Image by Jane Nearing on Flickr.com.

Many English language learners travel to countries like Australia or New Zealand to learn English rather than traveling to England or America and so I thought it was time we looked at some slang from one of these countries from “down under.” First of all let me tell you about the term ‘down under’, this is a way to refer to Australia or New Zealand or both. This term comes from the fact that both New Zealand and Australia are countries that are located in the Southern Hemisphere and therefore, ‘down,’ ‘under,’ or ‘below’ most other English-speaking countries. In fact they are geographically below almost all other countries in the world!

Today, I have a list of slang (or local vocabulary) that is particular to New Zealand. If you want to learn more about Australian slang, check out the post I wrote about this a while back.

angus – a name for someone who has an anger problem or gets very angry often
buggered – to be very tired
chilly bin – a cooler used for keeping drinks cold
chocka clock – this means that something/some place is ‘crowded’ or ‘busy’
cuppa – a hot drink, this word is short for “a cup of coffee” or “a cup of tea”
dairy – a supermarket, convenience store, or corner store
fizzy drink – a soda
hot chips – French fries
jandals – flip flops or thongs
kai – a word for food; this word comes from the native Maori language
Kiwi – this is a word that is used to refer to a person who is from New Zealand ( a native New Zealander); it is also the name of the country’s national bird
Macca’s = McDonald’s
pissed – drunk
the wops – a really far away place, out in the middle of nowhere
togs – swimsuit

Now, why don’t you test yourself and see how much of this Kiwi slang you remember. Fill in the blanks below with words from above, then check your answers by scrolling to the bottom of the post.

1. Can you grab me a cold __________ ______________ from the _____________ _______________ .
2. James was __________________ after a long day at work.
3. Don’t forget to pack your ____________ and ______________ for the beach.
4. My favorite place to get a __________ _____________ and a hamburger is at __________________ .
5. Jill went to the _________________ to pick up a few items of food for dinner.

A Kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand.
Image by James St. John
on Flickr.com.

Answers:
1. fizzy drink & chilly bin; 2. buggered; 3. jandals & togs; 4. hot chips & Macca’s; 5. dairy.