# Aussie country language and slang



## Sheepdog (Jan 17, 2012)

There are a lot of words and sayings that we use in Australia which are not used anywhere else and it seems to be even more prevelant in the agricultural industry.... here are just a few that come to mind...........

We say mob.... of sheep or cattle.... (herd). 

A beast is a generic term for a cow.... a cow is a female.  We also say steer, bullock older steer) bull and heifer... but a beast is used more in the terms of....  say at a cutting horse competition or stock horse competition... one would cut a beast out of the mob. 

Muster sheep or cattle, is to gather sheep or cattle. You might be out mustering... or you might have a big muster coming up.

A crush... is a squeeze chute.

Head bail... usually at the front of the crush... not sure what you guys call it... head gate???

Cattle race.... the chute leading up to a crush or a cattle ramp to go onto a truck.

Draft.... to draft cattle.... to sort cattle

Drafting yard .... sorting pen

Long Yard ... a large yard or trap which is usually connected to cattle yards (pens)

Cattle yards or stock yards ... corral

Stock route ..Travelling Stock Route (TSR) is an authorised thoroughfare for the walking of domestic livestock such as sheep or cattle from one location to another. The TSRs are known collectively as "The Long Paddock". A Travelling Stock Route may be easily distinguished from an ordinary country road by the fact that the grassy verges on either side of the road are very much wider, and the property fences being set back much further from the roadside than is usual. The reason for this is so that the livestock may feed on the vegetation that grows on the verges as they travel. By law, the travelling stock must travel "six miles a day" (approximately 10 kilometres per day). This is to avoid all the roadside grass from being cleared in a particular area by an individual mob. Bores, equipped with windmills and troughs, may also be located at regular intervals to provide water in regions where there are no other reliable water sources. A Travelling Stock Reserve is a fenced paddock set aside at strategic distances to allow overnight watering and camping of stock.

Drover/Droving -A drover in Australia is a person, typically an experienced stockman, who moves livestock, usually sheep or cattle, "on the hoof" over long distances. Reasons for droving may include: delivering animals to a new owner's property, taking animals to market, or moving animals during a drought in search of better feed and/or water. Moving a small mob of quiet cattle is relatively easy, but moving several hundred head of wild station cattle over long distances is a completely different matter. (Not as common as it once was, you can still see drovers along some of the roads in Australia)

Stockman ....  is a person who looks after the livestock on a station, may also be employed at a feedlot, on a livestock export ship, or with a stock and station agency.

Grazier.....usually the station owner. 

Ringer........ is a stockman who work with cattle in the Top End (Northern Australian Outback) often only employed for the dry season which lasts from April to October. 

Station hand...... employee, who is involved in routine duties on a rural property or station and this may also involve caring for livestock, too. Usually a jack of all trades, they work on the machinery too.

Jackaroo - young male stockperson... usually training to be a stockman/woman

Jillaroo- female stockperson... usually training to be a stockman/woman

A cleanskin is an unbranded beast   a maverick or a slick (I've heard them called both here)

A mickey or mickey bull is a young uncastrated bull (usually a cleanskin) 

A weaner is a weaned calf... I think you call yearlings. 

A colt is a male foal... a filly is a female foal.... we distinguish the difference, here all foals and young horses are usually called colts.

We feed lucerne and not alfalfa... though I do believe alfalfa is the correct name

We have an offside(right) and a nearside(left) on a horse - which is probably a British term

We say chestnut and not sorrel - probably another British term

Paddocks are pastures, but usually much bigger.

Stations are ranches

Homestead - the main house on the station

Cattle runs are cattle stations

Bush.... the country.... woods.

Chook .... chicken

Chook house ... chicken coop

Catching rope.... lariat

Scrub ... brush

Scrubbers.... wild cattle

Shed.... barn or shop

Dam... pond (a pond in Australia is where you keep gold fish in your garden)... a dam can be a huge dam with a resovoir to provide drinking water to a major city, or a small man made water catchment area for stock... 

Turkey Nest.... a small earth dam adjacent to, and higher than, a larger earth dam, to feed water by gravity to a cattle trough, etc. 

Bush Turkey, Plains Turkey, Scrub Turkey.... a wild bird which is rarely eaten and doesn't look anything like the turkeys found in the USA

Swag... bed roll

Ute... small pickup 

Track .... trail

Tucker .... food

Tucker box.... lunch box or container

Billy.... can used for boiling water on the fire for hot tea

Hoorang... unruly, often unbroke ornery horse


There are heaps (a bunch) of others that I just can't think of at the moment.


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## Queen Mum (Jan 17, 2012)

Thanks for the info.   Very interesting.   I learned a bunch of terms like that when I was helping with wildlife rescue in Australia a few years back.  Australia definitely has some unique language.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 17, 2012)

Queen Mum said:
			
		

> Thanks for the info.   Very interesting.   I learned a bunch of terms like that when I was helping with wildlife rescue in Australia a few years back.  Australia definitely has some unique language.


You're welcome.... wow that would have been fun doing the wildlife rescue.... I have friends that are in the rescue groups... one I have sent a number of injured animals too. She still has a rainbow lorikeet that fell out of his nest as a baby and could never be released back into the wild because he broke his wing and a baby brush tail possum who when I found her had pnemonia, but my friend nursed her back to health, but she is too small to be released, so she has a permanent home with my friend. 

Over the years we rescued a lot of wild life, as a kid I was forever bringing home injured animals etc


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## Fierlin (Jan 17, 2012)

The only two I recognised from that list were swag and ute. I suppose I've still got a lot to learn.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 17, 2012)

Fierlin said:
			
		

> The only two I recognised from that list were swag and ute. I suppose I've still got a lot to learn.


Well you knew ute, most people think I am talking about the Ute Indians

And boy do I get some looks when I talk about the bonnet of my truck instead of the hood ... guess they are similar, they are both articles of clothing worn on the head


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## Fierlin (Jan 18, 2012)

What, people actually call it a hood?! 

Despite having been in too many countries to remember clearly, I honestly can't say I've ever heard it called a hood.

And no, I haven't been to the US yet.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 18, 2012)

Fierlin said:
			
		

> What, people actually call it a hood?!
> 
> Despite having been in too many countries to remember clearly, I honestly can't say I've ever heard it called a hood.
> 
> And no, I haven't been to the US yet.


And the boot... you know the thing at the back of a car (a sedan) where you store stuff it is called a trunk here... guess that makes sense because it was where you put your trunk... suitcase

So where are you from???


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## Fierlin (Jan 19, 2012)

I call it a boot. 
I've been in goodness knows how many countries, so I pick up words from everywhere. 


Right now I'm in Australia, although I don't have an Aussie passport yet. So technically I don't know where exactly I'm from.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 19, 2012)

Fierlin said:
			
		

> I call it a boot.
> I've been in goodness knows how many countries, so I pick up words from everywhere.
> 
> 
> Right now I'm in Australia, although I don't have an Aussie passport yet. So technically I don't know where exactly I'm from.


So where are you from originally and where in Australia are you? I was born in New South Wales, lived Central Coast NSW until I was 9 and my family moved to Tasmania... When I was 18 I moved to the Australian Capital Territory to go to University in Canberra. When I finished Uni, I moved back to NSW for a few years, then up to Queensland for 12 years, then down to Victoria for a year, then back to Qld for a couple of years and now in the USA. Travelled all over the world though and worked in Japan and the USA previously and been to the UK and Europe a few times.


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## Fierlin (Jan 19, 2012)

Wow. That is a lot of moving.  Travel is one thing, having to get used to a whole new place and settling down is a complete other!

I'm living in SA right now, been here for four years and might finally be starting to get used to things.  But I've been in the UK, Europe, Asia... pretty much everywhere except America.  I love to travel.


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## jd4570 (Jan 22, 2012)

That's interesting. Some of the terms we use here In Texas. Such as stock yards, drovers, stockman, colt, filly, chestnut, bush, scrub, sheds, and utes. Paddocks are large pastures near a river surrounded on all sides by trees. Oh yeah and homesteads. I guess there is a lot of English influence here too, but you sometimes have to speak Spanish too.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 22, 2012)

jd4570 said:
			
		

> That's interesting. Some of the terms we use here In Texas. Such as stock yards, drovers, stockman, colt, filly, chestnut, bush, scrub, sheds, and utes. Paddocks are large pastures near a river surrounded on all sides by trees. Oh yeah and homesteads. I guess there is a lot of English influence here too, but you sometimes have to speak Spanish too.


Wow that is interesting about the paddocks.... I never knew that.  I think there are probably more Aussies in the state of Texas than anywhere else in the country... though that is just a calculated guess    because most Aussies that come to the US to train horses, and cattle ranchers etc, usually end up in Texas... cannot speak for the Aussie city folks though, not sure where they go LOL   .... and I cannot speak a word of Spanish


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## jd4570 (Jan 22, 2012)

I've been told that some parts of Texas are strikingly similar to parts of  Australia. I know that paddocks is an old English term, but it's not used as mush as it used to be, kinda sad.


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## Sheepdog (Jan 22, 2012)

jd4570 said:
			
		

> I've been told that some parts of Texas are strikingly similar to parts of  Australia. I know that paddocks is an old English term, but it's not used as mush as it used to be, kinda sad.


Yes that is true, there is a similarity for sure and I think that is another reason why Aussies from the bush  (from the country areas) really love Texas and tend to settle there. I would move there in a heartbeat... but taxes here in OK are a little cheaper and I am not very far from the TX border so that isn't too bad. 

Yes, the older Ranchers sometimes know what I am talking about when I say paddocks, but most people haven't a clue and I was asked if I was talking about padlocking the horses in the pasture   Guess with my accent, it probably did sound like I was going to put my horses out in the pad lock


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## jd4570 (Jan 22, 2012)

I guess I know the terms because I grew up and stayed around people that were at least 55 years older than I was. No wonder it was hard to fit in school.


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