Australian Slang - Local Lingo
Unique Phrases - Memorable Quotes - F
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
FACELESS MEN - people who wield (especially political) power behind the scenes
FAFF ABOUT - dither
FACE LIKE A DROPPED PIE - someone with an unattractive or unappealing facial expression
FAG - cigarette
FAIR COW - a louse or heel (WW2)
FAIR CRACK OF THE WHIP - request for fair treatment
FAIR DINKUM – true
FAIR ENOUGH - expression used to concede a point
FAIR GO - call in a two-up game
FAIR GO - to treat someone with fairness and reason; Extract from Dame Enid Lyons maiden speech to the House of Representatives, September 29, 1943 - 'It was during those years that we learned those things which still characterise the great bulk of our people - hatred of oppression, love of "a fair go", a passion for justice. It was in those years that we developed those qualities of initiative and daring that have marked our men in every war in which they have fought, qualities which, I hope, will never be allowed to die'
FAIR GO - also a protest or plea for decent treatment, as in 'Fair go!'
FAIR GO YA MUG - as above. Attributed to Roy Rene (also known as 'Mo' of theatre partnership Stiffy and Mo)
FAIR SHAKE OF THE SAUCE BOTTLE - used several times by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
FAIR SUCK OF THE SAUCE BOTTLE - be fair (sauce perhaps being booze)
FAIRY BREAD - white buttered bread covered in hundreds and thousands
FAIRY FLOSS - heated sugar spun into threads and eaten from a stick
FAIRY GARDENS - a miner's term from the Burra Burra copper mine (Morris 1898)
FALOUSH - money (WW2)
FANTAILS - chocolate-covered caramels introduced by Sweetacres in 1930. Wrappers included brief biographies of movie stars.
FARTARSE AROUND - fail to get on with the job at hand
FATS - wide tyres
FATTY FINN - Fatty Finn, was a popular Australian comic strip series created in 1923 by Syd Nicholls
FEBRUARY 14 1966 - introduction of decimal currency to Australia. Accompanied by a famous jingle to the tune of Click Go The Shears
FEDERATION DROUGHT - name given to a prolonged period of drought that began 1895 and reached its peak in 1901 - 1902
FEED THE CHOOKS - to hold a press conference; to feed the media. Attributed to Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, former Premier of Queensland
FELIX THE CAT - cartoon character created in 1919 by Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer in an Australian studio
FELLAS - men
FELL OFF HIS PERCH - died
FELL OUT OF THE UGLY TREE - not attractive to look at
FFF - Forlorn, famished, and far from home (soldier slang WW1)
FIDDLEY - one pound note. Derived from fiddley-did, a rhyme on the word quid (criminal slang 1950s)
FIELD DAY - day used to display new farm equipment
FIELDS OF WHEAT - street
FIFO - fly in - fly out - flown in to remote work area and flown back again to town
FIGHT, WORK OR PERISH - A message from John Curtin telling Australians to 'make a complete sacrifice for Australia or become a complete sacrifice to the enemy'
FIGJAM - Acronym for F.ck I m good. Just ask me.
FILUM - film, movie picture
FIN - five pound note (prison slang)
FINGER - an eccentric or amusing person
FINGERS - also screws or blokes. Prison slang for prison wardens c. 1893
FIRE-STICK - lighted stick which natives carried about when moving from camp to camp
FIRIE - a fireman
FIRST CAB OFF THE RANK - first there
FISHER'S GHOST - the ghost of missing ex-convict Frederick Fisher (ship Atlas 1816) was said to have been seen sitting on a fence pointing to a creek. His neighbour George Worrall was later found guilty of his murder and executed in 1827
FIT AS A MALLEE BULL - healthy
FITZROY COCKTAIL - methylated spirits mixed with another drink to hide the taste
FITZROY YANK - flashy dresser (WW2)
FIVE EYES - An alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and USA for joint cooperation in signals intelligence, military intelligence, and human intelligence
FIVE FINGER DISCOUNT - to steal without getting caught
FIVER - £ 5 note
FIVER - prison slang - five years in gaol c. 1893
FIVE SHILLINGS OR THE RISING - fined five shillings or the alternative of imprisonment until the rising of the Court
FIX YOU UP - pay back money
FIZZ-GIG - police informer
FIZZOGG - a disappointingly uncompetitive game (also fizzer)
FIZZER - police informer
FIZZER / FIZZLER - disappointment
FIZZY DRINK - soft drink/ cordial
FLABBERGAST - astonish
FLAG - £ 1 note (criminal slang 1950s)
FLAG FALL - initial hiring charge for a taxi
FLAG OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS - 1887 poem by Henry Lawson that refers to the Eureka Flag flown at the Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat, Victoria in 1854
FLAKE - shark meat
FLAKE OUT - collapse, lie down
FLAMING GALAH - idiot; stupid person
FLAMIN' HELL - for goodness sake
FLANNIE / FLANNO – flannelette shirt
FLAP THE GUMS - talk endlessly
FLASH - showy
FLASH CLOBBER - smartly dressed
FLAT AS A TACK - low in spirits, lacking energy
FLAT CHAT - busy; or doing something quickly
FLAT OUT - as fast as possible
FLAT OUT LIKE A LIZARD DRINKING - busy
FLAT TO THE BOARDS - busy working
FLATTY - policeman (1925)
FLAX, NATIVE - smaller plant than true flax. Yields fibre that was used by aborigines for making fishing nets and cordage (Morris 1898)
FLEA - A prisoner who seeks to be on good terms with the warders and then to be on good terms with the prisoners
FLICK - get rid of
FLIMSY - handkerchief (prison slang c. 1893)
FLIP YOUR LID - to be angry
FLOATER - a meal sold from a stand - a meat pie floating in a bowl of pea soup (Adelaide), invented by an English cook named Gibbs
FLOATING KIDNEY - soldier unattached to a unit (WW1)
FLOG - to steal; also to sell
FLOG - Wanker; someone with ideas above their station
FLOGGED WITH A WARM LETTICE, (LIKE BEING) - Paul Keating re John Hewson's debating skills
FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE - a hopeless cause
FLOORDROBE - leaving clothes on the floor instead of putting them away
FLOORED - knocked down
FLUKE - lucky break
FLUMMOX - perplex
FLUTTER - a small bet on the races
FLYBOG - Jam (WW1)
FLYER - a female kangaroo (1826); The males are called foresters and the females flyers (1834)
FLYING DOCTOR - the aerial medical service pioneered by the Rev. John Flynn in the outback in the 1920s
FLYING FOX - fruit bat
FLYING FOX - an overhead cable-way often used in mining
FLYING OFF THE HANDLE - angry outburst
FLY SCREEN - gauze door screen to keep out flies
FOODIE - lover of gourmet food
FOOTPATH - sidewalk or pavement
FOOTY - Australian Football League (AFL), Rugby Union (Union) or Rugby League (NRL). Not Soccer
FORTY LEGS - name given to a millipede (Morris 1898)
FOSSICK - prospect for gold
FOUR O'CLOCK - another name for the friar bird (Morris 1898)
FREAK VILLA - the cook house (soldier slang WW1)
FRED - small metal spoon in ADF combat ration pack - Field Ration Eating Device - also F.cking Ridiculous Eating Device
FREDDO FROG - Chocolate lolly Freddo Frog was introduced by MacRobertson’s in Melbourne 1930
FREE AND EASIES - a form of entertainment held in hotels where miscellaneous concerts of an informal character took place. A person played the piano and anyone in the room was at liberty to contribute a song for the amusement of the audience. They were considered infringements of the Licensing Act. c. 1880s- 1890s
FREEBIE - get for free
FREE CHEWING GUM - chin strap (soldier slang WW2)
FREEDOM IS TH ONLY THING WORTH LIVING FOR. WHILE I WAS DOING THAT WORK I USED TO THINK IT DIDN'T MATTER IF I DIED, BECAUSE WITHOUT FREEDOM THERE WAS NO POINT IN LIVING - Australian Service Woman Nancy Wake
FREEDOM ON THE WALLABY - A poem by Henry Lawson 1891, the most famous line being 'They needn't say the fault is ours, If blood should stain the wattle'
FREEDOM RIDE BUS - students from University of Sydney formed a group called the Student Action for Aborigines. Led by Charles Perkins, they travelled into New South Wales country towns
FREE SELECTOR - one who takes up a block of Crown land under the Land Laws of the day (Morris 1898)
FREEZ-A - a popularity hunter. Origin found in for he's a jolly good fellow (WW1)
FREMANTLE DOCTOR - cooling afternoon wind. Western Australia
FRENCHIE - condom
FREO - Fremantle W.A.
FRESH - overflow of a river caused by heavy rain
FRIDGE - Refridgerator. In 1855 James Harrison of Geelong was granted a patent for an ether vapour-compression refrigeration system.
FRILL - swagger, conceit (c. 1895)
FRISK - search
FRITZ - luncheon meat; called Devon in NSW; Polony in W.A.
FROG AND TOAD - road - rhyming slang drop the word toad and just say frog e.g., I'm off down the frog
FROG IN A SOCK - energetic
FROGSKIN - 1 pound note (colour green) (1919 Brisbane); also quid and fiddleedid
FRONT - appear before a magistrate (criminal slang 1950s)
FRONTIER WARS - a term perhaps first coined by Professor William Stanner in 1968 and came to be applied by some historians to describe violent conflicts between Indigenous groups and colonists in the 19th century
FRONT UP - to turn up
FROTH AND BUBBLE - trouble
FROTH AND BUBBLE - double (rhyming slang, racing term)
FROTHING / FROTHIN - very keen
FROTHY WINDBAG - politician, who when it suits his purpose, champions the cause of the working class man. Socialist c 1895
FRUIT LOOP - crazy person
FRYING PAN - A description of the brand on stolen cattle or hides after duffers have obscured the owner's brand
FUDGE - to cheat
FUGLY - ugly
FULL AS A GOOG - satiated of food or drink
FULL AS A STATE SCHOOL HAT RACK - satiated of food or drink
FULL HAND - or SPIN - five years in jail
FULL OF BEANS - lots of energy
FULL ON - intense
FULL UP OF - sick and tired of. Full on and full of are other forms (Morris 1898)
FUNNY FARM - mental hospital
FURFIE - rumour (soldier slang WW1)
FURPHY - idle rumour. Jewish origin; or from the wheeled water tanks made by Furphy and Co around which troops gathered in army camps in 1914-1915 and from where all rumours flowed
FX and FJ Holden cars - FX launched in 1948. FJ launched in 1953. FX First mass made locally produced car
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