A note from Rach Smith's digital garden

Australian slang that I have used with my long-suffering American colleagues

Added: September 9, 2022

Tags: work

Often I’ll say something in a meeting or in Slack and then later realise, people don’t use that phrase in the USA. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things my CodePen colleagues have probably had to Google at some point.

  • bloke1
  • bugger2
  • carrying on like a pork chop3
  • chuck a sickie4
  • chuck a wobbly5
  • crack the shits6
  • devo7
  • DTs8
  • well fuck me dead9
  • have a crack at it10
  • maccas11
  • nah, yeah12
  • old mate13
  • playing silly buggers14
  • she’ll be right15
  • struggler16
  • sus17
  • that’s cooked18
  • whinger19
  • woop woop20
  • yeah, nah21

Footnotes

  1. a man ↩

  2. a mild swear, like saying “shit” or “damn it” ↩

  3. getting very upset, rant, complain ↩

  4. taking a sick day, whether you’re sick or not ↩

  5. throw a tantrum ↩

  6. get really mad or upset ↩

  7. devastated ↩

  8. dick togs, in the US they are called speedos I think ↩

  9. I’m surprised, amazed, or very confused ↩

  10. give it a try ↩

  11. Mcdonald’s ↩

  12. yes ↩

  13. a person who’s name you don’t know ↩

  14. behaving in an annoying way ↩

  15. it will be okay ↩

  16. someone who struggles to manage basic tasks ↩

  17. suspicious, suspect, shady ↩

  18. that’s really bad, that’s messed up ↩

  19. whiner, complainer ↩

  20. remote location ↩

  21. no ↩

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