Apologies for being all armchair anthropologist on you, but it’s pretty funny how people jumped on the abbreviation train here ages ago. Pretty much any word can be shortened and put behind an “o”. The afternoon is the arvo, relatives are relos, and the Salvation Army is salvo’s. Your other option is to add an “ie” at the end of something, like brekkie, Chrissie (Christmas), and mozzies (mosquitoes).
Here’s a list of all the other abbreviations and colloquialisms I’ve heard since being here (that I can remember). The first few have crossed over to North America, but see if you can guess the rest (of the ones I haven’t given away):
- prezzie
- sunnies
- pull a yewy
- chook
- cockie
- daks
- docket
- doco
- goog
- lippy
- lollies
- nuddy
- sixie
- ripper
- sanger
- scratchy
- servo
- Ex-servos
- surfies
- trackies
- tucker shop
- veggo/vego
- whinge
- op-shop/vinnie’s
- tea (for supper)
UPDATE:
- champers
- spenno
- bring-a-plate
Here’s a whole list of Australian vocabulary.
