Hit the Anchors and Grab Your Bathers Ya Yank Shark Biscuit

What are these Aussies saying!?
 (Translation: Hit the brakes and grab your swimsuit you American beginner surfer.)

As I prepare for our trip down under, I am attempting to learn the language, or in this case the lingo. I usually try to learn some amount of the language when we travel, which has always proven useful for at least one situation. In Italy, most people could tell from my accent that I was American and just responded in English right away - kind of disappointing. But there were occasions where we had to rely on my minimal Italian, which was fun.

One simple Google search later and I was overwhelmed! I had no idea there were so many Australian words! Not only are there a million words, but they change constantly. For example: Australians generally shorten long words, and lengthen short ones. So chocolate becomes chokkie, and Jim McDonald becomes Mac, but then down the road Mac become Maccer (source). Yikes!

I came across this Aussie slang pop quiz and thought I'd post it to see how well you can interpret the strine (Australian English slang).

1) What is the Alice?
a) Alice Springs, a town in the Northern Territory of Australia
b) Alice in Wonderland
c) Alice Cooper
d) Alice ML is a functional programming language based on Standard ML
e) Health Promotion Program

2) What is the Aussie Salute?
a) A salute used by the Australian Army
b) Thumbs Up
c) A Secret Hand Shake
d) Double Thumbs Up!
e) Using your hand to brush away the flies

3) What is ... Bail?
a) Something you pay to get out of Goal or Jail!
b) It's How Hay is Packed [in a bail]
c) To leave, depart, shot through, disappear, GO!
d) Bail Bondsman
e) Much confusion exists between Bail out and Bale out

4) What is a Billy?
a) A tin or container used to boil water in for tea, in the bush when camping
b) A Boy's Name
c) Billy Goat, an animal
d) Puffing Billy - Australia's Favourite Steam Train
e) A billy cart

5) Cactus?
a) Is it a Desert Plant
b) Something with lots of spikes
c) Cactus Beach the world famous surfing site located on the Great Australian Bight
d) Finished - dead - not working or functioning properly ... stuffed
e) A modular manageable high-performance 3D tool for Numerical Relativity.

6) Coat Hanger?
a) Something to Hang Clothes On
b) A clothes hanger or coat hanger, a device in the shape of human shoulders
c) The Coathanger is a tiny asterism – pattern of stars that is not a constellation
d) A Digital TV - Coat Hanger Antenna
e) Is a Reference to the Sydney Harbour Bridge

7) What is a Five Finger Discount?
a) The Name of a Chinese Gang!
b) The Title of a Song
c) A Book For Sale on Amazon
d) To Steal, shoplifting, store theft, knock off
e) A Video on YouTube

8) Furphy?
a) A furphy, also furfie, is Australian slang for a false or unreliable rumour [BS]
b) The Famous Furphy Water and Rubbish Cart - used in World War 1
c) Poems of Joseph Furphy
d) Ken Furphy (born 28 May 1931 in Stockton-on-Tees) an English former football player/manager
e) Joseph Furphy (Australian author) Britannica Online Encyclopedia

9) What is a Garbo?
a) Greta Garbo [Actress] Ninotchka. Greta Lovisa Gustafsson born in Stockholm, Sweden
b) Garbo - that's where all your computers deleted files go!
c) Garbo Swag is an unsigned rock band from Chicago, IL.
d) World at War: Operation Garbo [GAME]
e) Garbageman [garbologist] refuse collector, bin-man - rubbish collector.

10) What is a Jackaroo?
a) Male Kangaroo
b) A Male station hand (a station - farm or grazing property)
c) The name of an Australian Film
d) The name of a popular Poker Club
e) Holden Jackaroo 4WD Car