Stone the Crows - It's Another Strayan Strine Quiz

Answer: Bonza

If an Aussie thinks something is very good, it's a 'ripper' or it's 'bonza'. He's a bonza bloke, give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. That horse is a little ripper, it won me a motza.
The term 'bonza' (bonzer) meaning high praise, was first coined by C. J. Dennis in his 1915 poem, "Songs of a Sentimental Bloke". 'Ripper' originated in Britain, where most of Australia's white settlers came from, and means something excellent.

Answer: Longdrop

Both of these words refer to toilets that are outside the house (called outhouses). A long drop, as the name suggests is a deep pit which collects the deposited excreta. A dunny is a more generic term referring to any outside toilet facility, which was often a room with simple wooden walls just big enough to sit down and close the door.

There are a few suggested origins of the word 'dunny' but one theory is that it's a shortening of the English term 'dunnekin' (variety of spellings) meaning 'outhouse'.

While a long drop is now not commonly encountered, except in more remote locations, dunny is still a common expression and now can refer to the 'small room' in the house as well. 'Loo' is another commonly used term. Aussies never call the toilet, the 'bathroom'!

Answer: Beyond the black stump

Australia can be divided roughly into three regions: The Big Smoke, which refers to a city, most notably Sydney; the bush, which is the rural areas; and the outback, which are the arid regions. The borders are not well defined so no-one really knows where the bush ends and the outback begins.

Bourke is a country town in North Central New South Wales. It is well and truly in the bush.

Beyond the black stump had its origins in a NSW court case in 1831 over a land boundary case where a landowner did not care what was beyond the black stump as that was the edge of his considerable large property. Using landmarks such as tree stumps has been the practice for many years for directions for travellers in new territory. Some places claim to be the original black stump location, such as Blackall in Queensland and Merriwagga in NSW

Another term for Bush is "Woop Woop". Anybody who has gone to Woop Woop has travelled deep into the bush. However it tends to be a small town in the Bush. Its origins are uncertain but the double word plus the use of "W" to start a place name sounds of aboriginal or at least contrived to sound like it is of aboriginal descent.

Answer: Berko

If an Aussie 'arcs up' he loses his temper, usually quite spectacularly. In short, he goes 'berko'. 'Berko' is derived from berserk, or mad and is shortened and ended with an 'O' because that's just what Aussies do.

Jonno arced up when Bluey went berko and smashed his phone.
Arc up is thought to have come from the military term for bursts of small arms fire, in short, a frenzy.

Answer: Cactus

Carked it means that something or someone has died. If something is cactus, it is broken beyond repair or it has died. When referring to people, cactus more often refers to someone's chances of surviving some horrible life event/illness. "Is Joe going to make it?" "Nah mate, sorry he's cactus." With both terms, something has permanently stopped functioning. Cactus comes from the highly unwise decision to import the Prickly Pear Cactus to Australia with the First Fleet in 1788.

It quickly took over from native vegetation. "Is that land good to farm?" "No, it's cactus".

The term then expanded to a generalization about condition. There are a few disparate theories about the origin of 'cark it'. The one I prefer is that it is derived from 'khak', the Hindi word for dust and dirt. So when you cark it, you're returning to the dirt.

Answer: Grommet

A shark biscuit is a young or novice surfer who is unlikely to see the warning signs of the presence of sharks. Australia is well known for shark attacks, especially on surfers as they tend to be farther out in the ocean than swimmers. Calling a surfer a biscuit is similar to the legendary Iced Vo-Vo, soft on top with a crunchy bottom.

A grommet is also a young surfer. The origin is based on a medical procedure where drains called grommets are inserted in the ears of children prone to middle ear infections. Surfers, because of their constant immersion in water, are susceptible

On a similar line, a 'tea-bag' is swimmer who bobs around and get in the way of surfers. A "Noah" is a shark by way of rhyming slang: "Noah's Ark".

Answer: Dart

Both of these terms refer to cigarettes. "Pass us a durrie (or dart), mate" is a very common expression at smoko - a break in the working day. One theory about the origin of durrie (often also spelled durry) is that it came as a shortening of the name of the tobacco, "Bull Durham".

A durrie is often but not exclusively used to refer to roll-your-own cigarettes (also a rolly or rollie) whereas "dart" can also refer to "tailors" - tailor-made cigarettes that you buy in packets. One theory is that "dart" came about due to the pinching action of holding the cigarette just like the sporting item which is thrown at a dartboard.

Answer: Oz

Australia is often referred to as Oz, but not so much by Australians. The Oxford English Dictionary first references Oz in the form Oss. Oz is often taken as an oblique reference to the L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900), but became popular after fictional Land of Oz in the movie "The Wizard of Oz" (1939). Some have speculated that Mr Baum was inspired by Australia.

"Straya" demonstrates the Australian peoples' ability to laugh at one's self. Australians tend to swallow or delete the last syllable of long names, and the "lia" component at the end is just too difficult so becomes a "ya" - a common occurrence in Australian pronunciation. Similarly, at the start of the work the "Au" sound pronounced as "Ow" in some countries is a short "O" sound in Australia as in "mop" or "sauce" in America. The "O" sound is consequently considered optional and is frequently omitted, leaving the stub "Straya" to represent the name of this glorious country down under.

Answer: Bevvie

Aussies love their beer, and because the weather is often scorching hot, the beer is served cold, hence a 'coldie'. Bevvie is short for beverage, and the term is used more by yuppies than Bogans. A beer can also be called amber fluid, from the colour.

It's also referred to as liquid gold and a liquid lunch is obviously a beer lunch. Knock off time on Friday is often called 'beer o'clock' since it's a tradition to decamp to the nearest pub and celebrate the end of the working week. I'll drink to that!

Answer: Galah

Both of these terms refer to someone who's been a bit of an idiot, or has done something stupid, etc. One slight nuance is that calling someone a drongo can be affectionate (he's normally a great bloke but on this occasion he was a drongo) whereas calling someone a galah is usually a term of mild to extreme irritation (and is often preceded by the word 'bloody'). Drongo originated from a racehorse of that name in the 1920s which never managed to win a race, although it did have a number of placings (second or third). So a drongo is 'never quite there'! A galah is a noisy Australian bird that screeches a lot and hence a 'galah' is a loud-mouthed fool.