I’m trying to decipher a letter from an Aussie friend of mine – always a challange.
In context, she’s mentioning her friends she wants to set me up with on my upcoming trip, and the do’s and don’t of dating in Australia. Then she mentions “Snag’s”, so I go to my handy Aussie to English translator:
Snag: Sausage (see also “Banger”).
Er… Sounds a little dirty. I’m not quite sure how to read that? “Don’t act like a dick” maybe? The net is no help either, all sausages and fly fishing.
Snags? Or snogs? I’ve heard of snogs, but not snags…
Snag in Oz is a Sausage or
a (Sensitive New Age Guy)
Sausages!
You may have been confused by the side reference of “banger”, which according to slang dictionaries is a British term for sausage. In practice that’s only used in two places - kid’s comics and the dish bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes).
But I can confirm that snags are Aussie sausages.
Aussie here to confirm that yes, snags are sausages. We use snag and banger (borrowed from the British) pretty much interchangeably to refer to the humble sausage. They are sometimes also known as mystery bags, depending on how dodgy your local butcher is.
However, the reference in your friend’s letter was most likely to S.N.A.G., or Sensitive New Age Guy, as Hattrick pointed out. I don’t think there is anything particularly Australian about this term - I’m sure I’ve heard others use it.
Unless you read it wrong? In context, it sounds like it might’ve been “shags”?
Unless you read it wrong? In context, it sounds like it might’ve been “shags”?
I also think that your friend was referring to the Sensitive New Age Guy phenomenon, which I thought was universal during the early '90s.
The SNAG was basically a backlash against the ‘stereotypical’ Aussie Bloke, who loved drinkin’ fightin’ and rootin’, not necessarily in that order, and who thought that emotions (apart from when the footy team loses) were for sheilas.
The SNAG is (or was, I haven’t really heard the term used for a while) a man who isn’t afraid to cry, will happily eat quiche, and believes in the equality of women.
You can even read a book about the subject here : http://infocus.slnsw.gov.au/res/resdesc.cfm?res_code=1342
Thanks all! I suspect Hattrick and the rest for you lot are right with the “Sensitive New Age Guy” thing. In context:
“Just be yourself. They don’t want a cow-cockie and they don’t want a Snag either”.
And Foxy, as far as I know ‘SNAG’ didn’t quite get a foothold here in the 'States. I live in California where we are sort of forced to learn all the latest youth/hip-hop/drug slang just to order a cup of coffee in the morning. I suspect I would have heard it somewhere.
Before someone asks, “cow-cockie” means a farmer who runs a cattle station (a rancher).
Thanks TLD this Aussie sheila was more than a bit mystified by that term.
And now I get it. As TheLoadedDog said, a cow-cockie is a cattleman. They are pretty much one of the archetypal “Aussie Blokes”. They have the reputation of being fairly dry, and extremely unlikely to let their emotions out as a SNAG would.