Friday, December 10, 2010

American vs. Australian words and phrases

Almost on a daily basis since I arrived, I have had to have something translated to me.  There are so many words and phrases that they use that have different meanings that in the States or that I have never heard before.  I decided to compile a list, including some basic ones and others that I find very amusing. 

American vs. Australian
Elevator - Lift
Aluminum - Aluminium  (I didn't realize at first that they were actually spelled differently)
Sweatshirt - Jumper
Windshield - Windscreen
Gas - Petrol
Cookie - Biscuit
Candy - Lolly
Diaper - Nappy
Pants - Dacks
Sweat suit pants - Trackie dacks
Root (for a team) - Barrack  [Note: root has a pretty bad connotation here.  It's like f*** in the US]
Line - Queue
Drug Store - Chemist
Get pregnant - Fall pregnant
Drunk - Pissed
Tons - Heaps
Flip Flops - Thongs
Swim brief (aka Speedo) - Budgie Smuggler [Note: budgie is a bird - we call them parakeets in the US]

The last one is very amusing to me, especially since it was explained to me at work one day. 

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