boot on, he's got the - drunk
- XXXX - a popular beer in Queensland, pronounced 'four x'. American visitors should not confuse this brand with the American FourEx, a brand of condom. In other States it is generally held that XXXX is used because Queenslanders can't spell 'beer'.