This week, we are walking through the Bogan gate, and we don't mean the town in Central New South Wales. A Bogan gate is a gate made from barbed wire and stakes, found in the bush. Picture a haphazard structure made of timber and wire, pulled across a paddock. We have written in depth about the meaning of bogan, but seeing as it's been a while, we thought we would revisit some of our favourite bogan-related slang.  Every state seems to have their name for bogans, many of them uncomplimentary. In Queensland, bogans are referred to as bevans. New South Wales bogans cross over with westie's, which says a lot about what people think about Western Sydney (long live the West). Tasmanian bogans are called chiggers, while those in the ACT are booners.  Bogans who visit the beach are referred to as the bogan navy. This navy, considered one of the strongest in the world, deploys aqua bogs: bogans who surf.  Bogan juice is a nickname for iced coffee. If a juice sipping bogan takes their drink to the back of the bus they are a backseat bogan. These are just some of words that jumped out at us. This blog could easily go on for another ten paragraphs but I think you get the picture. If you have a favourite bogan-related word, comment below.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

A flicker of movement in the corner of your eye. You are being hunted. Eight legs creep across the wall. Tangled in a web of fear, you turn to face... the triantelope!! Ok, enough low-budget horror movie stuff. This week's Word of the Week is a true blue, eight-legged Aussie legend. The triantelope is a nickname for the hunstman spider, a medium to large spider with flattened, brown or grey, hairy bodies. Huntsman spiders are widely distributed around Australia but if you see one don't be afraid, these are beneficial spiders who hunt pesky insects. Huntsman spiders sometimes live in families of up to 150 individuals. If you see that many spiders gathered in one place, you are entitled to turn around and walk the other way. For more Aussie animals, check out our blog, as well as out list of collective nouns for animals. And just for the adults, most certainly don't take this turn of phrase literally. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

This week's Word of the Week is dedicated to your granny. How many times did she catch you with your hand in the biscuit tin? When you made your granny mad she roused on you. In other words she slipped into her thickest brogue and scolded you with a heat hotter than a boiled kettle. Ouch. There are plenty of other Aussie ways of giving you a good telling off. Pay out and chew out are classic Aussie versions of rouse on, while to chuck off at someone is a now-outdated term that originated in the 1900s.  A good basting isn't just for your Christmas turkey; it also means to denounce or scold vigorously, while to blow up at someone means to vehemently scold them, as in he blew me up for being late. So unless you want your granny to blow up, do us a favour and keep your hand out of the biscuit tin.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

We hope you're wearing a clean pair, because this week we are discussing the unmentionables. Underdaks, also called underchunders or underdungers, is a colloquial name for your underpants. Daks are trousers, therefore underdaks must logically be underwear. Simple.  Aussie slang is full of alternative words for our trousers and underwear. Reginalds or Reg Grundies are rhyming slang for undies, while bloomers are known as bum shorts in Queensland, and scungies in New South Wales and the ACT.   Freeballing is a rather imaginative term for when a man forgets to wear underdaks beneath his daks. There are plenty of other, much ruder, words for underwear out there. We'll leave those to your imagination (or a search of the Macquarie Dictionary Online). For other fashion faux pas, pull up your grundies and check out our trackie daks blog. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

This week we are talking about galahs but not the endemic Australian cockatoo with its grey and pink plumage and cute chatter. Galah also means fool. As in Get out of it, you great bloody galah. Galahs are noted for erratically noisy behaviour, which seems pretty bizarre to humans (no doubt it all makes sense to them), hence a galah is a fool. And who could forget the classic mad as a gum tree full of galahs? Galah session, a time set aside for the people of isolated outback areas to converse with one another by radio, is another interesting none avian usage of the word. Picture farmers on a remote station chatting on radios provided for them by the Royal Flying Doctors Service, who helped develop outback communication.  Aussies sure like turning the birds in their garden in to slang words. For more, check out our cockatoo blog as well (it's not about the bird either).  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Look a-yonder comin' Comin' down that railroad track  - Johnny Cash No, it's not the Orange Blossom Special, it's a rattler: any type of train noted for its loud rattling. From travelling our cities we know there are still plenty of rattlers roaming Australia's railroads! And if you're from New South Wales, you may remember the red rattlers, any of various trains with dark red carriages which rattled noisily when going at speed. To jump a rattler was to board a moving train and thus obtain a ride without buying a ticket – a practice common among swagmen during the Depression. Scale was a similar word. Swagmen would scale a train, bus, or ferry to avoid paying a fare, as in they scaled a rattler up to Newcastle. Thankfully we all have our tap on cards these days! While on the subject of trains we dug up an old piece of slang used by Sydney rail enthusiasts back in the early 2000s. Millennium bug was used to refer to CityRail's Millennium Train series, which was supposed to begin in 1999 but suffered technical problems. A clever usage of millennium bug, we think.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Today we feature a classic piece of Aussie slang, a word for all situations, so flexible that it can bend into any lexicon, what was it again? Sorry, I've forgotten the name of the thingo... oh, that's it! Thingo is this week's Aussie Word of the Week.  Thingo is versatile. A handy place holder for the forgetful and lazy amongst us. Want to change the channel? Ask someone to pass you the thingo and they will invariably know what you mean. Thingo is the Aussie way of saying thingummy or thingamyjiggey or thingamabob or even thingy. It has been in common use since the 1960s. Australians use thingo so much in day-to-day speech you probably don't even notice you're doing it! For other slang words, check out our Australian Word Map, where you can search words by region, or submit your own slang words via our Suggest a Word portal.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

At a time when we are all relying to the expertise of our doctors and nurses, we are on the lookout for quacks, and not the kind you hear from a duck. A quack is an ignorant or fraudulent pretender to medical skill. Think Dr Nick Riviera from The Simpsons.  Similar words include mountebank, which more specifically refers to someone who sells quack medicines from a platform in public places, appealing to the audience by tricks and story storytelling (like a more sinister soapbox orator), and snake oil merchant, a confidence trickster who sells phoney medical treatments and other wares. Then there is nostrum, a word for a quack medicine.  Another medical related slang term is happy juice, a nickname for any pain relieving medication that comes in liquid form.  For other slang words, check out our Australian Word Map, where you can search words by region, or submit your own slang words via our Suggest a Word portal.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here. 

Who fancies a winter dip down at the beach, or maybe at the local pool? The Aussie crawl is an Australian invented freestyle swimming stroke now used the world over.  Inspired by the Aussie crawl we have trawled the seas of the Macquarie Dictionary for other swimming related slang. While swimming you'll want to avoid the blind mullet or brown trout, a tube of excrement floating in water, also referred to as a Bondi cigar. I don't fancy reeling in that fish!  An aqua bog can refer either to a bogan who surfs or an excrement done while swimming in the ocean. You may be seeing a theme develop, so we will leave the meanings of code brown and pollywaffle to your imagination.  Togs and cossie are two slang names for swimming costumes, the latter being more common in New South Wales and the usage of both words being quite contentious topics Australia-wide. Lastly, spanner water is a nickname for extremely cold water. That's it for this week. Now pull on your budgie smugglers and do a bombie into the spanner water, but don't forget to look out for the brown trout.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here. 

You hear them before you see them, those screeching flashes of white that swoop from your balcony to your bin. That's right, I'm talking about the infamous Australian cockatoo.  As well as being one of Australia's loudest avian species, a cockatoo is also a slang name for a lookout who keeps watch during some illegal activity, such as another Aussie pastime, the two-up game. This name is in reference to behaviour of the sulphur-crested cockatoo, which is known to post sentries to noisily warn the flock of approaching danger.  Hence why might you see a lonely cockatoo sitting at your window while its mates rain crumbs on your balcony from above. Meerkats also post sentries. In fact, if you visit a zoo you might see a meerkat sentry staring straight up in the air as if bird watching. Meerkats as much cuter than cockatoos but sadly not native to Australia. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Admit it, how many of you are bludging right now? Maybe you are reading the news or having a cheeky look at the weekend's football scores when you should be sending that draft email sitting in your inbox.  To bludge is to waste time when you should be doing something. Americans refer to bludging as loafing. A classic piece of Australian slang, to bludge originally meant to live off the earnings of a prostitute. The term has since expanded to include a wider range of meanings.  To be on the bludge is to be actively engaged in bludging, which can mean to be idle or doing nothing. As in, we spent Saturday just bludging around the house. (Who doesn't at this age?) A bludge can also refer to any job or class that requires next to no work. As in, this assignment is a bludge. Similar to the original meaning, to bludge off someone is to impose on them or live off their hospitality. Enough bludging, back to work! Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

With the glorious return of the footy to our screens, we can now support our team from the comfort of our lounge. The atmosphere might not be quite the same, but you can still barrack just as hard for your team from the safety of your sofa.  To barrack is to shout encouragement for a player or team but can also be used outside of sporting contexts.  This deadset Australianism dates back to the 1890s. There has been a lot of discussion about the origin of this term, and many fabled origins have been put forward, generally having something to do with soldiers from army barracks supporting a certain team at a certain place. None of these theories have anything going for them other than that they are nice stories. An alternative theory suggests a connection with the dialect of Northern Ireland, where barrack meant to boast or brag. Northern Irish slang is mad craic, but we will keep the focus closer to home. For Aussie language historians, it should be noted that barrack was formerly used to mean to jeer at someone or ridicule them. This meaning dates back to the 1870s and was common in Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.