22 August 2008 - Written by Lyle

Australian English began diverging from British English shortly after the foundation of the Australian penal colony of New South Wales in 1788. British convicts sent there, including Cockneys (working class Londoners), came mostly from large English cities.

Australian English has many words considered unique to the language. One of the best known is outback, meaning a remote, sparsely populated area. The meaning of some words changed. For example, bush in Australia means either a native forest or a country area in general, but in England it refers to a small plant. Creek in Australia, means a stream or small river, whereas in the UK it means a small watercourse flowing into the sea.

Australian English makes frequent use of diminutives (shortening a word, then adding a vowel). For example: footy (Australian rules football or rugby league football), and Aussie. (Australian)

Here are some more examples of common diminutives. Try to guess their meaning.

1. It’s a nice day so let’s have a barby.
2. What do you usually have for brekky?
3. Are you busy this arvo?
4. I watched a good doco on global warming.
5. What did you get for chrissy?
6. My father is a truckie.
7. I’ll get petrol at the servo.
8. I got bitten by a mozzie.

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