Special Sub-Topic: Real Australian Slang Click Here To Play: Real Australian Slang

My friend tells me she's looking for a unit. In the United States, what's the word for what she's looking for?

An apartment. She might also have said she was flat-hunting.

I'm having a housewarming party. Somebody asks me if I have a stubby holder. What does he want?

a cover to keep his beer cool. A stubby is a bottle of beer, generally holding 375mls. If it were a 750ml bottle it might be referred to as a tallie, and I'd be asked for a glass, because of course it's uncouth to drink directly from a tallie.

My friend has finished his stubby. Where would he be most likely to look for a replacement?

In the esky. While the name "Esky" is actually a registered tradename, any Australian will automatically refer to their portable insulated cooler as an esky.

Another friend wants to know if I've got any Acca-dacca. What is she looking for?

Some music by rock group AC/DC. She wants to listen to AC/DC. And as unpatriotic as it may seem, I'd have to let her down.

Many of my friends have called me a "cockroach". We're still friends. Why did they call me this?

I was born in New South Wales. Queensland and New South Wales have a yearly Rugby League playoff called the State of Origin series. The mascot of the New South Wales team is a cockroach and the the Queensland team has a cane toad as their mascot. That said, you wouldn't call a Queenslander a cane toad, you'd call them a Banana Bender. And you'd call somebody from Victoria a Mexican, a South Australian a Crow Eater, a Western Australian is a Sandgroper and somebody from Tasmania would be a Taswegian.

If somebody told you to "take a squizz at that", what would you be invited to do?

Look at something. It really is a different language sometimes.

I've been told I've got Buckley's. What does this mean?

I've got no chance. And you've got Buckley's of finding somebody in Australia who refers to a sheep as a "Jumbuck" or a five cent piece as a "zack" in this day and age, unless they're a real ocker or they're having a lend of you. Oh, and "having a lend of you" means having a joke at your expense.

If I were to say somebody was not the full quid, what would I mean?

They're not intellectually bright. A quid is a slang expression for a pound, which was a unit of currency in Australia, as well as a unit of weight before the metric system was introduced. Someone "not the full quid" does not measure up!

When would somebody exclaim "Sprung!" to you?

When they'd caught you doing something you shouldn't have. The last time I heard this expression was today, after a workmate caught me doing a Funtrivia quiz instead of working!

What would have happened if I'd been caught wagging?

I'd been playing truant from school. I must admit I was a goody-two-shoes, I never wagged.