Australian Vernacular
This article relates to Breath
Being a novel from "Oz", the pages of Breath are casually sprinkled with words not found in most non-Australians' vocabularies. While "blokes" and "fags" are easily recognized as meaning "men" and "cigarettes," other descriptive terms remain cloaked in obscurity. To counteract this sense of puzzlement, here is a regional translation chart to clarify most of Winton's more colorful verbiage:
- bitumen - asphalt paving
- blued - fought or quarreled
- bombora - large sea waves breaking over submerged rock shelves
- carn - come on!
- dag - nerd, goof, funny person
-
didjeridu - long, tubular, wooden wind instrument that produces continuous low-pitched
sounds
- fossicked - searched, rummaged
- gaffer - elderly rustic fellow
- gobbing - surprising or shocking
- hessian - coarse strong jute or hemp fabric
- humpy - makeshift or temporary building
- kelpie -
Australian herding dog
-
lamingtons
- sponge cakes dipped in chocolate then coconut
- melaleucas
- native trees similar to bottlebrush, one of which produces tea tree oil
- marri -
eucalyptus hardwood trees, native to Western Australia
- natter - chatter, gossip
- oldies - parents
- perspex - tough, light, transparent acrylic also known as plexiglass
- prang - crash or damage
- punters - gamblers or risktakers
- resus - resuscitation equipment
- saurian - lizard (from the classification Sauropsida)
- sook - timid, tame, inoffensive person
- spruiking - publicly promoting goods, a cause, or services
- swag - possessions or sleeping bag
- tanty - tantrum
- tingle
- tall eucalyptus tree with bulbous lower trunk
- tip - a dump
- twigged - perceived, noticed, understood
- ute - utility vehicle, pickup truck
- wattles -
Australian acacia shrubs
- wingeing - constant complaining
Filed under Places, Cultures & Identities
This "beyond the book article" relates to Breath. It originally ran in June 2008 and has been updated for the
May 2009 paperback edition.
Go to magazine.
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