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- bog1
to shovel (ore, mullock, etc.), especially underground.
- bog2
a bogan, especially a really rough one. Compare bevan, bogan, chigger, booner, boonie, feral, westie.
Contributor's comments: In Western Australia - Perth region [the word "bogan"] came into use more recently, and earlier the word 'bog' was used to mean pretty much the same thing.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is also used in Western Australia, sometimes shortened to 'bog' (rhymes with log). Besides the flanny shirt, they also tend to wear 'spray-on' (very tight) black jeans and have mullet haircuts. Often also wear thongs (double pluggers) with them, black knitted beanies also popular in cold weather.
- bog3
A panel beater's poly filler used to fill dents in cars: Is it full of bog?; How much bog's in it?; Just bog it and flog it (sell it).
Editor's comments: This particular meaning of 'bog' is used all over Australia. See the other two records for 'bog' which show regional usage.
Contributor's comments: I think you need to discuss this word with a national magazine such as "Street Machine" - they regularly use the word "bog" to describe a substance used by panel beaters to fill or reshape damaged car body panels. I grew up on the Central Coast of NSW and whenever we "did a damaged car up" we used "bog".
- bevan
1. a rough young man.
2. a male viewed as stupid or unfashionable. Compare bog2, bogan, chigger, booner, boonie, feral, westie. [from Bevan a male name]
Contributor's comments: We used to call the "Seven Eleven" store the "Bevan heaven" as that is where all the guys with flannies and long hair used to hang out (80's).
Contributor's comments: [Brisbane informant] I always thought that a bevan was a car freak, a.k.a. spanner-brain or petrol-head.
Contributor's comments: Bevans would drive V8s, wear heavy metal t-shirts and mullets.
Contributor's comments: [Sydney informant] 'Bevan' is not confined to Queensland; it is just as common in New South Wales.
Contributor's comments: I've lived in Qld all my life and I had not heard of this use of the word 'bevan' until I listened to the show on Radio National tonight.
Contributor's comments: "Bevan" has travelled at least as far south as Armidale, NSW.
Contributor's comments: [New England informant] This term is also used in NSW, but seems to have been superseded by the word 'bogan', which seems to mean the same thing.
Contributor's comments: [Brisbane informant] This usage must be dying out, our teacher used it in class one day and had awful trouble communicating what she'd originally intended to. None of our generation understood. I think she used it in reference to a long haired, flanno wearing, ute driving white male with fluffy dice hanging from the rear-vision mirror.
Contributor's comments: [Melbourne informant] When I was in my very early around 11, 12, 13, I distincly remember my older sister referring to people we usually called bogans as 'bevans'. However my memory suggests that the reason for this is because anyone with the name 'Bevan' had to be a bit of an uncool person. It is worth noting at the time that there was a TV show on called Young Talent Time which had a young child performer called Bevan on it. For us youngsters he was seen as being a bit of an uncool bogan, and he had slightly mulletty curls on the back of his head. It is interesting to note that the phrase did not seem to stick around very long, and the word bogan came back to dominate pretty quickly.
Contributor's comments: In Brisbane we always used the word 'bevan' as described, with the only exception being when the band "Savage Garden" enjoyed such success - it was much more fun to call them the "bogans from Logan". Westie doesn't cut it in Brisbo because the Western suburbs of Brisbane are posh!
Contributor's comments: I attended St Joseph's College, Gregory Terrace in Brisbane, and I suspect I was around during the Birth of the expression 'Bevan.' At the time (late 70's) there was rumoured to be a Brisbane Boys Grammer individual named Bevan who, on weekends prefered to wear 'The Flanno' and Ug Boots, drive around in a Holden Sandman, and listen to Heavy Metal, while your average upper middle class youth, prefered wearing Penguin shirts and Amco tabs the trendy attire of the era. It's a great story and who knows? It may just be true.
Contributor's comments: Do you think this term derived from Young Talent Time? I heard the phrase frequently in the late 80s but the current term is Bogon.
Contributor's comments: In the small town I live in, there's not much for teenagers to do on weekends. Bevans are the people, ususally male, who park their super charged cars in centre parking and talk all night. "Bevan-ing" is also used as a verb, which describes doing laps of the main street, eventually parking and becoming a Bevan.
Contributor's comments: When I was growing up in Sydney, these people were known as Westies. I moved to brisbane at 15, and was introduced to Bevans. They generally had loud cars, mullets, stonewash jeans and ug boots.
Contributor's comments: [Sydney informant] a dag: "He's such a bevan!"
Contributor's comments: Yeah I only remember this being used in Sydney to mean a dag, and then only in the 80s where it wasn't very common amongst my friends.
Contributor's comments: I remember when the term was first used, and I always associted it with Bevan from Young Talent Time. I think the usage of the term might be isolated to areas where the show was shown, as I moved to Canberra and nobody had heard of the term, mainly because it wasn't aired there. The term was always "You're such a bevan". At least Bevan is still famous, probably not for what he would like to be remembered as. I wonder where he is now.
- bogan
unsophisticated, flanno wearing afficionado of moccasins (moccas): Shazza is a bogan! Compare bevan, bog2, chigger, booner, boonie, feral, westie.
Editor's comments: Does this word have anything to do with the town of Bogan in NSW?
Contributor's comments: Bogan is also widely used throughout Tasmania.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is a common term in Perth also. Specially in the 80's. Still plenty of bogans to be found over here!!
Contributor's comments: Also used in W.A. a young bogan or the little brother of a bogan was known as a barry.
Contributor's comments: I believe that this word was used extensively in the Comedy Company shows that ran during the 80's, and hence has wide exposure in all of Australia. Although whether the show was the originator of the word, I do not know.
Contributor's comments: The word "bogan" is used throughout Brisbane, but "bevan" is more common.
Contributor's comments: Used in Brisbane. e.g. I'm sure I've heard Savage Garden referred to as "The Bogans from Logan" (just south of Brisbane).
Contributor's comments: This word is also used in Western Australia - Perth region. I think it came into use more recently, and earlier the word 'bog' was used to mean pretty much the same thing. Perth bogans aren't known for wearing moccassins, just Ugg Boots. (Mulletts are still common).
Contributor's comments: Bogan is also used in Perth and has the same meaning, with the added bonus of meaning a complete idiot.
Contributor's comments: Also known as 'booner' in the ACT.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is also commonly used in Adelaide.
Contributor's comments: Used in WA since at least the late 70s.
Contributor's comments: Never heard this word used in New England. As a kid in Tamworth we always used the word westie.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is also used in Western Australia, sometimes shortened to 'bog' (rhymes with log). Besides the flanny shirt, they also tend to wear 'spray-on' (very tight) black jeans and have mullet haircuts. Often also wear thongs (double pluggers) with them, black knitted beanies also popular in cold weather.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is DEFINITELY a Tasmanian word. Used a lot there!
Contributor's comments: "Bogan" is used, @ least in SE Perth, for male youth wearing checked shirt, mullet haircut, jeans, riple-soled black desert boots, with the arms of a sweater tied around the mid-riff, so that the sweater covers the backside. Usually from lower socio-economic group.
Contributor's comments: Bogun (as it is spelt here) is commonly used by Tasmanian school children today - it has replaced the word "chiggers" amongst young people. Graffiti in Hobart makes the plea "let boguns be boguns".
Contributor's comments: "Bogan" is used in South Australia too.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is also the term commonly used in SA.
Contributor's comments: This word was used very often in WA during my school days to refer to boys who wore denim or black jeans, black desert boots and black tshirt with a flannelette shirt over the top.
Contributor's comments: Bogan as a term is also heavily used in Tasmania. Also, in Canberra it is slightly changed to the word "Booner".
Contributor's comments: I think Bogan is not used much in NSW, but is definitely used in WA.
Contributor's comments: Bogan is less widely used in Sydney and Canberra than in Melbourne. I believe that the word came to Sydney/Canberra via TV shows such as the Comedy Company.
Contributor's comments: I've only ever heard of "bogan" being used by Victorians - in Sydney the same sense is expressed by the word "westie".
Contributor's comments: This word is used in SA also.
Contributor's comments: In Adelaide, I never heard the word "bogan" until it started filtering through from other states (via TV) in the late '80's. Before then the Adelaide equivalent of bogan was just "person".
Contributor's comments: In the Upper Hunter Valley NSW we have never heard of this word. I think our equivalent is a "dag" or "hommie".
Contributor's comments: W.A. Bogans in the 1980s tended to listen to Heavy Metal music, eg AC/DC, Def Lepard, etc. Also often wear black T-shirts advertising these bands.
Contributor's comments: Sydneysiders prefer to use "westie".
Contributor's comments: [ACT informant] An unattractive young male: "He is such a bogan."
Contributor's comments: [Perth informant] Bogun, pronounced, bow (eg long bow) gun, a daggy sort of person, the type that swims at Cottesloe Beach wearing black jeans, and thinks that's cool. This may be a late 70's early 80's saying. I'm not sure that it is in common parlance anymore. I have got to say that bogun is not a word that has been in my common vocabulary recently. It is a term on a similar par to dag, almost a term of affection, about someone who is a bit behind the 8 ball, of the the basics of fashion. The typical bogun is suburban and a bit of a dick-head.
Contributor's comments: I'd like to know the collective noun for bogans. Any suggestions?
Contributor's comments: In Hobart prior to the latter 80's the term was always Chigger referring to people from Chigwell. They didn't wear moccosans (that look was never really in here), maybe Ug boots but mostly desert boots (or "poof boots" as in PB Rollers). They also wore flannel shirts (of flannies). My brother was a chigger and so were all his mates.
Contributor's comments: Kiwis claim bogan as their own, particularly Wellingtonians. People living in Upper Hut are often referred to as bogans. I wonder if the phase was brought across the Tasman Sea with/by the Kiwis now living in Australia.
Editor's comments: Actually, Harry Orsman's "Oxford Dictionary of New Zealand English" list bogan as a "recent borrowing" from Australia. First recorded in NZ in 1992, first recorded in Australia in 1988. Nice try, but.
Contributor's comments: The word Bogan was not used in Adelaide prior to the 1980s. I am not aware of any regional equivalent.
Contributor's comments: 'Bogan' is also used in Sydney. In the NW suburbs we use it to refer to those living north of Hornsby, in 'the sticks'. Not used in a general way for people living there, but it kind of forms the north-of-city equivalent of 'westie' for Sydney. Bogans tend to be particularly fond of bonfires and bomb cars.
Contributor's comments: [Tasmanian informant] Delinquent, mostly illiterate, foul mouthed, alcoholic who most likely drives something that isn't road worthy, has a malfunctioning muffler, has at least one broken light and a terrible paint job. They would also be likely to have not finished a senior secondary education and would belong to low socio-economic group.
Contributor's comments: Clothing features of a WA bogan include tight black shirt with person's name in those plastic iron letters and a ciggie pack tucked into one sleeve.
Contributor's comments: Bogun and Booner were extensively used in the ACT. As I came from Belconnen, boguns were from Charnwood (a medium-density suburb). The fellas wore flannie shirts and mullets.
Contributor's comments: Have heard 'bogan' used in Melbourne.
Contributor's comments: [from the UK] A friend who emigrated to Australia introduced my friends and I to this word over in England. Don't think it has become very widespread even with the amount of Aussie soaps and backpackers over here, but among my circle of friends it's a well-used term. Usually delivered in the style of Alf from Home & Away i.e "ya flamin' bogan".
Contributor's comments: The word 'bogan' is related to the word Dubbo, meaning someone who is a simpleton or country hick. The term bogan is related to those people who live 'west' of the Bogan River at Nyngan in NSW and they were considered even more slow and simple than a Dubbo, some one who lived in the Central West of NSW.
Contributor's comments: I remember bogan being used in the late 70's/early 80's in Ballarat schools. It was picked up by "The Comedy Company" and exported to all of Aust/NZ. We used it in Ballarat to describe the inhabitants of Wendouree West who were always picking their noses in school. Hence, bogeys, boges, bogans. Still called "Boges" in Ballarat.
Contributor's comments: [Melbourne informant] I first heard bogan in Melbourne in the mid to late 1970s, previously bogans were known as "moccasin people" on account of their favoured footwear and occasionally as scozzers, with scozz as the adjective e.g. "look at that scozz car", but scozzer was entirely replaced by bogan. Westies were the Sydney version of bogans - the uniform is as every one says, tight jeans, moccys, flannel shirt or blank band t-shirt and of course the mullett.
Contributor's comments: A Bogan is very common in the new millenium, especially in and around the Bunbury-Perth area. Another aspect characterising flanno wearing, mullet-cut, men who think low-class styles from the 80's is cool, is their love of VK Commodores and such aging Holden and Ford cars.
Contributor's comments: A slang term to describe working class citizens. They are characterised by tight, black jeans, flannelette shirts, black, rubber thongs and a mullet haircut. Other characteristics include driving VK Commodores, drinking VB, listening to Jimmy Barnes or AC/DC, and having an obsession with aging Ford and Holden motor vehicles. Bogan is a Western Australian term and was put into use after people stopped referring to such people as 'Yobo's': "Have you noticed that bogan's have mullets?"
Contributor's comments: This word is used to interchangably with 'Bevan' (Qld) represent a person that is in someway derelict or rough around the edges: "Look at those Bogons over there."
Contributor's comments: Similar to bevan: "That's where the bogans hang out."
Contributor's comments: A Bogan is someone who, wares Fubo, Dada and Wutan, commonly called Fubu-Claners. Its not just flannelette shirts that make people Bogans.
Contributor's comments: Growing up in Ballarat in the 70's and 80's, this word was very commonly used. The word 'skozza' was also used interchangeably. A mate of mine incurred huge social stigma by deliberately cultivating a mullett, buying the uniform (flannie, faberge jeans and suede 'rollers' as footwear. He was trying to deliberately BECOME a bogan, instead of growing up one...
Contributor's comments: We used Bogan extensively in Sorrigo, northern NSW, to describe dags in similar fashion to 'westie' in Sydney. I suspect an earlier comment about the Comedy Company's influence may be right - my memory of the term is as a teenager in the 1980s.
Contributor's comments: A real Melbourne term, I remember having to explain it to a housemate new from Sydney. It seemed to emerge in the 80s and was initially used by people who'd gone to private schools to refer to people who hadn't. The word has broadened now to refer to uncouth, uncultured "awful Australian" types - moccas, mullets, cheap hairstreaks, acidwash jeans (80s) or muffin-tops, "youse"-sayers.
Contributor's comments: Having lived in Sydney, Canberra, regional NSW and now Brisbane, I can confirm that many younger people in Brisbane have never heard of the word Bogan. In Canberra, Bogan and Booner was used. Booner being the more derogative of the two. My family in Sydney refer to Bogan as the term Westies use to describe other Westies. Bevan seems to be more popular in Brisbane but there isn't a specific term for a bogan.
- booner
An ACT term for those individuals who wear sheepskin moccasins, fleecy checked shirts, smoke "Winnie blue" and drink VB. Highly likely to support the Summer Nats. ACT's version of a Sydney "westie" or Victorian "bogan": Eer! Look at those drunken booners, over near the Captain Cook memorial fountain! Compare bevan, bog2, bogan, chigger, boonie, feral, westie.
Contributor's comments: This seems similar to the term "boonies" used in Queensland for some-one from the outer suburbs as in "she lives out in the boonies". I think it's a contraction of 'boondocks'.
Contributor's comments: [ACT informant] In the late 70's/early 80's the term was "boon": I only heard "booner" in about 1984.
Contributor's comments: Having lived several times in the ACT, and in the US, this word is not particularly authentically Australian. It is likely derived from the US term boonies, (short for boondocks) meaning the bush, or a remote place, implying a lack of sophistication and style. Thats the impact of American TV for you.
Contributor's comments: My son aged 26 claims this must be from David Boon the cricketer!
Contributor's comments: In SA a booner is commonly known as a feral, i.e a Port Adelaide supporter.
Contributor's comments: [Adelaide informant] Never heard 'booner' before, but I've certainly heard the word 'boonie' used to describe beer swilling outer suburban types.
Contributor's comments: Over the years I've been involved in a few discussions about where the term "booner" comes from, & the consensus seems to be in reference to the "boondocks", or living on the outer edges of the city where housing is cheaper, & the community is less "cosmospolitan".
Contributor's comments: How about the town of Boonah, in Queensland? I moved to the ACT from QLD and always assumed they were related...certainly makes people from ACT laugh if they discover a town called booner!!
Contributor's comments: I remember the transition from 'Boons' to 'Booner', in the early 1980s. As a kid growing up at the time, I never got a sense that the word had started out as 'Boondocks' or from the influence of US TV, but that's not important. The important part is that we didn't know what 'westies' or 'bogans' were, because as far as we were concerned they were boon/ers. Don't knock the authentic 'berraism.
Contributor's comments: A person from outer suburban areas, often driving old holdens and wearing a flannie: "This Booner hang a burnout at the traffic lights."
Contributor's comments: This word may be a simile for the Sydney term 'westie'. It is less about class or geographic distinction than the Sydney term. It is more about fashion when used in the relatively flat socio-economic landscape of Canberra. This word is used in 'Troy's House' a play by Queanbeyan writer Tommy Murphy. The usage here is "A booner... you know like a a bevan with a mullet cut."
Contributor's comments: Was a very popular word in Canberra in the mid-80's. Never heard it associated with the term "boondocks". Used to describe blokes with mullet hairdo's, a pack of Winnie Blues up the sleeve of their t-shirt, and some noisy old car with a huge V8.
Contributor's comments: I would argue that the usage for the words booner, and feral, etc. when used by Canberran's mean a range of different things. A feral is uniquely unable to maintain cleanliness, but could have been brought up in any socioeconomic background. And could quite possibly be a rich kid gone haywire with the environmentalist approach, whereas a booner is from a low wage or unemployed family, and is unlikely to be able to string a sentence together. A booner is likely to be interested in Cars rather than music. Both are stereotyped as beer drinking league watchers who didn't finish year ten and don't understand the merits of cleanliness, but a feral would be more likely to grow vegetables and not shower as a statement. I now live in Melbourne where the term Bogan is much like Booner, but not like feral. All are however, degoratory terms for dope smokers.
Contributor's comments: Definitely "boon" was the popular form in Canberra in mid to late 80s. Fairly sure it had an association with the cricketer, David Boon.
- boonie
people from the outer suburbs or country areas - 'boondocks': He's a real boonie - never been in a lift. Compare bevan, bog2, bogan, chigger, booner, feral, westie.
Contributor's comments: [Adelaide informant] I've certainly heard the word 'boonie' used to describe beer swilling outer suburban types.
Contributor's comments: This is derived from the word 'boondock' which is an americanization of the word 'bundok' a Filipino word for mountain. and they do refer to less civilized persons as 'from the mountains'!
- chigger
a person who lives in the outskirts of Hobart. I would say it's fairly derogatory and actually is similar to calling someone a redneck!: You're a Chigger! Compare bevan, bog2, bogan, booner, boonie, feral, westie. Also, Chigga. [from the Hobart suburb of Chigwell]
Contributor's comments: Having lived in both Hobart and Sydney, I would say the usage and meaning is very similar to Sydney "westie".
Contributor's comments: I believe this refers to "Chigwell" an area just outside Hobart.
Contributor's comments: Chigwell is an outer suburb of Hobart.
Contributor's comments: [Firstly I'd like to observe that you don't have a 'place' category in your 'subject area of regionalism' options]. 'Chigger' refers to 'Chigwell', a none-too-salubrious suburb of Hobart.
Contributor's comments: I understand "chigger" to be a term derived from the name of a Hobart suburb, Chigwell, and was a derogatory comment based on its original status (in the 1950s) as a Housing Commission (ie low income) area.
Contributor's comments: 'Chigger' actually comes from a working class suburb called Chigwell, and in southern Tassie I remember hearing it in use as another way to say 'bogan' or 'yobbo'.
Contributor's comments: Having lived most of my life in Hobart I can confirm that the term chigger is in widespread use. Further that it stems from a suburb by the name of Chigwell. It has however been widened to potentially encompass any young person, male or female that appears to be of a lower socio-economic status. Chigwell was originally a Housing Department suburb.
Contributor's comments: "Chigger" refers to Chigwell, a northern suburb of Hobart settled as a post WWII blue collar and housing commission development area.
Contributor's comments: "Chigger" has its origins in the name of the suburb Chigwell - a lower socio-economic northern suburn of Hobart. It compares with the Sydney use of "westie" to describe people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Contributor's comments: "Chigger" for a dweller in Hobart's outer suburbs, certaily seems derogatory. It is the name for a kind of parasitic mite (or its larva) encountered by troops in jungle areas in World War 2.
Contributor's comments: Based on the suburb name Chigwell.
Contributor's comments: 'Chigger' is only used in Hobart and surrounding areas. I grew up near Burnie and didn't know of the suburb of Chigwell or the term Chigger until I went to Uni in Hobart.
Contributor's comments: I'm pretty sure that it comes from 'Chigwell' an outer northern suburb of Hobart and is thus an exact equivalent to Syney's 'westie'.
Contributor's comments: I have scanned the list of Tasmanian regionalisms and 'chigger' is the only one whose authenticity I call seriously into question. I have Lived in Tas all my life, and I have only heard the term once and even then it was rendered as 'Chiggie' and that was 26 years ago. In the phrase 'I'm just a Chiggie girl at heart.' As such it is an abbreviation of the outer Hobart suburb of Chigwell. I believe it's usage is all but defunct. It certainly doesn't denote 'redneck'-- a word in common usage in Tas.
Contributor's comments: I think the word "chigger" originated from the "red-necks" that lived in the suburb of Chigwell in Hobart. Now it is another general term for a red-neck.
Contributor's comments: I would suggest that this derives from the suburb of Chigwell. This suburb is popularly regarded as being at the lower end of the socio-economic scale.
Contributor's comments: Chigger is now used relatively widely in Northern Tasmania as well.
Contributor's comments: My children (aged 14 and 17) have reliably informed me that the term "chigger" is alive and well in Hobart. Chiggers are almost invariably bogans, however bogans are not restricted to the suburb of Chigwell.
Contributor's comments: In Hobart and Launceston, there is a species of bogan known as a "mallie", or "mally". They are still bogans, they just hang around the malls eg. Elizabeth St mall in Hobart.
Contributor's comments: similar to bogan, westie, etc. easily spotted by open flannie shirt, grotty heavy metal t-shirt underneath, tight jeans, mullet haircut. The word originated from Chigwell, a suburb of Hobart: "Check out that guy's desert boots. What a chigger!"
Contributor's comments: Here in Tassie, you often hear references to 'chigger jeans', which are the tight, often black, jeans worn by many lower-income males.
Contributor's comments: Chiggers are most certainly found in Tasmania, further to the information already added, it is important to note that a chigger can often be identified by their clothing which generally consists of tight black denim trousers, a flannelette cheque shirt and blundstone (blunnies) or Rossi work boots. The favoured hair style of a chigger is generally unwashed or mullet. Chiggers own a larger than normal proportion of Australia's Torana's and Gemini's, and are well known for their olympian brick throwing efforts.
Contributor's comments: Chigger is rarely used anymore in Hobart (replaced by Bogan), but people know what it means. The Launceston equivalent is 'Ravo', from the suburb Ravenswood.
Contributor's comments: I have lived in Hobart since birth (1961) and I have allways known the term "Chigger" to refer to a cheap type of woman that lived in or near the suburd of Chigwell.
- feral2
bogan, rough female typified by tight clothing and thick black eyeliner with blue eyeshadow: Those girls from over there look like real ferals. Compare bevan, bog2, bogan, chigger, booner, boonie, westie.
Editor's comments: Here's another term with two distinct regional meanings. [See "feral 1"] Which meaning do you use, and where?
Contributor's comments: Feral, in my experience, is used to describe a person who leads an alternative lifestyle e.g. the ferals are at the St Andrew's market.
Contributor's comments: In my experience, feral pertains to people who are unwashed, poor education, lower socioecomonic, mullet hairstyle, flannel shirt, black jeans, and non-genderspecific.
Contributor's comments: We use the term in Tassie as well, you say that someone is a bush pig, or a feral. It has become quite a broad insult to females mainly, not necessarily meaning that they are unkempt.
- nanger
I grew up in Eastern Melbourne Suburbs and for us a westie equivalent was a "nanger". Compare bevan, bog2, bogan, chigger, booner, boonie, feral, westie.
- westie
A person (usually a man) who dresses in black t-shirts under flannelette shirts (flannies), old jeans, and even wears ugg boots out. They often have a mullet haircut. Usually found in western Sydney suburbs, hence the name "westie": You look like such a westie in that shirt. Compare bevan, bog2, bogan, chigger, booner, boonie, feral. Also, westy.
Editor's comments: Originally a Sydney word, but now spreading. In Sydney the word is applied negatively to any people living west of one's own suburb, thus a Bondi inhabitant may call a person from Ryde a westie, but Ryde inhabitants would not consider themselves such, and instead apply the term to people from Parramatta, who in turn apply it to people from Penrith, and so on westwards up to the Blue Mountains. Actually people embodying those features of dress, hairstyle, etc., referred to in the definition, increase in number radially from Sydney, and so, for example, Campbelltown has a fair whack of westies, though this is more south than west. Obviously people from beach suburbs cannot be westies, and inner city trendies usually escape the label. Like most derogatory terms, it can be used in a jocular way by those it is meant to criticise, thus, in West Ryde in the 80s there was a pizza place with a pizza called the Westie (i.e. an Australian, with egg and bacon).
Contributor's comments: Also used around Maitland and Newcastle.
Contributor's comments: Strictly speaking, a person from the western suburbs of Sydney. Commonly used to describe those that live there of the unsavoury variety: "Penrith is full of westies in their panel vans."
Contributor's comments: A person from the western suburbs of Sydney: "He was a real westie." - i.e. bogen, ruffnut.
Contributor's comments: A person living in the western suburbs of Sydney -- characterised by flannelette shirt and ugh boots!: "You look like a westie in that shirt!"
Contributor's comments: Westie doesn't cut it in Brisbo because the Western suburbs of Brisbane are posh!
Contributor's comments: The term "Westy" has become quite prevalent here in Toronto [NSW] where it's particularly applied to the residents of Toronto West, an area of higher than average unemployment. Many young men identify with the term and wear black t-shirts under flannelette shirts, etc.
Contributor's comments: Growing up in Victoria I had never heard the word westie until last year. At a pub in Ballarat a group of drunk guys were playing up and my friend from Ballarat said 'Typical westies'. I questioned this term and she said people from the less affluent areas of Ballarat (which are in the west of the city) are called 'westies'.
Contributor's comments: A person from the Western suburbs of Sydney. It is usually used about young men who stereotypically drive a hotted-up Torana, wear heavy-metal t-shirts, jeans and basketball shoes and hang around shopping malls in the evening bring nasty to people: "You look like a westy in that flanny", "Don't move to Ashfield, it's full of Westies."
Contributor's comments: Someone who lives inland...away from the coast/not trendy/poor dresser/of lower social class: "He's just a westy."
Contributor's comments: It is also used as reference to the east-west socioeconomic devide in Sydney and hence doesn't have strict boundaries.
Contributor's comments: I can confirm that this is a very common term in the Ballarat (VIC) region.
Contributor's comments: I grew up in Eastern Melbourne Suburbs and for us a westie equivalent was a "nanger".
Contributor's comments: At school in Canberra we used to call the group of kids who wore flannies and tight black jeans "westies". I had no idea until I came to Sydney that it actually referred to a geographic location!
Contributor's comments: Women could be westies too! A "westie chick" would have flicked-back hair in the 80s (long after it was fashionable), stretch jeans (acid wash) and of course, ugh boots.
Contributor's comments: Being from Ballarat myself a 'Westie' refers to somebody from Wendouree West who in the 80's and 90's would have been wearing black jeans and Guns and Roses t-shirts but now probably wear dada or eminem clothes.
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