Schoolies and Toolies

Last week I heard these two new words…

Last week was the end of the school year and those students finishing school have a party.. much like the disco or ball at a ‘graduation’ party. Here in Australia it seems to be mixed up with the spring break approach of the USA. All the young people gather at the beach and have a week long party. Most say it’s time to spend with friends, make new friends, drink, dance and hang out. All these are ‘schoolies’. The police are on the lookout for any disturbances. This schoolie week makes the news every day.

Now when this party gets gate crashed by those who are older and obviously not a school leaver, intent on having some fun and maybe even cause some ruckus things can be bad. These non-school leavers are called ‘toolies’. They are supposedly bent on causing problems via drugs or drink and take advantage of young folks. Police are on the lookout for toolies who can spoil the fun for the young people. The news during the week had the police chief of a Gold Coast talking about the toolies and schoolies…… Whatever next to make evening news?

Budgie Smugglers and Thongs

Well the spring has well and truly sprung Down Under. The sun has been shining and the sky is so very blue. Reminds me of the skies seen in cartoons like The Simpsons. Sometimes a few clouds float by or you can see a long vapour trail of the passing jet. The swimmers and surfers are out on the beaches already to have fun. The gardens all around have beautiful flowers with a mass of colours like I have never seen. Well there are so many flowers that are new to me while some are known from childhood. The variety of succulents and cacti are also aplenty. In deed I have started on my succulent collection with Kangaroo plant, happy plant and a new one which has oval leaves ending in a blunt point with the margins dark purplish.

Coming back to the topic of budgie smugglers…. took me some time to work out this slang which is actually in a TV advertisement. This refers to men’s swimming trunks specifically to speedo variety. It gave me a good laugh. The other word – thong, was the UK terminology for specific kind of knickers. Now I am not going to describe this as you can just google and find a picture. As for the meaning Down Under – ‘I am so glad to be able to wear thongs and go out in this sunshine’. Guessed it? No? It’s the flipflops (rubber slippers)!! So you see the link to warmer weather? Men are going to be out in their budgie smugglers and thongs… While women will have to make do with thongs.

Today's Word - Rangas

Well last night I was watching Can of Worms . It is a controversial program asking for the views of people on some more than other dodgy issues. One question came up in relation to the topic of body was - can you make fun of rangas? Now this word is new to me and means nothing. However there was a lot of hilarity and answers were yes you can make fun of them. I guessed that it was some sort of physical attribute that was being ridiculed.
So this morning I decided to look up this Aussie slang - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ranga
Yes it is rude as in the terms is used to denote a red haired person and is derived from the word 'orangutang'. Am sure the red heads of this world would love yet another slang term to ridicule them!! Notty..

Today’s words ‘pollies’

We the 7 PM Project on Ten was 2 yeasrs old and so they had a week of politicians as guests on the show. They had the Prime Minister Julia Gillard as well as the opposition leader Tony Abbot. It was interesting to see them having a light hearted banter…

These politicians are called ‘pollies’ in Australian.. short note today…
Maybe the crown prosecutors are called ‘crownies’ as that the name of a new tv show. The police seem to be the usual ‘copper’ or even ‘bobby’ when talking about police in UK.

Today’s words – crims and hoons

There is a truncating of words or should I say shortening of words to make up the slangs.

Crims is short form of criminals. The word is used widely even on TV news and programs. However there is also an online game now called The Crims.

‘The Crims is a Free Online RPG which takes place in CrimCity - a metropolis for gangsters, scumbags, and criminals. You have limited time to earn as much respect as you can. The one with the most respect at the end of the game wins!’

Hoons are hooligans, generally young persons who are loutish and anti social. However the anti social behaviour is linked mainly to car and boat driving. Wikipedia has a webpage devoted to explaining this term hoon.

Today’s words – Shaggers, Gum boots and thongs

Well I got carried away with applications for a job and forgot to write out about the new words I have learnt. Not only that I had a trip out to Box Hill to buy veggies. This place has a big Asian community and a market place with fresh veggies and fruit that is cheaper than in the supermarket.

Well let’s start with the word ‘shaggers’. I first heard it on TV. There was an ad break in one of the programs I was watching and got distracted and just caught the phrase ‘shaggers on sale’! I thought now my ears are playing tricks .... is this a new symptom of my illness? But then I paid attention to the ads in the next break and found that shaggers were being sold at discount at Rivers shop. The picture put up made me giggle as these are Hiking Boots for women. The picture should a mid calf length pair of boots with a fur lining. Oh mybe I should go get a pair of shaggers for $25.

Well, when I got to UK I had to learn all about Wellies or Wellingtons. In Australia wellies are gum boots and saw gum boots written on the small kids willies displayed in a shop. This word, kind of, make sense as the idea of gum being water proof is probably the root of this term.

Oh Yeah now for thongs. I know the word to denote extremely flimsy knickers. Also that, thongs while being very popular can be extremely uncomfortable to wear. Here one wears thongs to walk about on the beach or out for a stroll on a warm evening. I wondered why does one need to wear a thong for this? Have a guess what this word represents……….. the rubber slippers which in UK is known as flipflops or indeed in India as bathroom slippers. But thongs represent slippers with 2 straps emerging from the top that sits between the big and first toe. They can be rubber or leather and are very popular in hot weather.

Today’s Word – ‘manchester’ and ‘doonas’

That’s right this is Manchester with a small ‘m’. I first heard about manchester on sale in ads on TV. Wondered what it was and how can there be a sale…. Surely manchester is the city in UK. Asked a few people we know about what was manchester? Got a vague answer that it was sheets and duvet covers and things like that.

Tried Googleling it and found to have stores of manchester. It seems to be a loose term that can cover items of household like bedding, sheets, duvet covers, pillows and covers even. However this still is not clear as some ads have manchester and bedding mentioned separately while other ads have manchester and sheets mentioned separately.

So even after a bit of research I am still none wiser about manchester which is in some shops up to 70% less. Major shops selling manchester are found along the high street in Nunawading which has a row of shops selling beds and accessories. Now that brings another new word ‘doona’. This was pretty straight forward as this is a term for duvet. So maybe doona cover is a manchester…..