The H of Aussie Slang

Jo Bryant

Hair pins : bobbypins

Hairy eyeball : to examine someone or something closely

Handle : glass beer mug with a handle

Happy little vegemite : an Australian child

Hard yakka : extremely hard work. Hard Yakka is also the name of a tough workware company.

Harold Holt, to do the : To bolt. Harold Holt was Prime Minister of Australia when he disappeared on December 17, 1967.

Hash sign : #, pound sign (USA)

Have a naughty : sex

Have a slash : to urinate (normally referred to the male gender)

Have a snort : to have a drink (alcoholic)

Have a sticky / sticky beak : to pry into others affairs

Haven’t got two bob to rub together : absolutely broke; without money; penniless

Having a blue : to have an argument or fight

Heaps : a lot, e.g. “thanks heaps”, “(s)he made heaps of cash”

Hectare : 10,000 square metres

He’s got a goog : he has a bump on their head the size of an egg

He’s got tickets on himself : thinks very highly of themselves, a self opinionated person

High-set : a traditional Queenslander house that is built on stumps above the ground

Hills hoist : a clothesline which rotates and can be folded in on itself (like an umbrella) when not being used. It is an Australian invention, and most Australian homes will have one.

Hire purchase : when you purchase something and pay it off in installments. Usually over a predetermined time.

Holden : an Australian make of car

Hole in the wall : an ATM (automatic teller machine)

Holidays : refers to time off work/vacations

Holy dooley! : an exclamation of sudden surprise, good heavens, my goodness, good grief or similar

Hoon : a real hooligan of a person

Hooroo : farewell, goodbye

Hostie : an airline hostess or stewardess

Hotel : often just a pub


Hottie : hot water bottle/a hotted-up car/an exagerated tale or story

Hoyts : name of a popular theatre complex and chain

HSC : high school certificate/diploma

Humpy : a small shack, usually in poor condition


Hundreds and thousands : sprinkles (used on cakes and deserts)

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Published by Jo Bryant

I was born in the land of Banjo Paterson, gum trees, and weather extremes. I am a freelance photographer. I love to make images that make people happy. To capture forever a precious moment. I am also a freelance writer/editor. I live in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, but still like to claim my Australian heritage. I graduated with a Bachelor of Communications in 2008. I am writing my first novel. I love to write poetry, short stories, and also write for the web. And there is nothing that is on a par with a sunny summer's day spent at Waihi Beach.

28 Comments

  3. I can see where I would have problems in Australia if I were to go there someday. Do they give out Little Aussie to English For Dummies books upon arrival at the airport? I can see problems arising. For instance -Let’z go for a Blue. Might get me punched. But here, Blue is beer.

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      1. Okay. Here’s the skinny. Approximately 5.95 million tourist visitors arrived in Australia from May to May 2012 (I’d take this data with a grain of salt as it is based on a five second google search). Lets say one third or two million visitors purchase Aussie Speak for The G’day Mate Challenged at $9.88 cents. That’s 19,760,000.00 dollars gross. It would cost you approx. four dollars to produce and market. Which would leave you with a net of $11,856,000.00….plus I suppose one could do spin offs like websites, mobile apps etc etc.

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    1. Vegemite’s rise to popularity was helped by the marketing campaigns written by J. Walter Thompson advertising that began in 1954, using groups of smiling, attractive healthy children singing a catchy jingle entitled “We’re happy little Vegemites”.

      We’re happy little Vegemites
      As bright as bright can be.
      We all enjoy our Vegemite
      For breakfast, lunch, and tea.
      Our mummies say we’re growing stronger
      Every single week,
      Because we love our Vegemite
      We all adore our Vegemite
      It puts a rose in every cheek.

      First aired on radio in 1954 the jingle was transferred to television in 1956. This advertising campaign continued until the late 1960s but, as they were targeted to children, discontinued in favour of ads promoting the product to all ages. In the late 1980s the original black and white television commercial was remastered, partially colourised and reintroduced. This commercial was to be broadcast periodically from 1991 to 2010. The two young twin girls who sang this advertising jingle were known as the “Vegemite Twins”.

      In March 2007, Kraft announced that they were trying to trace the eight original children from the campaign to celebrate the advertisement’s fiftieth anniversary and to take part in a new campaign. The 1956 commercial was to be remade with the original children, now grown, to forge a link between “the new generation and the old ad”. The media took up the search on Kraft’s behalf with all eight children identified in eight days and resulted in many TV specials and interviews in the Australian National media. The 50-year reunion campaign won the Arts, Entertainment & Media Campaign of the Year award at the November 2007 Asia Pacific PR Awards.

      Now all THAT info was sourced from Wikipedia.
      Sadly though I WAS around at the time and possibly even the right age – GOD that makes me seem OLD – she wasn’t me ’cause no-one invited me to any reunion !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  10. Hilarious 🙂 Quite a few I had never heard of before, but most are commonwealth speak i would think. We call hairpins, bobbypins for example. In fact I don’t think there is a vernacular word for a hairpin!!!

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    1. So glad you think so. When I do these posts I find that there are always a few that people have in their countries. A lot probably made their way over with the immigrants.

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  11. Have I mentioned that I LOVE it when you do these posts? 😀 Well, I do! As a side note, for the longest time, I had no idea what a “vegemite sandwich” was (from the song “Down Under” by Men at Work). Finally looked it up. Have to admit, it doesn’t sound appetizing at all…>.<

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    1. So glad you like these ones.
      I just had a crumpet with vegemite…yummy. I will admit that it is a love it or hate it kind of thing. I’m a lover !!!!!!!
      😉

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