Australian Vernacular: Background information when reading Breath

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.