# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/161 "2018-09-05T00:54:41Z")
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**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:** [September 6, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/162 "2018-09-06T03:11:04Z")
The old “I hope all your chooks turn to emus and kick your dunny down” Bazza line eh? Been a while since I heard that one. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/163 "2018-09-06T07:31:55Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > The old “I hope all your chooks turn to emus and kick your dunny down” Bazza line eh? > Been a while since I heard that one. Got a problem with that _maaaate_? 😃 I remember this shit. Don’t ask me what I had for dinner yesterday though. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/164 "2018-09-06T08:29:27Z")
> [@blob](#): > > cossie is a shortening of the word “costume”, specifically “swimming costume” or “bathing costume”, which is what they in the eastern states of Australia call the outfit you wear to go swimming. Over here, we call them/it “bathers”. I grew up calling it a cossie or swimming cossie as well, in England. Wonder who nicked it from who. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2018, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/165 "2018-09-06T08:37:13Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I grew up calling it a cossie or swimming cossie as well, in England. Wonder who nicked it from who. We’ve definitely inherited it from the “Mother Country”. No doubt about that. It’s funny, I’ve been saying “costume” all through, and yet it’s also called “suit” “bathing suit” “swimsuit”, etc. When I think of swimming costumes, I think of the really old-fashioned type, like a tunic down to the knees, with the mob-cap. Swimsuit to me is more modern. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/166 "2018-09-06T09:00:52Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > I grew up calling it a cossie or swimming cossie as well, in England. Wonder who nicked it from who. All the Poms that came over here post war called them cossies. True Blue Aussies called them togs (or cossies, or swimmers, or bathers or…) Take your pick. 😃 ---
**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:** [September 6, 2018, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/167 "2018-09-06T09:05:41Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > togs I wonder where “togs” is derived from? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/168 "2018-09-06T09:21:31Z")
> [@blob](#): > > I wonder where “togs” is derived from? Well, ‘togs’ just means clothing in ye olde British slange, so maybe they were swimming togs at one point? ---
**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:** [September 6, 2018, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/169 "2018-09-06T09:50:40Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Well, ‘togs’ just means clothing in ye olde British slange, so maybe they were swimming togs at one point? Yes, I use “togs” for all sorts, not just bathers. So, it’s a word in its own right, not short for anything? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/170 "2018-09-06T10:58:20Z")
> [@blob](#): > > Yes, I use “togs” for all sorts, not just bathers. So, it’s a word in its own right, not short for anything? Though you have just handed me a golden opportunity to make up some Authentic English Gibberish, no, not that I’ve ever heard. > [@OED](#): > > Early 18th century (as a slang term for a coat or outer garment): apparently an abbreviation of obsolete criminals’ slang togeman ( s) ‘a light cloak’, from French toge or Latin toga (see toga). _shrug_ ---
**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:** [September 6, 2018, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aussies-when-kangaroos-wander-around-in-canberra-where-do-they-come-from-now-on-aussie-slang/817494/171 "2018-09-06T11:23:32Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > Got a problem with that _maaaate_? 😃 > > I remember this shit. It was a very low high water mark for culture, real good shit wazzantit! But on the subject of the … > [@Barrington Bradman Bing McKenzie esq](#): > > … [and gorgeous clean living sheilas who root like rattle snakes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL5cA4-ztQY) … Now 'ere down under we certainly have our share of jimmy blakes, and every body elses share to boot, but rattlesnakes we don’t. Probably too gentle a souls to survive amidst the antipodean anguines. Which it begs two questions: 1. Did we trouser that expression from the merkins? and 2. is it true? [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=8)