Can you translate?
"I bought a pot from the Brekky Creek then packed some togs in my port for a trip to schoolies on the Goldy."
For southerners from across the border or overseas visitors, this sentence means:
"I bought a medium size glass of beer (285ml) from the Breakfast Creek Hotel then packed some bathers/swimmers/cossies in my bag for a trip to the end of school celebrations on the Gold Coast".
Simple!
Australia's states aren't just boundaries for government, they are borders that differentiate between the way locals speak. Aussie slang, local terms and common usage all differ, so here's a quick (tongue-in-cheek) guide to speaking like a Queenslander:
QLD: togs
NSW:cossies
VIC & other states: bathers, swimmers
QLD/VIC: pot of beer (285 mls)
NSW/ACT: middy
SA: schooner
NT: handle
TAS: ten
WA: half pint
Note: beer sizes and names get very complicated as you cross state borders. You can make it easy and ask for beer already in a bottle or stubbie...or skip the beer and have a glass of wine instead.
QLD & NSW: tuckshop - shop within a school to buy food for lunch
Other states: canteen
QLD: port (from portmanteau)
Other states: school bag
QLD: the Goldy (down the coast) and the Sunny (up the coast)
Other states: the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast
QLD: jaffles (sandwich with toasted bread and hot filling)
SA: toastie pies
There are also an increasing number of terms we locals use when talking about the places we go in Brisbane. These shortened forms could fool anyone new to town.
For example:
The RE - The Royal Exchange Hotel at Toowong
The Brekky Creek - The Breakfast Creek Hotel at Albion
The Piney - The Pineapple Hotel at Woolloongabba
And just to reassure you that not all our slang refers to pubs or beer, here are a couple of terms for our favourite cultural and sporting hot-spots:
GoMA - the Gallery of Modern Art at Brisbane's Cultural Centre at South Bank
QPAC (pronounced Q-pack) - Queensland Performing Arts Complex at South Bank
The Gabba - the Queensland Cricket Ground at Woolloongabba (an inner-city suburb of Brisbane). The Gabba is also home ground of the Brisbane Lions AFL team and the Queensland Bulls cricket team.
Even the name of our state capital has various terms of endearment, such as Brissie, Bris Vegas or occasionally Brisney-land. And for our international visitors, the pronunciation of Brisbane is Briz-bun, not Briz-bain. Similarly for Melbourne: Mel-bun, not Mel-bain. That's the flat vowel sound of the Aussie accent for you!
No worries, mate...
