Whats Some Local Slang from Your Neck of the Woods?

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jpberg

Lifer
Aug 30, 2011
3,172
7,407
Givver.
Past or present tense, anything that you put effort into - turning a wrench, sitting at the bar, engaging in fisticuffs, a romantic date.
“Put a cheater on that wrench and just givver”.
 
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timelord

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 30, 2017
956
1,983
Gallifrey
I'm surprised some of the Aussies haven't added a few...

Cobber - mate, friend

Arvo - Afternoon

Garbie/Garbies - garbage men/women

Firey/Firies - fire fighters

Footie - this can mean... Rugby (meaning Rugby Union), League (meaning Rubgy League - a different version of the same game) , Aussie Rules Foot Ball (very different to the American version...), Soccer or even American Football

Ambos - Ambulance men/women, paramedics

Pom/Pommy - English person (often rendered as ...pommy bastard...)

Servo - Gas Station

Servo pie - meat pie bought at a servo (not usually a culinary delight)

Bottle-o - Off licence/beer shop

Strides - trousers/pants

Bubbler - NSW (maybe otherplaces too) for drinking fountain

Snag/Snags - Sausages usually cooked on a barby (BBQ)

Bewdy/Bottler/Ripper - terrific

Dunny - a rest room to Americans

Hoon - Hooligan

Seven Course Meal - 6-pack of beer and a meat pie

Troppo - if someone's gone Troppo they've gone Bananas

Hard Yakka - Hard work

Kangaroo loose in the top paddock - referring to someone with a screw loose in their head/bonkers

Bogun - nearest US to this would be using Red Neck as derogatory term

Fun fact. When Tony Abbot was Aussie Prime Minister a guy was arrested for shouting out "Oi, Abbot you effin' bogun". Lots of letters in our local paper defending the guy who was arrested (Abbot was our member of parliament and most people in the area agreed with this in-depth analysis of his character; although Pommy Bastard would have been a more appropriate description....)

Ten Pound Pom - someone who emigrated to Australia in the 1950's or 60's when the Aussies offered assisted passage (at £10...) for people in listed occupations. (Tony Abbot's family were £10 Poms)

Moving away from slang...

Numbers can be different too...

Twenny, Thirdy (30), Fordy (40), etc.

Place names can be tricky, similar to British place names the pronunciation is sometimes not obvious (but often different to how a British English speaker would say it); yup, Aussies can get English place names wrong just like Americans :)... e.g. Wagga Wagga (yes, it is a town) is pronounced Wogga Wogga)


There a lots more and they often differ between states or across states.
 
Aug 1, 2012
4,881
5,686
USA
On a road trip out west we stopped in Salina, KS and my friend was talking to someone in our group and said we were in Suh-Lean-uh KS. Well, the clerk glared at him and she said "it's Suh-LINE-uh. Without missing a beat my friend replied to her - oh like Vagina...

That was the running joke of the whole trip
We had a similar joke after going to Regina, Saskatchewan. The locals did not find it amusing for some reason. :LOL: 😛
 

ADKPiper

Part of the Furniture Now
Dec 13, 2020
588
1,438
Adirondack Mountains
It's an interesting subject. I grew up in upstate NY and I've noticed that we used few of the NYC slang terms and a lot from Boston. The one that comes to mind is the term "wicked". As a kid would always use wicked as a superlative. "How was the concert last night? It as wicked"
I've noticed other terms as well but they don't come mind right now.

Actually a couple.
Pisser=a great fun time
Dungarees=jeans
 

Trainpipeman

Can't Leave
Feb 4, 2021
494
1,840
Rhode Island
I'm surprised some of the Aussies haven't added a few...

Cobber - mate, friend

Arvo - Afternoon

Garbie/Garbies - garbage men/women

Firey/Firies - fire fighters

Footie - this can mean... Rugby (meaning Rugby Union), League (meaning Rubgy League - a different version of the same game) , Aussie Rules Foot Ball (very different to the American version...), Soccer or even American Football

Ambos - Ambulance men/women, paramedics

Pom/Pommy - English person (often rendered as ...pommy bastard...)

Servo - Gas Station

Servo pie - meat pie bought at a servo (not usually a culinary delight)

Bottle-o - Off licence/beer shop

Strides - trousers/pants

Bubbler - NSW (maybe otherplaces too) for drinking fountain

Snag/Snags - Sausages usually cooked on a barby (BBQ)

Bewdy/Bottler/Ripper - terrific

Dunny - a rest room to Americans

Hoon - Hooligan

Seven Course Meal - 6-pack of beer and a meat pie

Troppo - if someone's gone Troppo they've gone Bananas

Hard Yakka - Hard work

Kangaroo loose in the top paddock - referring to someone with a screw loose in their head/bonkers

Bogun - nearest US to this would be using Red Neck as derogatory term

Fun fact. When Tony Abbot was Aussie Prime Minister a guy was arrested for shouting out "Oi, Abbot you effin' bogun". Lots of letters in our local paper defending the guy who was arrested (Abbot was our member of parliament and most people in the area agreed with this in-depth analysis of his character; although Pommy Bastard would have been a more appropriate description....)

Ten Pound Pom - someone who emigrated to Australia in the 1950's or 60's when the Aussies offered assisted passage (at £10...) for people in listed occupations. (Tony Abbot's family were £10 Poms)

Moving away from slang...

Numbers can be different too...

Twenny, Thirdy (30), Fordy (40), etc.

Place names can be tricky, similar to British place names the pronunciation is sometimes not obvious (but often different to how a British English speaker would say it); yup, Aussies can get English place names wrong just like Americans :)... e.g. Wagga Wagga (yes, it is a town) is pronounced Wogga Wogga)


There a lots more and they often differ between states or across states.
You will hear the term "bubbler" in New England for water fountain.
 

Merton

Lifer
Jul 8, 2020
1,038
2,783
Boston, Massachusetts
It's an interesting subject. I grew up in upstate NY and I've noticed that we used few of the NYC slang terms and a lot from Boston. The one that comes to mind is the term "wicked". As a kid would always use wicked as a superlative. "How was the concert last night? It as wicked"
I've noticed other terms as well but they don't come mind right now.

Actually a couple.
Pisser=a great fun time
Dungarees=jeans
Wicked = very e.g. the concert was wicked good, the guy was wicked drunk and , of course an essential Boston phrase " it (whatever it may be) is/was/or will be wicked pissah"
 

SBC

Lifer
Oct 6, 2021
1,608
7,594
NE Wisconsin
I'm a transplant to "Yoopsconsin," the strip of Wisconsin immediately adjacent to the UP, whose culture has far more to do with the UP than with other parts of Wisconsin.

"Yooper" is well known, I think.

"Camp" is usually family land set aside for whitetail hunting each year (I think this is common in other parts of the US too)

"Pasty" is a local dry meat pastry brought by Cornish miners in the area.

"Cudighi" is a local loose sausage with a distinctive taste, which developed as a local variant of an originally italian meat

"Sled" is snowmobile (common in some other areas too)

"Kromer" is a flannel hat

"The Bridge" is ubiquitously understood to mean the Mackinac Bridge.

"Pickers" are those little burrs on your jeans

The above are Yooper terms from just north of me that characterize my neck of Wisconsin.
But they are blended in my area with Wisconsin terms from just south of me, too...

"Old Fashioneds" in many parts of WI (including here) are made with brandy instead of whiskey (and are topped with Sprite)

"C'mere once" in some parts of WI is a way of calling someone to you quickly

"Cheesehead" is a Packers fan. But that's everybody. A by "fan" I mean religious devotee.

"The Pack" is the NFL team, and the deities of the local religion.

"Squeaky Cheese" is a common term for curds. These are tied up in clear pastic bags at most gas stations, from local cheese places. A common snack while driving.

"Supper Club" is a kind of one-off restaurant open just for supper. It's a prime rib / fish fry / relish tray kind of local hang out.

"Stop and go lights" is a common way of referring to traffic lights

"Or no?" adds a note of questioning uncertainty at the end of a sentence
 
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