British expat shares strange Aussie slang words she doesn't understand
When Charlee moved from the UK to Australia, she never expected for there to be such a language barrier.
The 25-year-old expat shared a list of unique Aussie slang words that she had "never heard in her life" until moving Down Under, with the list of Australianisms quickly going viral.
“If you’re thinking about moving to Australia. Listen up. But first – Australian’s don’t all come at me,” she said in the video.
“I am very aware I am an uncultured British person which is why I have moved to the other side of the world. I am ready to see the sights.”
Charlee said despite having lived in Australia for a few months now, there are still quite a few words she hears daily that have her wondering what they mean.
“First thing – an eskie. An eskie is a cool box (what they call it in the UK),” she said.
“I do actually quite like the word. It sounds better than ‘cool box’ but still, [I’ve] never heard of it in my life.”
The word "esky" became common in Australia after a brand by the same name released the first portable coolers in 1952.
Another word Charlee struggled to understand was “doona".
“A doona is a duvet. I don’t understand why you would just change the last three letters of the word. It’s quite a nice word, ‘doona’, it sounds very Australian … but it’s just a bit of a strange word.”
Like most expats, the term “thongs” threw Charlee off when she first heard it.
“I know we should all know what thongs are by now – they’re flip-flop. However, on the odd occasion someone will say thong to me and I genuinely think they're asking me about the piece of material wedged between my butt cheeks.”
The other words Charlee listed were footy, ‘too easy’, ‘scull’ (ie scull a drink) and pants, which they refer to as trousers in the UK.
Charlee's videos about life in Australia have garnered her an impressive following, with comments rolling in from natives saying "Yep, welcome to Australia!"
Image credits: TikTok