SURFING with LINGO

Australian

The 'stralian lingo has been passed through many generations and is standard in speaking. So, 'have a go' or you'll be a 'no-hoper' at understanding any of it. (Hint: Don't even try to do an Aussie accent. They'll just laugh and point.)

• Arvo: Afternoon. As in "Think I'll go 'ave an arvo sesh," (an afternoon surf).
• Don't come the raw prawn: Don't try to fool me.
• Manchester: Linen
• Jumper: Sweater
• After Darks: Sharks
• Shiela: Girl
• Fair Dinkum: Completely truthful eg: "You can trust him mate, he's fair dinkum!" There is actually a store called, "FDB", meaning Fair Dinkum Bargains.
• G'Day: Hello! (pronounced G'Dai) Used frequently and naturally by Aussies. Is also frequently mispronounced by foreigners.
• Mate:
  1. Your best friends, people you stick by through thick and thin.
  2. Used loosely as a general form of address
  3. Very handy when you haven't been introduced or have conveniently forgotten someones name. eg: " G'Day Mate! 'ow are ya? aven't seen ya for yonks!" (Hello,how are you? Haven't seen you for a long time.)
• Lingo: Language or jargon as in: "I don't talk his lingo!"
• Off:
  1. of food - rotten or tainted eg "These prawns are off!'
  2. in bad taste- eg "That joke was a bit off!"
  3. of health - not well eg "I'm a bit off to-day!"
  4. awful - eg "She's been really off today!"
  5. angry, furious, not impressed eg " It didn't turn out how he wanted it to and he went right off!"
  6. excellent, at it's best eg "The surf was goin' off this morning!"
• Piece of Piss: piss (urinate) is considered an easy - known task that comes naturally therefore 'piece of piss' is a task that is easy to do.
• Piss up: the drinking of copious amounts of alcohol, so described as alcohol quickly becomes urine.
• Journo: Journalist.
• Garbo: Person who collects garbage.
• Milko: Milkman.
• Servo: Place where you put petty (petrol/fuel) in the shaggin' wagon (a surfer's panelwagon (car with no windows in the back)).
• Have a go: No matter what the odds in sport or life Aussies are expected to 'have a go'. If they don't they may be looked upon with contempt as a 'slacker', 'no-hoper' or 'gutless wonder'. Often heard being called out by spectators at sporting events. eg "'ave a go ya mug!"

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Spanish

OK, I don't really know any Spanish. All I ever had was a pocketsize phrasebook from 1970. Nonetheless, while travelling through Mexico and Puerto Rico, these phrases helped out:

• Donde esta la playa, mate?: Where's the beach, mate. (My South African friend always called everyone "mate" no matter what country we were in.)
• Donde esta olas grande?: Where are big waves?
• Agua: water.

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