In the US, if a group of men were talking about penii, they would likely use the word “dick” in casual conversation. (Like, “Hey, did you hear about the guy whose wife cut his dick off?”)
Would Australian men use the word “donger” in the same context? If not, what word would be most appropriate? Keep in mind that I’m talking about a casual conversation (such as between soldiers or college students, not doctors).
I think us Australians have different standards of offensiveness than Americans. For instance, the words “fuck”, “cunt” and “shit” can all be heard on free-to-air television; and most people wouldn’t bat an eyelid at the dropping of an f-bomb in a casual conversation.
To answer your question though, we’d probably use “dick” or “cock” in casual conversation. “Donger” is hardly a big taboo word, but it’s not as common as these two.
The plural of penis, incidentally, is “penises” or “penes”.
Thanks! I wanted to make sure a group of Australian guards would use the word “dick” at all, or if it’s just not considered a slang for penis in Australia. I think I like the word “cock” better, though. It’s a harsher, stronger word.
And thanks for correcting me on the plural of penis. I think I saw it on one of the websites I was trying to find the info on and didn’t bother to see if it was correct or not.
What Jervoise said.
“Donger” is probably about the same in offensiveness as “dick” (ie. not very), but it’s not used much these days, and when it is used, it tends to be in a humourous context - a person trying to impersonate Steve Irwin might use it. The blokes at the pub, on the other hand, would probably say “dick”.
While everything you say here is accurate, I’d just like to make the point that acceptance of those particular terms isn’t an across-the-board given. Many people will still take offence to them (especially the middle one), and while the former and the latter are shown on television with increasing frequency, the dreaded “c-word” is not really in widespread use on Australian television. AFAIK, the “f-word” only began playing on television about 10 or so years ago, and I recall the movie Point Break being edited to remove the line “Leave some fucking hair, man” cir 1992. In some circles, “dick” and even “bloody” are still forbidden as mild curse words.
Sorry to nitpick, just didn’t want to see some poor unfortunate Merkin showing up at an Aussie church group slinging around the f-word because it’s potential to offend had been understated 
Damn! There go my vacation plans.
I’m a New Zealander, but have spent a bit of time in Australia, and I have never heard the word “cunt” used on free to air television, either here or in Oz. Is this for real? I can’t imagine any of our major free to air networks having the balls to air it.
As for the OP, if I heard someone using the word “donger”, I’d probably just laugh. It’s a funny sounding word, and no-one I know would ever use it, certainly not seriously. Dick or cock would be the most common.
Actually Aussie Dopers remember Paul Hogan’s fat cop character wasn’t his name Donger? That would have been in the 70s.
Yeah and now I recall Leo Wanker the crap magician.
I’ve got a copy of Trainspotting taped from TV, and I’m pretty sure there are plenty of cunts in that.
Well Begbie for one.
I’ve only ever heard “cunt” used once on free-to-air Aussie TV. It was about ten years ago, and late at night on SBS (which is probably the most adventurous network). It actually made me sit up and take notice. It’s still pretty taboo here. You’ll hear “fuck” and “shit” fairly frequently after 8:30pm though.
I’m pretty sure it’s been on UK TV at least once, so it may not be a stretch to imagine it elsewhere. I certainly remember it from at least one comedy show (Brass Eye), and vaguely recall one other.
The delightfully quaint MediaWatch monitored swearword use in televised films during 2003, and found that “[t]hankfully, the use of the word ‘C**T’ remains rare occurring only once in ‘Mean Streets’ and once in ‘Things to do in Denver when You’re Dead’.”
Some interesting (UK) background: http://www.bsc.org.uk/pdfs/research/Bad_lang.pdf