Does it still sound snarky to you if they say it like this:
Bob: John, guess what! I aced that exam I’ve been worrying about. I’ll be over a 3.5 this semester after all!
John: Hey, good for you! (say it in your head with genuine affection)
It sounds natural to me as a phrase of praise, anyway.
Yep, it’s Aussie. Another Aussie-ism I picked up when I spent a semester down there is “How you goin’?” Not “how’re you doin’?,” apparently that’s weird down under. It’s “How ya goin’?”
Yes! I hear that one from Aussies a lot, too.
I grew up with it (NZ/AU), so it doesn’t sound strange to me at all.
Though Australians, who love to shorten things that are already short, have reduced it to just “Onya!” which I think sounds terminally stupid.
I can’t go past this thread without a certain jingle running through my brain continually.
This mid-fifties Australian has probably used “good onya” all his life. There is another meaning to it though. If “good onya” is preceded by “o(h)” (perhaps better rendered as “aw” for Americans) the meaning becomes something like “only a dickhead would do that” or “what were you thinking?”
Good on you! 