The Aussie Chick's Survival Guide To Living In America

Having written two articles on Aussie and American slang already, I thought I would continue the series with a couple of word lists for your survival kit, containing some of the most commonly used words and phrases I could find. These are words that come into conversation every day, unlike some others, like whoopin, which is one that I hope you won’t hear too often. These words are like the ingredients of a great recipe, if you miss just one, the result might be less than pleasant for you, but worth a laugh for everyone else. Let’s begin a with a classic:

Y’all: Now, y’all could mean you specifically; you and your girlfriend or boyfriend, everyone in the bar, which would be “all y’all”, or you and the dog. Y’all is plural, singular, and refers to any gender of any species that might be with you or not with you at the time.

Tata: I know what you’re thinking, but this is not a spud, and we’re not going to use this word to say goodbye anymore. Apparently “tatas” are breasts, so if you get dropped off at work because you haven’t yet learned how to drive on the wrong side of the road, don’t stand on your corner  waving and calling out “tata” or everyone will turn and stare at you to see if you’re flashing them.

Sugar: If you’re out somewhere and someone nearby asks you for sugar, don’t pass him the sugar unless you do it overarm because he’s trying to pick you up. You might prefer to pass him a bunch of knuckles instead, or get a bunch of your girlfriends to back you up and scratch his eyes out.

Yonder: This word also has vast coverage. Yonder might be up the road, down the road, in the next state, in a place nearby, but whose name escapes you momentarily, or somewhere west of Israel. If you plan to travel by road, buy a map or you might need to ask the guy at the next gas station who is bound to tell you it’s “just up yonder”.

Biscuit: Not a slang word, but a menu item. I know what you’re thinking, but biscuits here are called cookies, and scones are called biscuits. Biscuits are much the same as scones, except you generally put something with them that isn’t sweet. For example, sausage and gravy with biscuits for breakfast (I know, right) biscuit on the side of your main course instead of regular bread. You get the drift. I'm not quite sure why, but I couldn't find a traditional looking scone anywhere in Amazon, but who cares, check out the pretty picture!

The only good thing about biscuits is, if you make them and they turn out a little tough it doesn’t matter; they either get left until last, in which case the person might already be “stuffed” (yep, there’s another one) or they’ll be floating in gravy anyway so nobody will notice. (Sorry Nana).

Cornbread: On the days when you don’t have biscuits, you will probably have cornbread instead. Cornbread is made from cornmeal, which ought to be obvious, and it looks like yellow cake. Usually, cornbread isn’t sweet, but some people like to sweeten it which can really take you by surprise if you dunk it in something before you taste it.

What/Huh: You won’t be used to hearing this so often, but people always say what and huh a lot over here, but so you know, nobody is being disrespectful. Mum used to stop me cold with “that look” if I said what when I was a kid, and I threatened to skin my daughter’s first boyfriend for saying HUH? every five minutes. I am guessing that you will probably say “I beg your pardon” like I do, although that often causes people to ask me if I am English. Not that there is anything wrong with being English, but when I tell someone I am Australian, most will say “same thing” which astounds me since England is only a $350 plane ride from here and about $3,500 from Aussie.

Bunch: I love this one; bunches of rain, bunches of coffee, you name it, it can come in bunch form. Bunches of morons, bunches of money….(see "sugars" above)

Done: Like several other words you will encounter as a newbie American in the south, “done” will be one you hear every day. You might hear, “I’m done trying to fix this dang truck”, or, “I’m done eating lunch”, or “I done did” if it is something you ignorantly thought wasn’t done, but it really was. Stay with me, it’ll make sense after 8 years. If that wasn’t enough, you might also get the variant of “I done did”, which is “I done done it” In either case, it has already been taken care of, finished, been eaten, or left to rust, and I think my grammar checking tool just blew up.