Shortening words in Australia, I mean Oz

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It seems to be a pastime of Aussies to find a way to shorten as many words as possible. It starts with the fact that the name of the country has been shortened to 2 letters for a nickname… Oz. For those of you that are not aware this is because when you say the name of the country properly the beginning of the word sounds like Oz. It is said more like Oz-trail-yah (at least that is how I say it) rather than Os-tral-e-ah. Same with the term Aussie which describes a person from Oz (and is also used in the famous sporting events chant “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy, Oy, Oy!”). Aussie is said like Ozzy.

Let me just list some shortened words that I have come across. When I come across others I will add them to my ongoing Lingo updates. Some of these I think are repeats from the Lingo entries, but I felt that they fit here also.

Afternoon = arvo
Ambulance = ambo
Breakfast = brekkie
Sickie = sick day (from work or school)
Football (mainly for Aussie Rules or Rugby I think, but soccer also to a lesser degree) = footy
Thanks = ta
Barbeque = barbie
Christmas = chrissy
Present = prezy
Registration = rego
Aboriginal (I think just for an individual Aboriginal, not the race in general) = abo
Port Douglas = port dougie, or even just dougie
Brisbane = brissy (said like Briz-bane or Brizzy)
Melbourne Cup = the Cup (we should shorten the Super Bowl to The Bowl)
A cup of tea = cupa
Vegetable = veggie (I know that we use this also)
Freshwater crocodile = freshie
Mosquito = mozzie
Banana = nana
Poor person = pov (shortened from “poverty”)
Garbage (either the rubbish bin or a garbage collector) = garbo
Good day = G’day
Lipstick = lippie

Even the major Aussie airline, Qantas is an abbreviation of Queensland And Northern Territory Airline Service (this is the area that they were originally set up to cover). Overall the Aussie culture is very laid back and maybe that is why they shorten so many words. Maybe it stems from the fact that the English spoken here came from the first white settlers, the Brits, and as Oz came into its own they wanted to make the language unique. Maybe it is that the Aussies are lazy with finishing words and wanted as few syllables as possible. Honestly, I do not know the answer, but I would bet that it relates more to the laid back atmosphere that is here in Oz.

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Comments

[fish]

It's the flies!!!
We shorten words because of the flies. If you can say a word out the side of your mouth without opening it too less flies get in.