# Aussies: when kangaroos wander around in Canberra, where do they come \*from\*?\[Now on Aussie slang\] **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 7, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494 "2018-07-07T22:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/101 "2018-07-13T05:52:50Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Yes, Bonzer is first rate, excellent, grouse, splendid, ripper, wacko, very pleasing. > > Bonzer only comes with one acceptable qualifier i.e. bewdy bonzer. > > Spoken deadpan it can also be used absolutely ironically. Don’t listen to **penultima thule**. Bonzer can also be prefaced by BLOODY. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/102 "2018-07-13T07:24:27Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Don’t listen to **penultima thule**. Bonzer can also be prefaced by BLOODY. > > 😃 [sigh] We are educating the merkins on standard strine vernacular here, **kam**. [/sigh] I was hoping to discount the argot of the Kath & Kimbo set. [d&r] ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/103 "2018-07-13T07:39:20Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > [sigh] We are educating the merkins on standard strine vernacular here, **kam**. [/sigh] I was hoping to discount the argot of the Kath & Kimbo set. > > [d&r] Okie dokie. Right as rain. She’ll be right, cobber. K’noath. All good. Strewth matey…why don’t you just bugger off down to the rubbity and leave us to strangle the langwidge here? Just make sure you don’t run into the wallopers on the way home… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/104 "2018-07-13T09:29:58Z")
Well bugger me! We’ve cracked the century for posts about Oz fauna and no ones mentioned drop bears! [The good oil from the pointyheads](https://australianmuseum.net.au/drop-bear). ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/105 "2018-07-13T11:14:33Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > no ones mentioned drop bears This is no longer an apocryphal bone of contention. The fossil record shows the [marsupial lion](http://https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/16/australias-marsupial-lions-dropped-from-trees-to-attack-prey-study-finds) was an aboreal ambush predator. Gives you the willies just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/106 "2018-07-13T13:34:15Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Strewth matey…why don’t you just bugger off down to the rubbity and leave us to strangle the langwidge here? Just make sure you don’t run into the wallopers on the way home… > > 🙂 Thankee most kindlee, I might have a jimmy woodser seeing as around this 'ere mulga stump the flatfoots who drive spam tins with cans of Fosters on the roof are quite gentle souls who really just want to play Mr Plods Balloon game with the patrons. Generally no harm done. Kn’oath. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/107 "2018-07-13T14:44:15Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Thankee most kindlee, I might have a jimmy woodser seeing as around this 'ere mulga stump the flatfoots who drive spam tins with cans of Fosters on the roof are quite gentle souls who really just want to play Mr Plods Balloon game with the patrons. Generally no harm done. Kn’oath. As near as I can tell, **kambuckta** suggested you go to the pub and watch out for the police on the way home. But you’d just as soon have a drink on your own because . . . something happens with the bar customers and a game involving balloons???:smack: If I’m ever fortunate enough to visit Australia I’ll have to take English lessons so as to be able to communicate with the locals 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/108 "2018-07-14T08:32:08Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > As near as I can tell, **kambuckta** suggested you go to the pub and watch out for the police on the way home. But you’d just as soon have a drink on your own because . . . something happens with the bar customers and a game involving balloons???:smack: > > If I’m ever fortunate enough to visit Australia I’ll have to take English lessons so as to be able to communicate with the locals 😛 The ‘balloon’ is the device used by the cops on a Random Breath Test (RBT). Actually, there is no balloon, penultima thule was ‘having a lend of you’. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2018, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/109 "2018-07-14T09:54:49Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Actually, there is no balloon Now, sure. But the original breathalysers were “blow into the bag 'til it inflates”. \*\*kam \*\*is just playin’ possum because she doesn’t want to admit she’s old enough to remember that. ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/110 "2018-07-16T11:11:55Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > but good luck in seeing one. I did! I saw a platypus when I went on holiday to Tasmania. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t expect to see anything because all of the info at the possible viewing sites says they aren’t likely to be seen, and then I saw it swimming about. I was so chuffed, I still remember it now as something special, seeing it in its own habitat. I can’t remember now whether it was where I stayed or at one of the wildlife parks I went to (I remember I looked at a couple of different spots where they might have been seen) before I saw the swimming one. It wasn’t that close, so as not to annoy them, it was a viewing platform above the river/creek, but you could see it as clear as day. Speaking of “cute” animals and Tasmania, am I the only one who loves Tasmanian devils? (that’s why I kept pulling in to all of those wildlife parks, to see more devils…) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/111 "2018-07-16T13:15:36Z")
> [@blob](#): > > I did! I saw a platypus when I went on holiday to Tasmania. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t expect to see anything because all of the info at the possible viewing sites says they aren’t likely to be seen, and then I saw it swimming about. I was so chuffed, I still remember it now as something special, seeing it in its own habitat. I can’t remember now whether it was where I stayed or at one of the wildlife parks I went to (I remember I looked at a couple of different spots where they might have been seen) before I saw the swimming one. It wasn’t that close, so as not to annoy them, it was a viewing platform above the river/creek, but you could see it as clear as day. > > Speaking of “cute” animals and Tasmania, am I the only one who loves Tasmanian devils? (that’s why I kept pulling in to all of those wildlife parks, to see more devils…) Tasmanian Devils are cuties, though even I know they’re definitely not cuddly. It makes me sad to read about the cancer epidemic that’s thinning their population. Stop smoking, Taz! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/112 "2018-07-22T20:38:09Z")
Alright, since this thread has now officially become Aussies Fuck With Americans By Speaking Aussie: My most frequent contact with Aussie speech is via Ozzyman Reviews on youtube–where, thanks to folks here, I actually understood “bonzer” yesterday. Anyway, when someone or some animal departs a contest victorious, he yells what they would be yelling, I think, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” Did he make that up or is that a spoken thing (FWIW) in The Strangest Continent? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/113 "2018-07-22T20:56:27Z")
It isn’t an Aussie thing–type in winner winner in Google and it’ll try to autocomplete it as chicken dinner. It dates back [at least](http://www.onthefelt.com/2014/03/28/myth-debunked-winner-winner-chicken-dinner/) to a 2008 movie, and probably predates that. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2018, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/114 "2018-07-22T21:02:12Z")
> [@blob](#): > > I did! I saw a platypus when I went on holiday to Tasmania. I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t expect to see anything because all of the info at the possible viewing sites says they aren’t likely to be seen, and then I saw it swimming about. I was so chuffed, I still remember it now as something special, seeing it in its own habitat. I stumbled across a YouTube video once where an Australian girl was talking about her trip to New York to meet some internet friends, and how she completely freaked over seeing a squirrel (with everyone looking at her like she was crazy.) ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2018, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/115 "2018-07-22T21:54:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > It isn’t an Aussie thing–type in winner winner in Google and it’ll try to autocomplete it as chicken dinner. It dates back [at least](http://www.onthefelt.com/2014/03/28/myth-debunked-winner-winner-chicken-dinner/) to a 2008 movie, and probably predates that. Thanks, and thanks for researching and providing the cite. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/116 "2018-07-30T19:55:56Z")
Resurrected by OP. OP title has “…wander about…” Well OMG WHAT ABOUT NOW?! **[Mobs of kangaroos take to streets of Australia’s capital over food shortages](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/30/australia/australia-canberra-kangaroo-boom/index.html)** Mobs of kangaroos have been raiding patches of grass in the Australian capital Canberra, driven to the city’s sports fields, back yards and roadsides by food scarcity… Also, you supposedly helpful Aussie posters upthread: Howcum I had to learn this from some CNN reporter instead of you oh-so-smarties?: 1. …Many larger cars in country areas have “roo bars” on the front of the vehicle, to act as a breaker for those in the car, should a collision with a rogue kangaroo take place… Or this: 2. On its website, the ACT government says Canberra’s Eastern Grey Kangaroo population means the city qualifies as Australia “Kangaroo capital.” Or this: 3. The ACT government carries out an annual cull […] [In] this year’s cull 3,253 kangaroos had been removed from seven of Canberra’s reserves but that there were still “tens of thousands” in the city. I’ll expect more from you in my next Aussie query. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/117 "2018-07-30T21:49:50Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > …**[Mobs of kangaroos take to streets of Australia’s capital over food shortages](https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/30/australia/australia-canberra-kangaroo-boom/index.html)** > Mobs of kangaroos have been raiding patches of grass in the Australian capital Canberra, driven to the city’s sports fields, back yards and roadsides by food scarcity… > > … All the more reason to tie those kangaroos down. Sports… fields? ---
**Author:** ![Discordian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@Discordian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordian)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/118 "2018-07-31T01:52:41Z")
From 0:45 to 1:02 it acts like a giant house cat. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/119 "2018-07-31T02:11:35Z")
They are _everywhere_ around Canberra at the moment. I’ve had at least half a dozen near misses in the last month or so. It’s less than a year since I collided with one - I’d rather not go through that again. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/120 "2018-07-31T03:19:11Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > ETA: I also thought “the sticks” was a purely American term, and if it’s used in Australia too it must have been be used in England first and spread to both of us, but I don’t know about its use in England now or in Australia. One of the my friends went to school at [St Micks in the Sticks](https://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Martins-in-the-Pines-Ballarat/114728405206192) > [@Isilder](#): > > translation: he got angry and bossy or just too obnoxious, so they sent him away > > A refuse colleciton truck driver says his very australian friend is home, but his bin isn’t out. > He asks knocks on the door and says "Hey, where’s ya bin ? " > Answer: “On walkabout” > He says: "Nah, where’s ya wheelie bin ? " > Answer: “In jail”. We used to get Kangaroos in the home paddock. But I’m in the wrong part of town now. All we’ve got is foxes and possums. I knew a bloke who got into trouble, and when people asked after him, I’d say he was away :). Of all the people I said that to, there was only one (the church minister who lived over the back fence), who caught the reference and asked "what, he’s in [Castlemaine](https://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/paterson-a-b-banjo/the-man-who-was-away-0001015)? Sigh. It’s only foreigners who read Aus literature. We used to get Kangaroos in the home paddock. But I’m in the wrong part of town now. All we get is foxes and possums. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494.md?page=7)