Here at the New in Town Blog, we already identified that WA has some different words for things. You can check out the first instalment of our “Words in the West” series HERE (http://www.newintown.com.au/latest-news-blog/words-in-the-west.html). But since then, we have found some more gems that has left us looking for a translator! So here is what we have unearthed and what the locals claim they mean.

Stuff that you may need to buy at the shop

You don’t need to take an international trip to experience translation issues when shopping, check out some of the terms below that left us searching for words to explain what we were looking for!

Lackys - Hair elastics
Juice Boxes or Punch 'n' Juicys - Poppers or cardboard boxes of juice with a hole for a straw
Cool Drink - Soft drink, Fizzy drink or soda pop
Artlines - Sharpies or permanent texta/marker
Kole’ Beer - A soft drink that is only available in WA and imported into certain stores in Adelaide by the Kirks soft drink company
Polony - Devon to the most Eastern states or Fritz to Adelaidians
Bathers - Cozzies, budgies, togs, swimmers, trunks, swimming costumes
Flannel - Washer or face washer to wash yourself

Down at the Pub

Depending on where you hale from, you will almost certainly get a strange look from your local bar keep or bottle shop attendant when you ask for your favourite bevvy at a Sunday session. Be sure to go in armed with the correct nomenclature for drinking in Western Australia!

Middy/Half Pint - 285ml glass
Schooner - Though no-one in WA really knows what a schooner is yet - it is still viewed sceptically as the weird 425ml glass from "Over East"
Pint - 570ml glass
A Slab of bush chook - 24 bottles of Emu bitter or Emu Export branded beer
Export - Emu Export brand of beer
Swan - Swan breweries brand of beer
Little Creatures - Fremantle based brewery, Little Creatures usually refers to their flagship Pale Ale
The Last drop - Breweries, pubs and restaurants in Tudor style buildings throughout Perth
Kalgoorlie or Big K - Kalgoorlie brand beer

Geography

Eastern States - Anything East of the West Australian border, colloquially assumed to be all one place or just up the road from each other

WA – Wait-a-while state - they do things a bit slower here!
Albany - Pronounced Al-ban-ny, not as Eastern Staters used to Albury might try to pronounce it!
Derby - Pronounced Der-bee not Darby, as most English speakers would like to try and pronounce it
Dunsborough - Pronounced Duns-burah
The Hills - The suburbs in the shires of Kalamunda, Roleystone and Mundaring
Shires - Not where hobbits live, or Sutherland - these are the local council areas that encompass groups of suburbs and summarise the label for the general vibe of an area
Margs - Margaret River
Buno - Bunbury
Busso - Busselton
Collie - Not a dog, this is actually a town in the south west
Gero – Geraldton

Stuff in the Environment around us

Water Fountain - Drinking fountain or bubbler
Sandgroper - A rare west Australian insect and also the colloquial nickname for West Australians (LikeNew South Welshmen are called Cockroaches!)
Slide - Slippery dip
Deli - Not a place to buy cold meats, they are usually a general store serving a selection of deep fried foods
Fat Cat - Children's bedtime advertisement character on channel 7
Telethon - Major annual fundraiser for Perth Children’s Hospital (Formerly located at Princess Margaret Hospital or PMH) running for 24 hours straight on commercial tv
Joogies - Freshwater cray fish
Cray fish - Looks like a lobster, but isn't one. So Don't say it is!
Honky nuts - Large gumnuts that have the ability to dint your car if they fall out of a tree onto it!
Pea-gravel – The Bauxite or red gravel, shaped like a pea, that peppers the hills and foothills around Perth and the South West, and was a huge attraction to rally car drivers from around the world!
Patio - Pergola or a covered veranda or deck

Once you have the lingo down pat, you can take a stroll down the local, knock the neck off some export and have a polony sandwich at the deli with the locals, and they won’t bat an eyelid! If you have found some crazy Westralian that we could add to our list, drop us a line on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/NewInTownRelocations