The Best of ‘Australian Slang’

Drongo – no-hoper or fool. Someone whose “lift doesn’t go to the top floor” or whose “lights are on but no-one’s home”. Derives from a racehorse of that name in the 1920s, which never won a race out of 37 starts. Jack, Brisbane, Australia

Face like a dropped pie – ugly. Just so descriptive and used a lot by Australians working here in East Timor. Usually about me. Wayne Lovell, Dili, East Timor

Firies – firefighters. Doug, Sydney

Full as a centipede’s sock drawer – very full. I heard a guy say this after a particularly big meal while on a visit to Melbourne. Brian Murdoch, Glasgow

Go off like a frog in a sock – go berserk. Barton Mills, Suffolk

Go troppo – go crazy. I think it was first applied to people thought to have become a bit strange from the tropical heat in places like Darwin. I have one experience of going troppo, albeit briefly, and in Devon! H Arshi, Exeter, Devon

Kangaroos loose in the top paddock – eccentric or not very bright. I love this phrase because it evokes the achingly silent dry desert heat and open space of the great Australian outdoors. Adrian Fisher, Durweston, Dorset

Knock up – wake up. When I was staying with a host family in South Australia, the host father told me he would knock me up in the morning. His innocent Aussie English meant knock on my door to wake me up but as an American I was quite shocked since to me it appeared he planned to get me pregnant. Bethani Ann De Long Vehapi, Choex, Switzerland

Macca’s – McDonald’s. I spent ages, last September, looking for a store called Mackers. On the detailed driving directions I’d been given, Mackers signalled an important change in direction for my journey. You can’t miss it, I’d been told. Eventually it dawned on me that Mackers was McDonald’s. I had driven past McDonald’s several times before the penny dropped! Marilyn DiCara, London, UK

Mad as a meat-axe – crazy. My Australian business partner spoke in strine a lot – this is one of my favourites. John Millard-Hicks, France

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