Car strine

Today I described a less-than-ideal car to a colleague, and she labelled it a “brumby”. I thought this was very unusual, so I have checked for the term in many Australian slang books and I can’t find it listed anywhere. I would have usually labelled such a mechanical battler as a lemon or a bomb.

Australian slang books

One could say it “Handles like a bag of shit tied with a piece of string in the middle” (Howey, 2012, p. 17).

I couldn’t find brumby listed for “dud car”, only as a “wild horse, similar to a mustang” (Tuffley, 2012, p. 11), a “wild outlaw horse” (McCulloch, 2010, p. 8) “…especially one descended from runaway stock.” ( Lambert, 2004, p. 30).

A great project about Australian words is the Ozwords blog, they recently featured the distinctly Canberra words “guvvie” and “ex-guvvie”, I hadn’t realised it was a regional term.

Here are some Australian slang words/terms I wish I hadn’t learnt:

Bondi cigar = Turd in the water (Lumsden-Ablan & Ablan, 2011, p. 10)

Rat coffin = A meat pie (Hunter, 2004, p. 87)

Unit = Big muscle man (Lumsden-Ablan & Ablan, 2011, p. 68)

Mystery bags = Sausages, so named because offal is sometimes used as a bulking agent. (Tuffley p. 36)

Bride’s nightie = A level of great speed. ‘He took off like a bride’s nightie.’ (“Blind Freddy” & Miller, 1988, unpaged)

Yonnie = Skimming stone (Lumsden-Ablan & Ablan, 2011, p. 74)

A friend said that brumbies were  imported cars with a questionable reputation, so perhaps it is just a localised term. After writing all this and feeling thoroughly confused, I think I may have misheard, as I’ve now found a listing for:

Brummy = inexpensive; of poor or inferior quality (Australian slang, 2008 p. 41).

I guess my hearing is a bit brummy, ay (a word used at the end of a sentence, Lumsden-Ablan & Ablan, 2011, p. 7).

Reading

(2008).  Australian slang.  Camberwell, Vic :  Penguin books

Blind Freddy. & Miller, Dennis.  (1988).  The Australian dictionary of insults and vulgarities.  Castle Hill, N.S.W :  Peter Antill-Rose and Associates

Howey, Andrew.  (2010).  Aussie slang pictorial : what’s it like mate.  Melbourne, Vic :  Brolga Pub

Hunter, Jenny.  (2004).  The true blue guide to Australian slang.  Frenchs Forest, NSW :  New Holland Publishers

Lambert, James.  (2004).  Macquarie Australian slang dictionary : complete & unabridged.  Macquarie University, N.S.W :  Macquarie Library

Laugesen, Amanda. (2013, May 22). Canberra word: guvvie (and ex-guvvie). Retrieved from http://ozwords.org/?p=4586

Lumsden-Ablan, Melanie. & Ablan, Roque Bo.  (2011).  Oz’isms : a tourist’s guide & a giggle : Australian ‘fun’etic slangwich : it’s not wat ya say it’s ‘ow ya say it–.  Gordon, N.S.W :  Sagamore

McCulloch, Marie.  (2010).  ‘Ripsnorter’ : book of Aussie words & sayings.  [La Trobe, Tas.] :  Marie. I. McCulloch

Tuffley, David.  (2012).  Australian slang : a dictionary.  [Australia] :  Altiora Publications