Talk:Australian English vocabulary/Archive 3

Yank
Yank has just been added to the list, and though I've just tidied-up the formatting and the description (no, it is never used the mean "Canadian" in Australia) I have since decided it should be entirely deleted... this is because it simply is not an Australian word; it is an International word used in many English speaking countries including Britain and America, and even in quite a few non-English speaking places. MinorEdit 11:41, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

Barrack
I took out reference to barrack in Australian English being the "exact opposite" to the British meaning because to me, the Australian meaning is not an exact opposite so much as an extension of the original meaning. In the Australian sense barrack still does include hooting and jeering a sporting team, though usually thought of as supportive hooting for your own team, part of barracking in the Australian sense still includes derisive jeering of the other team. When someone says 'my voice is worn out from barracking all day' this can include shouting for your own team and against the other. thats why i took out the "exact opposite" reference. Precinct13 00:28, 24 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Hmmm, I have to disagree and I think Google searches support me on this: the references to barracking on .uk sites appear to be almost all negative. "Barracking against" only comes up with 15 hits on .au websites. That's almost nothing. "Barracking for" gets a paltry 181 hits on .uk sites, whereas it gets 3,680 hits on Australian sites..Grant65 (Talk) 11:51, August 24, 2005 (UTC)


 * All I am saying is that in the Australian sense, barracking generally means supporting the team, but the action of barracking can include yelling both for and against. An Australian might barrack for their team, which may include hooting and jeering against the competition, and even hooting and jeering against their own team when they are losing. And sinse the original meaning is "jeering against" the Australian meaning is not the exact opposite but partly overlaps. However it does not sound like you'll ever agree, so if you change it back I'll leave it. Precinct13 22:13, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

Mark?
I have cleaned-up the new entry mark (Australian Rules Football) but is this really an Australian word? Really its a formalised element of AFL, enshrined and formally listed and named in the rules, so not really an Aust word as such. If anything it is a sporting or football term. Precinct13 05:43, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

The OED defines 'mark' as a catch but only in the context of AFL, as does the Macquarie-it appears to be a uniquely Victorian word. No other sport, worldwide, uses it this way. Its possible etymology may be seen here- http://www.aboriginalfootball.com.au/marngrook.html Please disabuse me of any errors.Eric A. Warbuton 05:55, 5 September 2005 (UTC)


 * "Victorian"?! Two points: 1. The mark came to Aussie rules from rugby union and the concept was even in the earliest forms of soccer (see football for more on this). 2. Aussie rules has been the most popular winter sport in Tas, SA and WA for more than 100 years. Grant65 (Talk) 15:20, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

The OED states that 'mark' as 'a catch' has its earliest use in AFL(see defn.31 A&B)It appears that AFL transfered the idea of a 'heel mark' to 'a catch' first thus:

''31. a. Austral. Rules Football. The catching of a ball directly from a kick of at least ten metres, thus winning a free-kick to be taken from that point; the spot from which such a free-kick is taken.

1859 in C. C. Mullen Hist. Austral. Rules Football (1959) 11 A mark is made when a player catches the ball before it hits the ground and after it has been clearly kicked by another player. 1965 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 4 July 51 Geelong Rover, Terry Farman, won a trophy for the best mark taken by his team. 1969 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 13 July 48/1 Close took a beautiful one-handed mark, his tenth for the game,..but kicked only a point. 1988 Rugby News Nov. 23/3 Why not follow the practice in Aussie Rules where a mark is simply a clean catch, although you still have to shout ‘mark’.

b. Rugby Union. Originally: a heel-mark in the ground made by a player who has caught the ball direct from a kick, knock-on, or forward throw by an opponent, thereby claiming a free-kick from that point. Subsequently: a clean catch taken by a player within his or her twenty-two metres area, direct from a kick by an opponent. Modern rules no longer require a heel-mark to be made; the catcher instead shouts ‘Mark!’ in order to claim a free-kick.

"1862 Rulebk. in J. Macrory Running with Ball (1991) xi. 97 If any of the other side have caught it and made his mark they are obliged to stop charging. 1867 Rugby School Football Laws 2 A Fair Catch is a catch from a kick, or a knock on from the hand..of the opposite side, or a throw on, when the catcher makes a mark with his heel. 1896 Field 1 Feb. 173/1 A goal had also been kicked by Finlay from a mark. 1960 E. S. HIGHAM & W. J. HIGHAM High Speed Rugby xiii. 183 The method of making a fair-catch is to make a mark on the ground with the heel as the ball is caught, and to call: ‘Mark!’" I always was led to believe that what is known as a 'mark' in VFL was a 'catch' in rugby.

Thus I still maintain that 'mark' as a 'catch' was first used in AFL and has its origin in Victoria. What do you think? Eric A. Warbuton 03:57, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * No, I think it come from the shout of "mark" in rugby which (as I understand it) was made even when the heel mark was used. Grant65 (Talk) 13:19, September 6, 2005 (UTC)
 * Well the OED clearly states otherwise. With precedence given to Aussie rules (see above).Eric A. Warbuton 03:42, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I think you are misreading it. Grant65 (Talk) 10:19, September 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * Look I dont think so but are more than satified with entry as it now stands.Eric A. Warbuton 01:05, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Camp
I restored the previous meaning of camp. Reason: As I understand it, up until the 1970s the term for a homosexual man was "camp", as in, "I am camp", "He's camp", "Are you camp?". The American term "gay" was either yet to be invented or heard of in Australia, and camp was the word commonly used. In addition to this it was also used in its standard sense of humourously overstated and exaggerated gentures and mannerisms. So I restored it because the earlier sense I've described is the one that is Australian and it is also the one that is extinct, having now been replaced by "gay". Use of "camp" as an adjective is more the standard international usage in use today so to me the inclusion of the term here at all is because of the old, Australian, use of the term as a noun. Precinct13 00:13, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

What you have said is partly true, however I have never heard it in the form 'he is a camp' So its not a true concrete noun like say 'he is a queer'. Above you say its a 'term'. Meaning what? In the form 'he's camp' it means --he is effeminate or he practices in homosexuality. A small but important difference. Could best be described as an adjectival noun. The use was/is also british english. And its still used in that form today-but probably only by people over 40. And then, to introduce another problem, theres the true adjective 'campy'. Eric A. Warbuton 03:12, 11 September 2005 (UTC)


 * In reply to your question "Meaning what? In the form 'he's camp' it means --he is effeminate or he practices in homosexuality. A small but important difference." I would say that, until the 1970s in Aust, it meant that the person practices homosexuality. Later, after the word "gay" caught on sometime in the 1970s, the meaning would have more meant that he is effeminate. I've not personally encountered any of this, but have read several reports by people around at the time who describe the words used in this way and the change in meaning that occured sometime in the 1970s. Yes it was and is in British English, but then many of the terms here, like "mate", "bloody" are as well. The word campy refers more to theatricality and exaggerated performance or behaviour, and is probably related to the later, more universal meaning of the word camp that came in to play after "gay" came in to use in Aust and the general meaning of the word "camp" shifted. Precinct13 20:57, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

Have checked Macquarie Dict. and it does have meaning for a conrete noun ie. he is a camp. I regret wasting your time- its just it was very obscure and I'd never come across it before in either conversation or writing. Viva wikipedia! Eric A. Warbuton 06:06, 13 September 2005 (UTC)


 * No problem. Yes it is obscure, and seems to be totally extinct in this sense. Apparently out of use since the 1970s. Yeah the discussion pages can be good. Precinct13 08:14, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Not entirely extinct - still pops up sometimes to describe behaviour rather than sexuality, eg "a very camp aesthetic".203.214.74.36 13:42, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

bum, dreamtime and sheltershed
I would say that 'bum' (as used in 'to borrow') is a recent americanism-people round me all 'bot'-all ages. No one 'bums'. So can we give 'bot' precedence. Also 'dreamtime' is a translation of the arrente word alcheringa. It is not a 'literal' translation which would be probably impossible. The language and cultural differences are too large. Finally is it true that 'undercover area' is actually used in common speech? To me it sounds like a bureaucratic euphemism, issued from an Education dept.

bum
Well, it's far more common in my experience for people to bum smokes etc. My feeling would be that bot (in the sense of asking) only arose in a roundabout way, i.e. because it also meant bum (as in buttocks), and bum already had another meaning (asking). But I could be wrong. Grant65 (Talk) 06:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Well people have been 'botting' from me since at least 1979-bumming is a more recent americanism-its not an 'australian' word. So I maintain that bot should have precedence.Eric A. Warbuton 07:10, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

The Macquarie has "bum", to cadge, as only from 1978. And further, from the OED has "bot" from 1934 thus:

''1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Nov. 46/2 Settle up when I sell me next picture... Never did like botting on a bloke. 1941 BAKER N.Z. Slang vi. 52 To bot, to borrow money, to impose on others, and botting, the practice. To bot on a person is widely used..cold botting is a straight-out request for food at house-doors''.Eric A. Warbuton 07:10, 15 September 2005 (UTC)


 * All I can tell you is that I have lived in WA for virtually all of my life and had never heard bot used in that way until a few years ago, whereas I had used bum used in the sense of cadge for as long as I can remember. If bot was ever the norm in WA, it hasn't been for at least 30 years. I remember some people also saying "tax", as in e.g. "can I tax a durry". Grant65 (Talk) 09:24, 15 September 2005 (UTC)


 * My experience (ACT/ NSW) is that we would use cadge or bot and understand what someone meant by bum. Our dog might attempt to bot some food during a barbecue or cadge, never bum.  For begging cigarettes as above, cadge, bot or perhaps bum - though not a word I would use :-)--AYArktos 20:05, 15 September 2005 (UTC)


 * The TV generation seems to be speaking most volubly through much of the Australian slang talk in Wikipedia, and it seems very confused about what is Australian and what is American, poor souls. I've lived in NSW virtually all of my 52 years and the only time I've heard 'bum a cigarette' is on some US song; I think it was 'Mr Bojangles'. It's always been 'bludge' a cigarette as long as I can recall. Rarely, perhaps I might have heard 'bot'. If someone wanted to bum a smoke from me I'd assume he was a Yank, or watched too much telly (by which, of course, I mean any telly at all). (Alpheus 06:39, 6 November 2005 (UTC))


 * A couple of points: (1) It's wrong to be assuming that the rest of Australia does what NSW does, when slang is often quite localised. I'm 40 and grew up in the WA Wheatbelt, and the word used over here for asking for a durry has been bum for as long as I can remember. I hadn't heard bot until a few years ago, so that seems to be an example of nationwide TV having an influence on this side of the country.


 * I don't think TV has much to do with bum, because in the area in which I grew up we didn't even have a TV signal until I was six years old, by which time I would have seen and heard plenty of adults bumming (not botting) cigs off each other. My theory is that bum come not from TV but from US personnel based here during WW2. Their influence was proporionally a lot higher in places like Perth, Brisbane and Townsville because of the smaller populations and because there were more Americans concentrated in those cities. For example, the older generation here in Perth say crosswalk instead of pedestrian crossing, zebra crossing, etc. Grant65 (Talk) 09:49, 6 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Thank you, Grant65. I have learned much from your discussion. Alpheus 10:48, 30 January 2006 (UTC)


 * In Victoria "bot" is usually used, have never heard "bum" used in this way. Bot is also used as a noun to described persistent offenders as in "X is such a bot".203.214.74.36 13:42, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

dreamtime
"Literal translation" means word for word, as in "dream + time". It doesn't mean exact translation. Grant65 (Talk) 06:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

No I dont think so. You might use it that way. But technically "literal" would mean that "alcheringa" has the exact meaning as "dreamtime" which it cant. It was the best, or most approximate translation of the word. Arrente and English have, apart from concrete nouns, very little correspondence. Only cultures that are very similar can have literal translations between each other. Anyway "alcheringa" is one word and dreamtime is composed of two. It is not a "literal" translation.Eric A. Warbuton 06:36, 15 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Sorry Eric, but "literal translation" does mean "word for word". In any case, if you are saying that it is not a word for word translation of an Arrernte word then we shouldn't need mention Arrernte as the word/concept is clearly very widespread, if not universal, to Aboriginal cultures. Grant65 (Talk) 09:24, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Well if it was literal, do you mean dream to be:

a)Joy, pleasure, gladness, mirth, rejoicing?

b)A train of thoughts, images, or fancies passing through the mind during sleep?

c) To have visions and imaginary sense-impressions during the day?

'Dreamtime' was translated from the Arrente in 1899 by Spencer&Gillen (see OED) Which sense did they mean it? And the Arrente? If it was a literal translation it would be obvious: but it isnt.Eric A. Warbuton 03:18, 16 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Why are you asking me? You came up with the Arrernte bit. "Dream + time" hardly conveys the meanings that we understand by dreamtime. So if it wasn't a literal translation, in what sense was it a "translation"? Grant65 (Talk) 10:51, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

undercover area
Is used in ordinary speech. Possibly more by bureacrats and teachers, but it is widely used. Also used in relation to seating at sports grounds. Check Google, where almost all use seems to be from Australia. Grant65 (Talk) 06:15, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Please use "scare quotes"
"Double quote marks" are the normal style on Wikipedia and the tiny 'single quote marks' used with this font are harder for the eye to pick up. Grant65 (Talk) 06:22, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

dinkum
with the latest addition to this word: what is the phonetically similar word used by chinese(?) mentioned? Any refences?Eric A. Warbuton 03:50, 20 September 2005 (UTC)

Can you let us know from what text you're quoting from?Eric A. Warbuton 02:55, 21 September 2005 (UTC)


 * It's an ANU webpage, linked in the Australian English article:
 * In 1984 the Sydney Morning Herald reported: ‘Jim Kable believes that "dinkum" may come from the Cantonese expression "din kum", meaning "real gold". It would have come, he says, from Chinese workers during the gold rush’. This furphy is still often repeated... It is true that one of the meanings of the Mandarin word ding is ‘very; most; extremely’, hence in Mandarin ‘extremely gold’ would be  ding jin, but this collocation can’t possibly be the progenitor of our Aussie dinkum. Cantonese comes closer to putative parenthood with ding kam (‘top gold’). The trouble is that we haven’t a shred of evidence that this collocation was ever used by the Chinese, whether on the goldfields or out of them... However, all the evidence to hand leads to the conclusion that (apart from a single word pakapoo, which is the name of a Chinese gambling game) Australian English did not borrow any words from Chinese. Furthermore, where there is British dialect evidence for the provenance of an Australian word, this is usually to be preferred. A surprising amount of Australian slang derives from British dialects.


 * In the dialects of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire there is a word dinkum (dincum in Derby) which means ‘work; a fair share of work’. It is not widely recorded, but there is an 1891 record from a coal-miner who says ‘I can stand plenty o’ dincum’, that is, ‘I can put up with any amount of fair work’; and from north Lincolnshire there’s the record of a person who says ‘You have gotten to do your dinkum, soä you understand’. The first record of the word in Australia has this meaning. It occurs in Rolf Boldrewood’s Robbery Under Arms(1888): ‘It took us an hour’s hard dinkum to get near the peak’...


 * Grant65 (Talk) 10:33, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

If I may add to the confusion... The Next Whole Earth Catalog, 1980, quotes Robert Rodale's Organic Gardening Magazine thus:

Once I caught myself saying, "This is fair dinkum."

Queer phrase to be served up in my mind. I hadn't used it in years. Learned it from an Australian soldier on a bus ride when I was 15. He said, "In Australia, we say fair dinkum for okay. It means something's all right." Years later I spotted the phrase, "Vere dignum" in a Latin prayerbook. It means, "Fitting indeed." Fair dinkum is obviously an anglicized, latter-day version of vere dignum.
 * Interesting theory, and possibly correct, but the "-um" ending is also common in other Germanic languages, and in the East Midlands I'd suspect it has something to do with the Danelaw or is an older Angle or Saxon word.Grant65 (Talk) 00:30, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

Bludger
G'day all - just signed up and first off congrats to the regulars here. It's a great entry for what seems to be, unfortunately, a dying culture. My first point of note is that under "bludger", there is reference to a "scab" in trade union terms. I think this is flat out wrong as a bludger just doesn't do any work whereas a scab does, but is non-union (often brought in during a strike). Are there many people who have heard a scab deliberately called a bludger purely for their non-unions status? Citizen D 00:12, 13 October 2005 (UTC)
 * I would agree that a scab need not be a bludger - feel free to be bold and edit :-) A separate entry for scab should be adequate.--User:AYArktos |  Talk 00:21, 13 October 2005 (UTC)

A few queries
A few minor points I'm not 100% confident about so I won't change them without confirmation

--Rkundalini 14:56, 16 October 2005 (UTC)
 * arsey: I've always taken arsey to mean lucky or flukey, not any of the meanings listed on this page... anyone agree or disagree?
 * blue (traditional Australian name of anyone with red hair) --- I've always said "bluey"
 * bogan: I've always taken it to mean a specific stereotype, not just any "lower class white Australian" -- it is someone that wears thight black jeans, moccasins, a megadeth T-shirt, has a mullet and most likely you see them hanging out at the train station drinking VB.
 * stumped: never heard it mean nonplussed. If you're stumped (or something's "got you stumped") it means you're unable to find an explanation for something or an answer to a question.


 * Yeah some good finds there Rk. To be arsey is definitely to be very lucky where I'm from.  You could also add "blood nut"  for red heads.  The other two are fair comments.Citizen D 00:16, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

a removal
a removed this:

 Devo - Australian slang for devostated (eg. You would be devo.)

I've never heard of it. Is it really widespread across Aust? MinorEdit 00:26, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

As far as Perth goes, I've never heard of it, not common in any case. Riff 02:01, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Divvy (van)
I took out the bit of conjecture that divvy van is connected to the UK slang term Div or divvy meaning fool. This UK slang is not widely known in Aust - tho I have heard it used in recent UK TV programs, I certainly don't think it was known back in the 1970s when the term divvy van was coined. I think divvy van is based entirely on a shortening of divisional van. MinorEdit 03:52, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

(Alpheus 06:23, 6 November 2005 (UTC))

Rhyming slang: a post-1970s phenomenon?
I am quite dubious about assertions that rhyming slang was widespread in Australia until very recently; in fact, I assert the opposite. Neither my father nor I had heard of it until at least the 1970s (although I grant that there was probably some before then). He (aged 80) and I (52) are both lifelong Sydneysiders. We come from a working class background and both have knocked around in factories, building sites and a very wide variety of industries. He left school at the age 12 in 1937 and worked in many factories, shops and workshops and had ample opportunity to hear Aussie slang, and is a past master of it. We aren't entirely stupid. He is now a PhD with English as part of his studies, my bachelor's degree is in English including linguistics. Neither of us has lived long away from Sydney. I remember rhyming slang being popularised on TV (the UK's show 'Minder', and, if I recall correctly, the UK comedian Ugly Dave Grey). Since then, the received wisdom always seems to be on the side of a long, grand tradition of Australian rhyming slang, but I doubt it and hope someone gives evidence in the Wikipedia article. The article as it stands hints that rhyming slang is not as popular now as it was long ago (say, the 1890s); I believe it to be exactly the converse, and I have just spent a solid year in private study of Henry Lawson, Banjo Paterson and the Bulletin school of writers c. 1880 - 1910, though I admit I might easily have missed something. Could my old man and I be bonkers on this? Of course. But please, someone, convince us. (Alpheus 06:23, 6 November 2005 (UTC))


 * When the question is asked, there always seems to be an Australian who swears that rhyming slang is very Australian, and that it is widespread. However few of the terms listed in this article seem to be used in real-life very frequently. I have heard many of them, but frequently this was in tv shows like Paul Hogan Show and Kingswood Country. I think I have heard Reg Grundies used once, but that was an announcer on JJJ radio. So it was not in naturaly, everyday speech. Is there any formal work that can clear this up? MinorEdit 03:28, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
 * I don't know if rhyming slang goes back to the First Fleet, but I have heard my Dad, who is 74, and had never been outside Australia until recently, say "joe blake" (snake) several times over the years. Grant65 (Talk) 14:24, 12 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Without getting to deeply into any arguments I think it is safe to say that several of the examples of rhyming slang listed here were either made-up by the editor, or perhaps coined a tv script writer. Sausage roll for goal?!? That sounds pretty unlikely to me. Do football fans really go home and brag that "We won by 10 sausage rolls"? If that term is something new that is used today, then the suggestion the article that RS is old and has been recently dying out does not seem to fit. MinorEdit 22:52, 12 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I have heard of most of these terms, including sausage roll for goal, and have grown up with rhyming slang courtesy of my father. Outside of talking to him and his mates (outer suburban Melb., working class, aged roughly 55-65), I hear very little of it.  I would have thought that if it is based off Cockney rhyming slang, then it would be fair to say that it was around at the time of Australian settlement.  Of course I have no references to support this. Citizen D 01:40, 15 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I don't have anything to quote but i've heard that Australian rhyming slang originated at the battle of gallipoli. Gallipoli soldiers had their own version of australian slang by the end of the battle.

Slang terms for Heroin
a few slang terms for heroin have just been added (scagg, smack). Are these uniquely Australian, or international terms? MinorEdit 03:23, 12 November 2005 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure that smack is Australian and skag is either US or British, but I'm not sure. (The first time I heard "skag" was in the song "I'm So Bored With the USA" by The Clash, which was released in 1977.) Grant65 (Talk) 14:24, 12 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I am taking them all out. A quick google reveals a multitude of websites discussing "smack" as a slang term for heroin - but nowhere is there any mention of it being an Australian term, and a large number of the sites are not even Australian-based. MinorEdit 22:31, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Mate duplicated
The duplicate entry for mate has been reinstated after being deleted. Mate is already listed under Terms for People. Why does Mate need to be listed twice? MinorEdit 19:10, 15 November 2005 (UTC)

Put simply, because the alphabetical list is supposed to be comprehensive! DUH! But of course if it isn't meant to be comprehensive (i.e. you want it in one or the other) then it is deleted. For now it is. By the way, that quote for the "bloke" reference was from American comedians. It is not supposed to be what a typical Australian would say. If you had read the link before deleting it, then you would have realised that.

59.167.139.163 16:16, 16 November 2005 (UTC)


 * The structure of the page is that general terms come first, and then someone has decided to group "Terms for people" somewhere else. I didn't organise it that way, but it just evolved into that format. To follow your logic where everything should be in the general list, then all terms listed in terms for people should be copied up into there as well (and with differing descriptions too). I don't see what the problem is, because the words you were adding and reinstating were in the article all along. The example from the Olympics/American comics (below), did not make it clear that it was intended as a send-up of a mistaken use of the terms, so could have easily misled casual international readers. (DELETED BLOKE TEXT: bloke - a slang word for guy, usually means an adult man. Is effectively the opposite of shiela. As in "you beaut Aussie blokes and great shielas and mates who will really treat you true blue", as quoted from a Los Angeles Olympics spiel when talking about Australia.)   MinorEdit 21:29, 16 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Well, I didn't realise that it was listed below as well, when I wrote it, because I had presumed that the general list included everything - therefore if there was no text there, then "mate" was not included. I don't care what the definition is, just so long as it is included.  And I thought that including *famous* comedic quotes which explain the use of the word was very relevant.  Its not my fault if you weren't alive in 1984 to hear it, or didn't ever see D Generation etc who copied it.  It was obvious enough to me, but to you I guess it was not.  A bit like how you think you have a right to randomly deleted entries that people put in and add rude comments about it, when in fact you have no such right. 59.167.139.163 15:07, 17 November 2005 (UTC)

Pronunciation of Mate
Did anyone else watch Finding Nemo thinking that the seagulls were all saying "Maaate..." in that wheedly, fake-friendly, do-us-a-favour voice of the classic bot? I thought it was a briliant piece of insight into Australian culture and I was so disappointed to find out they were supposed to be saying "Mine". 203.214.74.36 13:42, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Car make names
Is it appropriate to have the make or trade names of commercial motor vehicles (Falcon, Commodore, Magna) listed here? If we start listing trade names for commercial items in Australia that are only trade names, then this page will get very long. MinorEdit 20:24, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
 * I know where you're coming from but as I see it the page is designed (e.g.) to assist people to understand every day Australian conversation and car names are in every day use. While "Ford" wouldn't need explaining to someone from Greenland, "Falcon" or "Holden" would. Grant65 | Talk 04:31, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Gupta and Deepak
I'd like to hear from anyone living in the Sydney metropolitan area in relation to whether they have heard the terms "Gupta" or "Deepak" being used playfully in reference to a person (generally male) of Indian, Pakistani or Nepalese persuations. The terms are actually common Indian names as far as I am aware. I have heard these terms used increasingly over the last few years, particularly in Western Sydney. I'm not sure if these are very new terms or slow developing terms. Any feedback would be good, particularly if you live in Western Sydney.

Examples of the terms used:

1. "Hey mate, have you seen the new Gupta who started here the other week, he works in accounts"

2. "Hey buddy, check this Deepak out!"

I have a feeling these are very new terms and confined to only a few pockets of NSW.

I'm dying to know if anyone else knows about them. The curiosity is killing me. Yes I know I have too much time on my hands :) - Nigel J Van Houten 03:18, 15 December 2005 (UTC)