Thongs, Stubbies and Sand Shoes

One of the items I was required to read when I made my application was a book about "Life in Australia", and one of the items that caught my attention was the use of slang. Now most cultures have their own unique words, Quid for a pound, for example, but I don't think we in the UK can hold a torch to the prevalence of use of slang in Australia. Even their politicians use colloquialisms. Can you imagine Gordon Brown telling the populace that he's going to have to tax them a few quid more to get us out of the doldrums? No, neither can I.

So the Australians have stubbies (small bottles of beer), sand shoes (trainers to you and I) and thongs. Now, to most of us, a thong is a piece of floss that you wear as underwear, but to an Australian it is a pair of flip flops. I'm assuming everyone knows what flip flops are.

They also like to shorten words and stick an "O" on the end, such as derro (a derelict or tramp). So when in doubt, shove an O on. Though not necessarily the barbie. Which is not the doll, but a barbecue.

We could be here a long time...