British arrivals in Melbourne discover within the first week that Australian English is closer to British English than American English in spelling and grammar, but the slang has its own rhythm. Most of it is simpler than the films suggest. Some of it is genuinely confusing on first hearing. This guide is the working list of forty terms British residents and visitors will actually hear — not the tourist-postcard versions.
The Greetings and Conversational Glue
G’day — universal greeting, less formal than “hello”, more frequent than “hi”. British arrivals overuse it for the first month then settle into using it naturally.
How ya going? — “how are you?”. The “going” throws British listeners. The expected answer is “yeah, good, you?”.
No worries — used roughly every fourth sentence. Means “you’re welcome” / “no problem” / “okay” / “don’t apologise”. Universal verbal lubricant.
Cheers — same as British usage. “Thanks”, “goodbye”, “drink toast”.
Reckon — used heavily, more often than in modern UK English. “I reckon we leave by 8pm.” Carries no class connotation in Australia (unlike some UK regional uses).
The Everyday Slang
Arvo — afternoon. “Catch you this arvo.” Universal in conversational use.
Brekkie — breakfast. “Brekkie at the café across the road.”
Servo — petrol station. “Pull into the servo.”
Bottlo / bottle-o — off-licence / bottle shop. “Grab some beers from the bottlo.”
Sanga — sandwich. “Bacon and egg sanga.”
Snag — sausage. “Throw a few snags on the barbie.” (Yes, this still happens.)
Maccas — McDonald’s. Universal. The actual McDonald’s Australia branding briefly leaned into this on signage some years back.
Chook — chicken. “Roast chook for dinner.”
Esky — cool box / portable insulated cooler. From the brand name Esky (originally registered to Malley’s in 1952). Generic now.
Thongs — flip-flops / sandals. Not the underwear meaning. Causes the predictable confusion in the first month.
The Workday Vocabulary
Tradie — tradesperson. Plumbers, sparkies, chippies, plasterers — all tradies.
Sparkie — electrician.
Chippy — carpenter.
Garbo — bin man / waste collector.
Smoko — work break, originally a smoking break, now used for any short break. “Heading out for smoko.”
Sickie — sick day from work. “Pulling a sickie” — calling in sick when you’re not actually sick. Mild euphemism.
Long weekend — universal in Australian work calendars; Australia has more public-holiday-driven long weekends than the UK average. Plan accordingly.
The Drinking Vocabulary
Schooner — beer glass size, 425ml in Victoria (different in NSW where it’s 425ml — yes, same — but each state has variations on smaller sizes). The Victorian standard pour at the pub is the pot (285ml) or pint (570ml).
Pot — 285ml beer. Pub default in Victoria. “Two pots of pale ale, mate.”
Stubby — small bottle of beer (375ml).
Tinnie — can of beer. (Also slang for a small aluminium boat — context-dependent.)
Goon — boxed wine of indifferent quality. “Goon bag” is the silver bladder inside the box. University-student staple.
Plonk — wine. Less common than UK usage.
The Confused-Looking Words
Fair dinkum — genuine, real, true. “Fair dinkum, mate?” — “are you serious?”. Used less than the films suggest, but still in circulation.
Dunny — toilet. Diminishing in use among under-30s but still common in older speech and rural use.
Bogan — derogatory term for working-class person with specific cultural markers (Holden Commodore, mullet, missing teeth in the cliché version). Use with care — Australians use it freely about each other but it lands harder from a British accent.
Daggy — a bit uncool, unfashionable, but in an endearing way. “Daggy old jumper.”
Spit the dummy — to throw a tantrum. “He spat the dummy when his order was wrong.”
Crook — sick, unwell. “Feeling a bit crook today.”
Stuffed — tired, broken, finished. “I’m stuffed after that walk.” “The lawnmower’s stuffed.”
Heaps — a lot. “Heaps good”, “heaps of people”. Used as an intensifier more than UK English uses it.
The Conversational Tags
Mate — used much more freely than in the UK. Strangers, friends, retail workers, hospitality staff. Carries no romantic or class connotation. Lower-status from an authority figure, higher-friendly between equals.
Yeah, nah — actually means “no” — the “yeah” is conversational softening. Confused British listeners take 3-4 months to parse correctly.
Nah, yeah — means “yes” — same logic, opposite direction.
As — emphasis suffix. “Sweet as”, “easy as”, “tired as”. The expected British follow-up word doesn’t come.
Reckon? / Reckon! — same word as the verb, used as a question or affirmation in conversation.
What’s Falling Out of Use
Some of the slang the films and tourism advertising lean on is genuinely declining among younger Australians:
- “Sheila” (woman) — almost never heard except ironically
- “Bonzer” (great) — gone
- “Strewth” — rare
- “Crikey” — rare except in Steve-Irwin-flavoured contexts
The One You’ll Pick Up Fastest
No worries. Within a month you’ll be using it without thinking. It’s the single most useful adopted phrase for fitting in conversationally.
For the broader UK-to-Melbourne adjustment, see 15 Things British People Are Always Surprised By When They Move to Melbourne. For practical move guidance, see How to Move From the UK to Australia.
