# Australia Lingo

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [July 18, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989 "2001-07-18T23:42:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/db5fbb/32.png) [@jabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabe)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/1 "2001-07-18T23:42:40Z")

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Well, my friends friend from down under visited recently and said he thought I was a “mad cunt” Now I take that to mean that I am “cool” or “crazy” or something, but can any of you Australian dopers give me the real scoop?  
Thanks,

JB

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**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/2 "2001-07-19T00:17:41Z")

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It’s rude, very rude ;). I’d accept ‘mad bugger’ as a term of endearment but cunt is outside acceptable language in the circles I move in.

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**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/3 "2001-07-19T00:18:05Z")

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The word _c\*\*t_, like _bastard_, can be used with affection in Australia. In general society, it is every bit as offensive as in the US, so its affectionate usage tends to be a male “down at the pub with the boys” type thing.

_Mad c\*\*t_ on the other hand, is a term of praise used generally by younger people (\<25). It’s part of a new urban youth language with strong roots in Sydney and Melbourne’s first locally born generation of kids from Asian and Mediterranean backgrounds. A young Cambodian friend of mine last week saw me drink a beer rather too quickly (hey, I was thirsty), so to express his admiration, he called me a _fully sick hardcore mad c\*\*t_. _Sick_ or _sik_ = “good”.

This newly developing slang is much different from the traditional Aussie slang with which you may be familiar. To find out more about it, go [here](http://www.wog.com.au).

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**Author:** ![jabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/db5fbb/32.png) [@jabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabe)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/4 "2001-07-19T02:14:16Z")

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I think my “mad c\*\*t” (sorry about last post) also came from my ability to  
drink beer-and-stay-up-all-night-discussing-how-australians-  
see-different-stars

peace,

JB

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**Author:** ![Mats\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Mats\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mats_K)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/5 "2001-07-19T04:22:00Z")

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You’re all a bunch of f\*_ **n mad c** _s.

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**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/6 "2001-07-19T04:31:21Z")

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I couldn’t open the link. What’s a yobbo?

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**Author:** ![Redboss](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@Redboss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redboss)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/7 "2001-07-19T08:58:58Z")

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**Primaflora** and I obviously move in the same circles.

So, \*\*Prima \*\* dear, how was the archbishop when you saw him last? Enjoying Yaarralumla? He’s a mad bugger isn’t he?  
hehehehe

Redboss

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**Author:** ![Mats\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Mats\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mats_K)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/8 "2001-07-19T09:22:45Z")

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A “yobbo” is basically a stereotypical Aussie. i.e. wears thongs (those things you wear on your feet, not on your ass), a tank top and has a beer gut from drinking too much. Similar to the American “redneck”. Am I close enough to the definition, LoadedDog?

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**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/9 "2001-07-19T09:30:56Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GingerOfTheNorth \*  
> \*\*I couldn’t open the link. What’s a yobbo? \*\*

Being called a yobbo is bad. A yobbo is the sort of person who farts at your great aunt’s 90th birthday tea party, that kind of thing.

Australian lingo can be difficult for the outsider to master (that’s deliberate, by the way 🙂 - we enjoy watching furriners with looks of bemusement on their faces).

For example, your worst enemy is “a bit of a bastard.”  
Your best mate is “a complete, total and utter bastard.”

A cautionary note: one should not call an Australian a bastard of any degree unless a) you either want to make an enemy or b) you’re absolutely certain (s)he’s a good friend.

“Mad \*\*\*\*”, while crude and not for use in all circumstances, is a term of admiration, indeed: **jabe** , you are honoured 🙂

tav

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**Author:** ![AKAmame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aca169/32.png) [@AKAmame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AKAmame)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/10 "2001-07-19T10:19:52Z")

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There was another short related thread about [Aussie slang](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=56449.) recently.

Don’t agree with **Mats K** about yobbo though. Redneck has a political implication - like a One Nation voter (pthththththt). I think ‘yobbo’ is more a class/refinement distinction - a slob. Usually male, wears stubbies, and shows some crack.

[hijack] **Redboss** , I just gotta say I always snicker when I read your comments. You have a fine hand my friend.[/hijack]

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**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/11 "2001-07-19T11:34:07Z")

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It was YEARS before I realized that the mysterious thing that men do in that old Men at Work song “Land Down Under” was “chunder.”

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**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/12 "2001-07-19T15:45:21Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by AKAmame \*  
> \*\*Usually male, wears stubbies, and shows some crack.  
> \*\*

What are “stubbies”?

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**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/13 "2001-07-19T16:08:58Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> _Dolores Claiborne_  
> What are “stubbies”?

In this context, shorts with pockets. The sort you’d wear on a building site on a hot day. Otherwise, squat 375ml bottles of beer.

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**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/14 "2001-07-19T16:21:05Z")

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Has anybody heard the term “Goats on Ice”? It seems like the only place I ever stumble over it is on Aussie web sites. What does it mean and what is the origin?

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**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/15 "2001-07-19T16:59:31Z")

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Never heard it before, Inky-. WAG: Goats’ Piss might be poor quality beer.

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**Author:** ![Mats\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8edcca/32.png) [@Mats\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mats_K)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/16 "2001-07-20T04:20:50Z")

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Goats on ice? It doesn’t sound too familiar but I’m guessing it would mean something like uncoordinated. Post a sentence with it in it and we’ll figure it out.

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**Author:** ![Inky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7feea3/32.png) [@Inky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inky_1)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/australia-lingo/72989/17 "2001-07-20T05:23:49Z")

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**"Goats on ice"**

Well, I first encountered it [here](http://www.ozcomics.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard//topic.cgi?forum=12&topic=10) while searching for a copy of my favorite Aussie comic “Platinum Grit”, notice how the highest posters have it in their description title. Now that I’ve bothered to research it, it looks like it’s simply an homage to a ([creepily](http://hyperactive.com/games/messageview.cfm?catid=28&threadid=2664)) [prolific](http://boards.wizardworld.com/ubboard/Forum27/HTML/000465.html) poster in the [comics forums](http://www.spawn.com/board/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001676-4.html) I was searching in who goes by the name “Goats on ice” who has a [comic](http://www.comixmatrix.com/goats/goats.asp).