Western Australian English - Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Some of the vocabulary used in Western Australia is unique, within both Australia, and the wider world. Several terms of British origin have survived which are rarely used in other parts of Australia. One example is verge, meaning the area between a road and a paved footpath, which is known by the term nature strip in the rest of Australia. Some American terms, such as crosswalk, also known as a pedestrian crossing or zebra crossing, have also found a niche in WA. Other words have been shortened, for example, the term bathers is commonly used in place of bathing suit or togs as used in other parts of Australia. Some original terms have also been invented in WA, and have since found their way into common usage. An example of this is the term home open, describing a house on the market which is open for public inspection. There are also many unique, invented slang words, such as ding, referring to an Australian immigrant of Italian descent (this word is often considered derogatory and/or offensive), or munted, referring to an object which is misshaped or unsightly. Glasses of beer in Western Australia smaller than a pint are referred to as a middy, a 285ml serve.

Some pronunciations also differ from those used in the rest of Australia. For example, people from WA tend to pronounce loquat with a "k" sound (/ˈloʊkət/) instead of the "kw" (/ˈloʊkwɒt/ or /ˈloʊkwət/) used elsewhere.

Many words from the Aboriginal language have found their way into Western Australian English. Examples include gidgee (or gidgie), a Noongar word for spear, as used in modern spear fishing; and gilgie (or jilgie), the Noongar name for a small freshwater crayfish of the South West. Another word of likely Aboriginal origin is boondy (pronounced with ʊ, like the vowel in bull), which means a rock, boulder, or small stone. Among Western Australians, the term sand-boondy or more commonly boondy is well-recognised as referring to a small lump of sand (with the granules stuck together), often thrown at one another by children in the playground.