Aussie ABCs: ratbags & snags

• Rapt [or wrapped] : pleased, delighted (I’m rapt that you came to visit me and brought me a box of chocolates)
• Ratbag : mild insult
• Raw prawn, to come the : to con or stretch the truth, to be generally disagreeable
• I Reckon! : you bet! Absolutely!
• Ya Reckon?!: “do you really believe that what you’re saying is true?”
• Rellie or relo : family relative
• Ripper : great, fantastic - “it was a ripper party”
• Right, she’s : it’ll be all right
• Right, that’d be : Accepting bad news as inevitable. (”I went fishing but caught nothing.” “Yeah, that’d be right.”)
• Rock up : to turn up, to arrive - “we rocked up at their house at 8pm”
• Row: [rhymes with cow] An argument, shouting match, loud disagreement
• Rubber: An eraser, for the Americans in my audience. Australian Architects working with Americans need to be careful of using this one in the office.

*Remember, those of you of North American or Irish persuasion, that Aussies tend to drop the letter “r” from the middle of a word. Hence anger is pronounced anga here and my city - though spelled Melbourne - is actually pronounced Melb’n.

S is for

• Sanger : [pronounced sanga] a sandwich
• Skull/Skol : to drink a beer/coke in a single draught without taking a breath
• Shonky : dubious, underhanded. E.g. a shonky practice, shonky business etc
• Servo : petrol station, gas station
• Shout: to pay for (”I’ll shout lunch” “No it’s my shout today”)
• Sook: [rhymes with look, cook] Noun. A soft, timid or cowardly person. A frequent complainer.
• Sooking: Verb. Whining, particularly about petty or inconsequential matters.
• Smoko : smoke or coffee break
• Snag : a sausage
• Spit the dummy : to get very upset at something
• Squizz (noun) : look - “take a squizz at this”
• Stoked : very pleased
• Stuffed, I feel : I’m tired
• Stuffed, it’s: It is broken, it’s worn out
• Sunnies : sunglasses