We all know Australia and New Zealand have a shared geopolitical history and have (reasonably) close cultural bonds. Honestly, we do really like each other.
However, one thing Aussies might find if they decide to move here is that it seems at time as though Kiwis speak a different language.
Now, I’m not talking about the whole vowel-pronunciation problem. That’s been done to death. Nobody gives a shut any more, okay?
What I’m talking about are the different terms used to describe everyday, normal objects.
For example, in the first few months after moving here, I put my shopping in a trundler, received funny looks when asking for a pair of thongs in a shoe shop, got a blank look when inquiring about a queen-sized doona, and my son was sent to school on their “mufti day” dressed as an Islamic scholar*.
Basically, New Zealanders seem to have either invented or inherited their own terms for a whole bunch of stuff. It’s both amusing and confusing, and so I want to set the record straight.
I’m looking to compile a glossary of these weird and wacky terms and phrases to help any Australians in future who fall into the trap of asking for a lady’s undergarment when all they want is a pair of flip-flops.
To get started, here are the ones I can think of off the top of my head:
Jersey: Not breed of cow, but rather a jumper.
Duvet: A doona.
Jandles: Thongs. Sounds like sandles, so makes sense I guess.
Click-clack: A futon. I’m serious.
Trundler: A shopping trolley. Not a completely widespread word, but funny nonetheless.
Mufti-day: Casual clothes/uniform-free day at a school.
Section: A block of land.
Plasters: Band-aids.
Twink: Tippex, or white-out. Definitely not what you were thinking.
I’m certain there are many more. I’m after your help to hopefully put together as definitive list of Kiwi-isms to help us poor immigrants out. Leave your ideas in the comments below, and I’ll compile them into a separate page on the site.
* Okay I made that one up. But I wasn’t about to let the fact that I don’t have kids get in the way of a decent one-liner.
alannah said
what about tramping? i was like whaaat?
camping is good enough thanks :)
the only thing is though that i’ve always called out of uniform days ‘mufti’ days over here (aus).
and scroggin bars are just classic too.
Mark said
This is funny to read, as an American (living in Australia). I had to learn the Australian word for almost everything you listed there:
Jumper : Sweater
Doona : Comforter
Thongs : Flip flops
Shopping trolley : shopping cart
Block (of land) : lot?
Lots of others, too. Slab : case, barrack : cheer, cossie : swimsuit, maths : math, etc…
ausois said
This appears to be on of your weaker topics and not overly humorous really … mufti is alive and well in Sydney …. at least at my kids school it is. By the way, Jandals are spelt like that and a Click-Clack is not a futon, no way, unless you can convince me otherwise. As far as I know it is a brand of plastic tupperware. Other than that I can add a few for you: a chillibin = esky and yes a section is a block of land and not 100 sq miles, a pohutukawa is a NZ metrosiderous/Christmas tree (lots in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney and Northern beaches as street trees). What else …. lots of obscure terms but hard for me to think of as I am bilingual! Aussies “verse” each other at sport whereas Kiwis play against someone eg. “Who are you versing on Saturday?”. That one got me a few times. I’ll come back to this when I have real inspiration.
John said
Felts = Textas
Robert said
Have never heard of ‘verse’ each other. Maybe just not used in Melbourne. I have heard of ‘versus’(!) as in “Kramer versus Kramer”
Mufti and plasters and duvet are international terms. Doona in Australia is a generisicsed trademark. In the 1980s in Melbourne “Liquid Paper” seemed to be the common term for correction fluid. I like that much better than “Tippex” or “Whiteout”. I presume all three of these are trade names.
Not much of the NZ vocab is too difficult to figure out. The only things to have tripped me up was the New Zealander who went to the zoo to see the “beers”, and “The Big OE” which is impossible to figure out if you don’t know.
admin said
Alannah – forgot about tramping.
Lifestyle block = hobby farm
Plunkett = Childcare centre
Highway = sealed country road
Motorway = a proper highway
I’m still not 100% on “pot-luck dinners”. It’s like bring a plate, right?
Keep them coming folks.
Robert said
Potluck is another term for “bring a plate”, used in the US. I have heard it used in US sitcoms like The Nanny and The Simpsons without qualification so presuably the standard term there.
When I went to university as an adult the other students were about 15 younger and some of the time we couldn’t understand each other, but we were mostly all from Melbourne. Not just slang was completely different; they also couldn’t understand metaphorical uses such as “clout” (influence).
Just remembered:
Dairy (New Zealand) = Milkbar (Victoria) = deli (South Australia)
Greg said
Diary (NZ) – Milkbar (OZ) I still call ‘em the diary. PS with ANZAC day coming up and since there doesn’t appear to be an official Kiwi get together, think about heading to this bar in Sydney-they’ll have a range if kiwi (& Ozzie) micro brews on tap:http://thelocaltaphouse.blogspot.com/2009/03/anzac-day-spectapular-lineup-announced.html
Bea - kiwi said
Who the hell calls a trolley a trundler!?! i’m a kiwi born and bred never in my life have a called a trolley that!!! lol
And Plunkett is a name of a child care facillity we have lots of them. we call child care, child care.
Hamish said
Jandle is a combination of Japanese and Sandle because they are made in Japan, like everything else in New Zealand (no offence to China, Taiwan…)
Vanessa said
a Dairy is a corner shop selling little bits of everthing like a micromarket rather than a supermarket(bread, milk, coffee, newspapers)not a milk bar.
what about
togs=swimsuit
and pants are trousers right? my english husbands thinks this is the word for undies
PS i’m a noo zilanda
Robert said
In some parts of Australia, including Victoria, a “Milkbar” is often understood to be “a corner shop selling little bits of everthing [...] (bread, milk, coffee, newspapers).” Also, confectionery. Even still, the term milkbar is slightly old fashioned (and there are fewer and fewer of this type of store as time rolls on.)
“Togs” meaning swimsuit is sometimes used in Australia. No one in Victoria ever says “cozzie”. It is “bathers” here.
Grant said
Reminds me of the quote of George Bernard Shaw – “The English and the Americans are two people separated by a common language.”
Viva la difference, I say.
Michael said
Duvet is international word and Doona is soo Australian…
shit box = Ford or Holden – mostly Woggs say that.
Curlies = Twisties! (they are a type of chups)
H said
Love the site (and I am not just a born and bred Kiwi but an Aucklander) and well done for keeping it up even after some of the local inferiority complexes got their knickers in a twist. And you should only hear trundler from oldies and small-town types with webbed feet.
My long-term girlfriend is Australian and there has been the occasional communication breakdown over the years. The only ones I can think of arethat NZers just call “goon” cask wine, which you only need to know so you can refuse to drink it, no one says “barrack”, but there is no real Kiwi equivalent, a tinny is a small quantity of weed, not a boat (dinghy) or can of beer, a lounge is a living room, and a couch is what you sit on in the lounge.
The other thing to keep an eye on is that many of the “o” family of abbreviations used in Oz – dero, kero, bottle-o, and even the self-explanatory servo – may not be understood. Same goes for certain sayings – off the top of my head “full as a goog”, “bucket of grubs” and “how is he in himself” explained to me.
On the plus side, it is much easier to order a beer here. Pots? Schooners? Why would I ever want anything smaller than a pint?
Wigida said
Hey Kid – you dummy! Kiwi thongs are spelled JANDALS keep getting it wrong and say tata to your (already questionable) credibility
XPATKIWI said
CHUDDY (NZ)= CHEWY (AUS)
MUNTED (NZ)= STUFFED (AUS)
BACH (NZ) = HOLIDAY HOME (AUS)
Proud Noo Zulander said
How about this one:
Rupped to buts and pussed to the tuts (NZ)= drunk (Aus).
My aussie friends thunk that is hilarious!
bcg said
Mufti-day is used in NSW. You’re just showing you’re from Tassie. Jersey is used too but generally only in terms of a “Football Jersey”.
DarthXenu said
Mufti, Jersey, Duvet and Plaster are all used in the UK as well.
Band-Aid is a brand of plaster. In Australia the name of one particular brand has come to refer to all brands of plasters. This has happened with many products in the UK where we ‘Hoover’ our houses, write with ‘Biro’s and wear ‘Macintoshes’ when it rains.
Jandles, or more correctly Jandals are short for Japanese sANDALS.
Click-clack: I have lived in NZ for over 6 years and have never heard this, may be a regional thing.
Trundler: I sometimes hear this and like it, it’s funny.
Other Kiwi expressions that I like are
Judder Bars: speed bumps, or sleeping policemen as we used to call them in the UK.
Rumble Strips: a series of rough strips across the road used to warn the driver that they are approaching an intersection or need to slow down.
Wop-Wops or just wops for short: The backcountry (US), the sticks (UK)
ausois said
I remember when I lived in Perth being invited to ‘shows’ … “Coming to our New Years show?” (means a party). Point is, vocab differences between different states may be as much as between Australia and NZ and fair enough too, they are very far apart! Even between the north and south of NZ too, a bach is a crib in Otago and Southland. Talk about going to your crib for the weekend in Auckland and you would get funny looks.
admin said
You lot are legends. I’ll compile all of these suggestions onto a separate page soon.
And I stand by trundler, despite the nay-sayers. At a recently closed New World near here, there was a sign above the trolley bay using that exact term. Maybe it’s an oldie though.
admin said
And my apologies – JANDALS. How silly of me. So now they bare no relation to sandles. Deary me.
Kate said
Pottle – any little tub/container. e.g. a pottle of yoghurt
going flatting – living in a share house
(I’ve made my own list of odd/unusual things about NZ since I moved here from Oz last year too!)
Rufus said
I had a similar problem when my wife and I relocated from Auckland to Sydney…couldn’t understand a thing they said, and that constant draaawwwl!!!
Kris who? Skinny what?
Eski = Chilly bin
Kris Kringle = Office Christmas Pressies
Barbie = Barbeque
Hotel = Pub
Budgie Smugglers = Speedos
Footie = AFL
Dual Carriageway = two lane highway
Skinny Latte (Vic) = trim milk latte
Crikey! = Shit!
Not Happy Jan! = Not happy
Tinnie = can of beer
admin said
Rufus, how ON EARTH did I forget the CHULLY BUN?!?!
The king of all Kiwi-isms.
I thought they were definitely taking the piss with that one. Until I worked out they were serious.
Robert said
“Esky” and “Chilly Bin” are both genericised trademarks. (Like “texta”, “doona”, and in the UK, “tannoy”.)
Most Australian pubs are located in what was traditionally/originally a hotel, so not really a different word as such.
“Skinny latte” should not exist whatever you want to call it! (And I wish people in Australian cafes would learn what the term “espresso” actually means.)
“Not Happy Jan” I think originated in the TV adverts for Yellow Pages though there’s definitely a “The Brady Bunch” connection there too. Pretty defunct these days I think.
“Tinny” for can is more a 1970s usage and I think these days it refers mainly to an small aluminium boat.
(Can’t wait to visit New Zealand again, by the way!)
Clairzilla said
we have Mufti-days (pronounced muffty) in NSW, we also have Muslim clerics with the title ‘Mufti’ (pronounced moofty).
I know of beer in a can as Tinny and also a small aluminium boat as tinny.
We Aussies calling plasters ‘band-aids’ is not unlike American’s calling tissues ‘kleenex’. It’s just like Paracetamol being called ‘panadol’ even though there are heaps more brands out there who make paracetamol.
Larrissa said
I have never heard of a futon being refered to as a click clack… ever!! ITS A FUTON. Alot of these things are nicknames or brand names like white-out and tippex they are brank names we call it twink. A trundler is a fold away spare bed, a trolley is a trolley. esky and chilly bin are brand names. Jersey and jumper are both commonly used, chuddy is also not commonly used everwhere its chewing gum. Oh and Plunkett is a company, no one calls or refers to their child care or day care centres as plunket!!
Rufus said
dunny = toilet
underdaks = underwear
trakkie dakkies = sweatpants
middy – 1/4 litre beer glass
lippy – lipstick
crack a fat -
Grant said
“And my apologies – JANDALS. How silly of me. So now they bare no relation to sandles. Deary me.”
Uh duh! Look up sandals in the dictionary. Or is there a version of Australian spelling (Strine) where sandles is actually a word? And where XXXX spells beer.
Jandals is a brand name derived from Japanese Sandals.
admin said
so I’m a splleing retard, big deal…
donnasoowho said
I’m informed by a fairly reliable source that in Queensland swimming attire is called ‘togs’ also (but in Victoria it’s ‘bathers’). Apparently ‘cozzie’ is just for bogans…
A Westie is someone from West Auckland (and is epitomised by some comedian whose name I cannot remember).
and, er (cough) ‘head-job’ instead of ‘blow-job’…
admin said
donnasoowho,
I’ll take your word on that last one. I assume they’re synonyms (ie. that their respective techniques don’t differ)?
Breaking News: Trundlers spotted in NZ | Fush ‘n’ Chups said
[...] to prove to the naysayers, these so-called “born and bred” Kiwis who had never heard of a shopping trolley being [...]
donnasoowho said
oh I don’t know anything about either of them. I just, er, heard it from someone’s cousin… or something.
Ken said
“Footie = AFL”
No, it’s FootY -”footie” is the spelling used by Poms to describe soccer, usually from Liverpool, even worse than Poms using the words “barbie” and “uni”!
Marita said
in Chch people call uni (that’s the Melbourne word for university, not sure why Ken has a problem with it) “varsity”. I guess its American.
Robert said
And in New Zealand, people call Christchurch, Chch (apparently pronounced: Chi-CHah!) Given that, I don’t see what is so bad about “uni”.
admin said
I think “Varsity” is a bit more widespread than just Christchurch, I’ve heard it quite often.
Manda said
A click-clack is a brand of container like tupperware I have never heard it meaning a futon and Iv lived in NZ my whole life. Twisties are twisties just like it says on the packet not curlies. I never understood esky till someone explained it cause chilly bin just makes sense it, it is a bin that keeps things chilly :P Pants are trousers rather than underwear. As with university well it seems to me that the people going there call it uni and older people call it varsity.
Robert said
Esky is a brand name (from the reference to Eskimo/keeps things cold.) Brand names don’t necessarily have to make sense… like Kodak.
There’s millions of brand names over the world it isn’t really an issue. Any non-American viewer of US TV will probably have spent an amount of time and effort figuring what q-tips might be… and what is this Tannoy thing people in England keep going on about. With google these days not too hard to figure out.
Ken said
Marita, I don’t have a problem with the use of the word ‘uni’ by Aussies and Kiwis, I have a problem with it used by Poms who’ve picked it up from watching ‘Neighbours’. However, I don’t blame Australia for the word ‘footie’ in British English, I blame Liverpool (Merseyside, not NSW, for that.)
Rhiannon said
Click clack is a type of container, not a ‘futon’. Best to know the facts before you start spouting shit, aye?
Robert said
Whatever a ‘click clack’ is or isn’t, it is a NZ term that presumably sounds funny to the blogger – the point of the whole post.
admin said
Look, the point is that a “click-clack” is very friggin’ funny whether applied to either a futon OR tupperware. Arguing that it’s tupperware rather than a futon is pretty nonsensical. It’s like calling a hammer a “bang-bang” :-)
ausois said
Trust me, I know, I have three kids at school, a Click Clack is fair and square a brand of Tupperware. And NO … we do not have Tupperware parties, at least not until the other half clocks onto it as a commercial enterprise. God forbid!
Oh, and for the record thongs/jandals are called Zoris in Hawaii – Japanese language influence (spotted on Kauai) … or else of course flip flops as elsewhere in the USA (mainland).
ausois said
Feeling Japanesy, here’s a link to the Zori page:
http://www.washedashore.com/rants/zori/
Hey bro, where my zoris? Sorrys? Ok it’s late time for bed … sorry
Jessica said
You forgot chilly bin! Also Jandals where actually invented in NZ!
Squivy said
Jandals/Thongs were first made in rubbery material in NZ and Australia in the 1950s as brand names of different companies. The original Japanese sandals were more like traditional Zori, made of traditional straw and fabric materials. Although not 100% reliable, check the Wikipedia entry for more info.
Jo said
Loads of people here in Wellington use the word “woman” to mean more than one woman, instead of “women”.
One woman. Many woman. Much confusion.
In NZ things are Hard Out but in Oz they’re Full On.
And a thick black marker is a Sharpie in NZ but a Nikko in Australia. Not to self: if somebody asks to borrow a sharpie don’t give them a pair of scissors or you’ll be open to ridicule.
admin said
Hi Jo,
The whole plural of “woman” thing is confusing and damned annoying isn’t it?
Riki said
How bout: Is there a garage round here? (Gas station)
BTW, I always thought a thick black marker was a Maori grading my math test…..bada bing!!! ( before any of you start doing the Haka I’m maori too, so sit the fack down!!) ;)