Talk:Diminutives in Australian English

I have started this article because Diminutives in Australian English are a notable feature of the language. Diminutives are used extensively in Australian English. This article should be watched carefully as there will likely be a tendency for people to add uncommon slang terms or vandalise the page. It should be kept to common or notable examples of diminutives. It may be worthwhile breaking the list of diminutives into classes of words, e.g. occupations, animals, etc. Mozzie (talk) 12:58, 15 October 2014 (UTC)
 * fascinating stuff! there's a handful of these in use in the US, but not many.


 * i'd like to ask about one specific one: is "resto" used in oz for restaurant? i've picked that up somewhere, and now can't live w/out it!  but it's not heard in the US outside of my house -- i'd really like to know where i picked this up!


 * oz/strine, or just interwebz abbrev (twitter/txting etc)?


 * or might it be COCKNEY even (i watch a lot of OFAH)?


 * tx! 209.172.23.27 (talk) 06:46, 14 November 2015 (UTC)

"resto" in Australia refers to 'restroom' or public lavatory. As in, "I'm going to pull in at this Servo and use the resto." It isn't as common as servo, I lived in Western Australalia most of my life and only heard it used it commonly when I moved to South Australia. Sorry for not editing this correctly. Cheers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.21.229.47 (talk) 12:55, 20 November 2015 (UTC)


 * RESTROOM?! oh dear.  i've been using it for restaurant for a couple years now!


 * must be OFAH (cockney) i picked it up from. i surely didn't come up with this myself.


 * we don't have "servo" either, but i can get it from your context. in the states, servo only has the "motor" meaning.


 * in other news, a show here used "rando" last night. "my roommate is dealing drugs; every time i come home the apartment's full of randos!"


 * this is a new one on me as well. but i like it.  209.172.23.224 (talk) 06:57, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Tranny
In view of this comment (I know it's not anywhere close to a RS we could cite), it sounds quite credible that "tranny" started out as yet another typical Australianism originally, and may indeed have lacked any pejorative connotation initially. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 23:33, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

lappy
for laptop. is THIS aussie?

i'm beginning to think i've picked up more of these from the UK than from Oz. could someone find/compile a list of UK diminutives as well, pls?

OFAH a good place to start.... ;)

one more -- sando, sandy and sammy for sandwich. article lists sanger and sango, but i've never seen either. again...are my 3 forms from the UK? 209.172.23.19 (talk) 05:27, 30 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Lappy is legit Aussie slang, but perhaps not as widespread as some of the other words. 2001:4898:80E8:8:0:0:0:398 (talk) 22:37, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

seppo
is this still current?

i'm surprised i've never heard this. plenty of aussie friends who tease/insult me in OTHER ways ("dumb yank" the usual). i can only conclude that the word has passed from usage.

gonna wear it with pride, however, if it's still around! 209.172.23.19 (talk) 05:27, 30 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Seems more like east-coast slang. 2001:4898:80E8:8:0:0:0:398 (talk) 22:37, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

joey
Since 'pinky' is on the list, would 'joey' count as well? I say this as a complete and utter non-Australian :-)213.127.210.95 (talk) 17:50, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

preggers
Don't know about 'preggo' (which I'd never seen before, but once again I'm a complete and utter non-Australian), but 'preggers' is quite definitely also British slang, and if anything upper-class - like 'rugger' for 'rugby', 'soccer' for 'association football' and such toe-curling horrors as 'the Honkers and Shankers' for the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (apparently still used in the City of London - I can just hear the braying voices after a long liquid lunch....). According to the Wikipedia article 'Oxford -er' this may all be derived from 19th-century public school (specifically Rugby School) slang. Personally I don't think the '-er(s)' ending really counts as a specifically Australian diminutive, whereas the '-ie'/-y/-ey' and '-o' endings ('barbie', 'arvo' and so on) surely do. Perhaps an expert should check the whole list for 'Aussenticity'?213.127.210.95 (talk) 18:10, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

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British use
Moved fact check from article text to here.

Those marked ‡ are also very common in British English. (This list needs checking over properly. Many that are unmarked would be recongnised or used by British people) 22:03, 1 May 2018‎ 86.8.202.107

Aoziwe (talk) 13:23, 1 May 2018 (UTC)


 * Many of these Australian diminutives entered British English following the broadcast of Neighbours by the BBC after 1986. Neighbours had a large teenage audience, and usage of Australianisms increased as this cohort grew into adulthood. The term 'uni' for university was unknown in the 70s when I was a student, but it had become extremely common by the 90s. Many young people also began uptalking during that period. --Ef80 (talk) 10:25, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

"Savvy B"
Really? I have heard it called "sav" (by both Kiwis and Aussies) but never "savvy b". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.98.70.28 (talk) 10:14, 18 July 2019 (UTC)

New Zealand English as well?
I was just adding this article Small Poppy Syndrome: Why are Australians so Obsessed With Nicknaming Things? as a reference, and noticed that it said: "It’s just that Australian English speakers (along with our trans-Tasman cousins, the New Zealanders), seem to regularly do it so much more, and in much wider social and speech contexts." Which got me thinking. Is this an Australian POV article when it should really should include New Zealand as well? I'd really appreciate any feedback noting that this might take a few years to come in :/ Mozzie (talk) 05:04, 16 February 2022 (UTC)

Keeping the list of words clean
The word list in this article seems to gradually fill up with words that people are adding as a bit of a joke. I think it needs to be cleaned but it would be nice to get some opinions for other editors so we can form a consensus. I would propose that: I would welcome comments to form a bit of consensus on this, noting that it might take several years. Mozzie (talk) 05:10, 16 February 2022 (UTC)
 * unsourced words should generally be removed.
 * we are not trying to provide an exhaustive list (that's not what wikipedia is for), just a good sample.
 * place names should be removed, because there are so many of them and they generally aren't sourced (or alternatively moved to another section).
 * Sorry for the drive-by, but just came across this article, and my strong third-party opinion is that it needs to rely a lot more on WP:RS. GeoEvan (talk) 18:24, 25 July 2022 (UTC)