Funny Australian sayings.
Posted on August 27, 2007 - Filed Under General
Stone the crows. (exclamation )
Fair suck of the sav. (exclamation of wonder, awe, disbelief)
That’s no skin off my nose. (makes no difference to me)
Fair dinkum! (true)
That person has a kangaroo loose in the top paddock. (Intellectually inadequate)
Give it a burl (Give it a go)
Good onya! (well done)
It’s gone walkabout (it’s gone missing)
To Kick the bucket ( to die)
To bring a plate (to bring a plate of food to a function)…This one often confuses new comers to our country..they often show up with an empty plate thinking that is what is meant by this saying.
Ridgy-didge (original or genuine)
We really do have some funny sayings down under…have you heard of any of the ones I have listed above?
What kind of funny sayings do you have in your neck of the woods (where you come from) LOL…I would love to hear some of them please 
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I cannot wait to use”kangaroo loose in the top paddock. I love it!!
Uh…what’s a paddock?
In the USA it’s ’skin off my neck’, and I think ‘kick the bucket’ is universal in most English speaking lands. A ‘New York minute’ is the time it takes to get your dinner date’s clothes off. ‘Hair of the dog that bit you’ is a stiff drink to ward off hangover. “Not the brightest light on the Christmas tree”, similar to kangaroo loose in the top paddock (that’s a pasture, Jan). ‘Abducted by aliens’, is kinda’ like ‘late to the party’ which is when you do something that hasn’t been cool for at least a year or two. ‘Bugly’ is a simple contraction I’ll leave to your imagination. ‘Gone postal’ is because of a trend several years ago where a large number of US postal workers went nuts and shot all their co-workers. It implies somebody went ‘off the deep end’. San Francisco residents are ‘granola’, because whatever isn’t fruits or nuts, are flakes. Santa Cruz residents are ‘earthlings’. This is a person who walks barefoot and eats granola and saves the whales and hugs trees. (It’s all about the earth). It’s a very derogatory term. Los Angeles folks are in ‘la-la land’.
I find the Aussie sayings are generally more colorful, though Mexicans seem to have a similar sense of humour.
That’s no skin off my nose.
Good onya!
To Kick the bucket.
We use these ones too. My province (not the rest of Canada) is well known for it’s strange accent and even stranger sayings! Too many to list but here’s a few…
mauzy (misty)
duckish (starting to get dark)
bare buff (naked)
“Mug up” snack, usually involving a cup of tea.
“Birch broom in the fits” - untidy, said of a person’s hair.
“Slow as cold molasses”
“Tongue banging” scolding.
“Tough as a gad” able to withstand very cold weather.
Newfoundland was the first place in North America to be settled and consisted mainly of poor English and Irish immigrants looking for a better life. After years of isolation they developed a unique accent and sayings that are quite different from the rest of the country!
That’s no skin off my nose and kick the bucket are used often in the U.S., the rest of them I thank you for the definition. Have a great day.
A couple more terms from ‘across the pond’ that have since lost their historical context… ‘Get your cotton picking hands off…’ originated in the days of US slavery, and the ‘boogieman’ - a nondescript night-time monster that attacks children; is derived from a derogatory term for black musicians in the 1930’s. Boogie-woogie itself originated as a colorful and derogatory expression for a lively form of black music that was widely believed to cause promiscuous behavior.
Illegal whiskey was sometimes brewed in a still hidden in an outdoor privy to avoid detection. Outdoor privies typically had a crescent moon shape cut in the top of the door to let light in at night. Such illegal spirits are now often referred to as ‘moonshine’.
“They are off their rocker” (They’re crazy)
“six of one, half a dozen of the other” (same difference)
“not the sharpest knife in the drawer” (not the smartest)
I know I could think of more if it weren’t so late, and I wasn’t so sleepy!
To go with the kangaroos are “a few sangers (sandwiches) short of a picnic” or “missing the Aces and Tens” (as in not a full deck).
Slow as a wet week.
One I always love is “a good face for radio”.
We use ‘no skin off my nose’ and ‘kick the bucket’ and ‘it’s gone walkabout’ too.
For intellectually inadequate we might say
‘a few sandwiches short of a picnic’, or ’she’s got a screw loose’.
amongst other things.
Then there are the completely surreal sayings like calling someone a ‘giddy kipper’.
Mr B’s mum uses that for when someone’s being daft.
yep i have heard of all your saying Patric
‘bobs ya uncle’ ( she’ll be right mate)
i know many but my head feels thick at the moment i will come back to this one later lol
My personal favorite: One sandwich shy of a picnic (e.g., not quite there mentally)–oh but now I see someone has already posted then. Ok, then…we also say one brick shy of a load.
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You aussies are cooler than we are. I’m going to steal those sayings!
just to name a few:
Bourke Street, he doesn’t know Christmas from : he’s a bit slow in the head. (Bourke Street is a brightly lit Melbourne street)
Bowl of rice, not my : not my cup of tea; I don’t like it
Brass razoo, he hasn’t got a : he’s very poor
Cat burying shit, as busy as a : busy
Drink with the flies: drink alone
there many more
I live in rural ontario and some of the sayings we have are.
“What are u sayin?” means “what are you doing tonite/this weekend?”
“straight up to the get rip” or “straight up to the git down” means to confirm sumthing.
“pinch your nipple and give your nuts a shake” means to “come to your senses”
.just ask for more
Wow Joe..some different ones there that’s for sure..feel free to add more whenever you feel like it
going off like a frog in a sock.. (going crazy)
A couple more Australian Saying to keep it interesting:
(YOU SAY) - A face for Radio
(WE SAY)A Face like a:
- dropped Pie
- Warped sandShoe(Running shoe)
- Smacked Bum
(all the above refer to someone that is ugly)
Flat out like a lizard Drinkin’(very Busy)
Be with in a Tick (tick = tick of the second had on a clock or watch)
Pigs Ear = Beer
Going Berko (similar to frog in a sock)
What does “one foot on the rocking horse” mean?
Thia is awsome
Hungry enough to eat a baby’s bum through a cane chair.
Drier than a dead dingo’s dong.
And from Monty Python… Hot enough to boil a monkey’s bum.
Mulgamutt
Busier than a one armed taxi driver with crabs.
Flat out like a lizard drinking.
- Fairly busy
You got the rough end of the pineapple.
- Got the poor side of the deal
Built like a brick shithouse.
- A substantial bloke
To point Percy at the porcelain.
- go to the mens room
He wouldn’t work in an iron lung
- lazy
Face like a mallee root.
-ugly
Full as a goog
- no longer hungry
We’re in the middle of bloody woop-woop.
We’re back of the black stump
- middle of nowhere
She goes like the clappers.
- Something works really well
Fair crack of the whip!
- how about some evenhandedness?
I’m not pissing in your pocket mate!
- I’m telling you the truth
Has anyone heard the australian sayiny
‘She’ll be Apples’ meaning she will be alright
“He’s a can short of a sixpack” - Not all there.
“You’re a drongo!” - An idiot
“The bee’s knees” or “The duck’s guts” - Good person
“Full as a state school” - a full stomach after eating
“Face like a half chewed minty” - Ugly person
“As mad as a pack of galahs” - crazy or incompetent
Struth!
As a foreigner I must say that I’d have to struggle to understand and adopt most of the above sayings, even after living there for ages!
I’ moyt be inters’ing though!
I might give it a burl in a near future.
By the way, I like the Aussie particular accent, and reading some of the Aussie’s most common sayings is pretty cool. Good onya!
Okay, here are some of mine.
You can’t get a little pregnant.
meaning - you can’t have it both ways
As popular as a red headed step child.
meaning - popularity
All my happy hours have come at once
meaning - very happy (happy hours are half price drinks at the bar)
Her looks could stop a clock
meaning - she is un-attractibe
I feel like a beaten favourite
meaning - I didn’t do my beast
How thick is a piece of rope?
meaning - trying to quantify the unquantifiable
All my hangovers have come back at once
meaning - having a bad day
Its a dry argument
meaning - when you are waiting for a drink
Had the wobbly boots on
meaning - I was drunk
Chewed my ear off
meaning - the person could really talk
Could talk a dog out of a butchers shop
meaning - the person could really talk
Could talk a dog off a meat truck
meaning - the person could really talk
He was an angry ant
meaning - the person had lots to say
Went walkabout
meaning - leaving the bar without saying goodbye to your friends
Did a dawn run
meaning - stayed out till dawn
There is a small village that has lost its idiot, they want you back
meaning - telling someone they are stupid
Like a fart in a bucket
meaning - child is hyperactive
Dropping the kids off at the pool
meaning - going to the bathroom and doing a poo
Have a slash
meaning - taking a piss
Tastes like horse piss
meaning - this beer is bad
I am still bumping off the walls
meaning - my hangover is shocking
Marching down the hallway
meaning - coming home pissed and bouncing off the hallway (left, right, left, right, left)….
Grey Ghost
meaning - Parkeing inspector
Cantberra
meaning - Australias capital - Canberra
Seppo
meaning - American (Septic Tank)
Fanta Pants
meaning - Red Headed guy… Fants is an orange soft drink
Will post more later as they come to me.
FANTA PANTS.
we use “go for it tiger” or “knock yourself out tiger” which means go ahead, do it, go on….
“‘Ows it goin” it pretty easy to figure out…
uuhhh thats all i can think of for the moment
With that person gota kangaroo loose in the top paddock it’s actually He’s got a few roos loose at the top paddock
One I’ve heard which I suspect hails from World War I is:
He is so lazy, he wouldn’t pull a Turk off his grandmother.