Although Australians are speaking English, it can often feel like a completely different language! They practically abbreviate everything, adding “-ie” to the end of everything or simply shortening the word. It’s really fun, but you might want to brush up on your Australian slang before you head over to avoid confusion and feel like a local. Here are some of the most important terms you should definitely know before heading “down under”.
“Brekkie”
Brekkie, or breakfast, is basically just the better way to refer to your first meal of the day. You might even have some “avo toast” (avocado toast), as they say in Australia!
“Arvo”
Okay, we don’t really understand how this one came about. Arvo is simply the Australian way of saying “afternoon”. Not to be confused with the “avo” (avocado) term we mentioned before, of course.
“Sunnies”
Again with the “-ie” ending, this is just the better way of saying sunglasses. There’s something so fun about calling them sunnies, you might just bring this phrase home with you after your trip!
“Mate”
This one’s a classic, so of course we had to include it. Mate basically just means friend, and you can call people mate when greeting them.
“Defo”
Another word that’s hard to believe is what people say on a regular basis (and not just a teenager trying to sound cool) is “defo”. Defo is just a shortened version of the word ‘definitely’, but it sounds so much better!