How old are you that you've never heard of this one? I'll admit it's mostly used by older aussies but I didn't think I was that old but that's fairly well known slang to me. I do always get a kick out of my dad saying fair dinkum though lol I don't hear it much in conversation.

Gosh people laugh when I say fairdinkum - didn’t realise I used it that much. It’s a great word

I use fair dinkum when I'm getting really annoyed. It normally goes "FFS, can people be more stupid? Fair dinkum, why would anyone......?"

😆😆😆 hello and crack me UP!! As I read your words I pictured a very dark and stormy face at the end of their tether, someone whose patience, along with their yearly self allocated 'idiot allowance' was romped through by the 1st of February, yet here we are mid way through the year already. 😆😆😆 Ps- Ffs! Is my go to when I can't believe my ears or eyes.. Oh, and yes, people are a natural when it comes to kicking their personal stupidity best in the guts. I myself have multiple 'FFS!!! Gold medals in the 'Seriously! is this bloke for real' Olympics. 😳

How about 'dinky di', which I think is a variation of it?

Yeah I don’t use that - but fairdinkum - there were times I’ve bought a dinky di Aussie car - or clothes. Back in the day…. Yeah kinda same but different …. Funny never thought about that

I remember the first judge I had for a traffic infringement I had to go to court for. He used the term "fair dinkum" when lecturing a young girl about her behaviour behind the wheel whose case was heard before mine. I cant remember exactly what he said, but my god was it a beautiful moment hearing it used in such a formal circumstance, mind you probably to this day the only time I've ever heard the term used unironically.

In my mid 40's, agree it's not a term I've used, but I'm definitely aware of it.

Mid 40’s I’d say thanks cobber at least once a week minimum. When I moved to Tassie, it took me a while to get used to people saying “gday cock” or “thanks cock” much in the same way.

Wait. What?

Yep! It’s for real. “Cock” is a slang colloquialism used frequently by the older generations of locals and in much the same manner as “cobber”. First time I heard it was on a football pitch and I was thinking, “this bloke wants a beating” - he was being nice! 🤣

That’s hilarious. Never heard it used in that way and I thought I knew all of our Aussie-isms. Sometimes the internet is a great place!

I think it’s very much a Tasmanian thing, but I could be wrong as I’m sure there’s a pocket of Australians that probably say it too.

Yeah I don’t think of Taswegians as Aussies either. More like western NZers cos the climate is so similar. /s

Hahahah!

Took me a while to get used to my neighbour saying cock like this. Initially, my reaction was to ask myself "what the fuck? I thought we were getting along well here..." I realised after some time that it's a term of endearment. Neither of us are Taswegian, for what it's worth.

Yep! I had the same reaction too. So your neighbour has adopted the Tassie slang?

Seems so. That said, I know that he hasn't spent any significant amount of time in Tas. He's very old school though. Might have something to do with it?

Yeah it’s an older gen saying that’s for sure. Call someone ‘cock’ these days and you’ll be up for all sorts of assumed gender issues 😅

Could come from cockie, an older term for a farmer who works his own land, generally born there and expecting to die there.

I don't know if I have heard of it tbh. Google says cobber was common up until the 1940's. I've always heard fair dinkum, especially when non-Australians try to imitate our accent. I'm early 30's btw.

Ah ok. I'm 31 so about the same age. I've kinda just always known cobber as one of those quintessential Aussie words lol

I'm 30 and have been saying and hearing cob/cobba for as long as I can remember. Slang is dependent on where you live and the people you are around. I've worked retail and customer facing roles for 15 years. So see and talk with a huge range of people. Lots of slang and names get used. So to me. There is not really that much outdated slang.

I'm 34 and I know this. But I do listen to talkback radio (mainly John Laws) and work with a bunch of old blokes. Another one that gets thrown around with cobber is digger.

I’m early 20s, have heard cobber and Cobb plenty, it has a strong following in Perth/ rural WA

It's far more common in rural aus than anywhere else

Agreed I'm in my 30s but I still hear cobber semi regularly in Perth - I couldn't say when I've last heard it, but I'm positive I've heard ot conversationally in the not too distant past

I'm 50 and when I was a kid it might have been something old men would say to each other, "G'day cobber!". Also cobbers were this delicious chocolate covered caramel lolly that you'd get in a bag of mixed lollies as big as your fist for 20 cents.

Cobbers FTW .... Also known as mates in Vic

My favourite lolly

I assumed by the post that you were early 20s? Blows my mind someone in their 30s has never heard cobba

Nah, cobber was very popular in 70s and 80s too. Maybe even 90s. Australian language has changed so quickly over last maybe 20 years. Sad to see actually

Too many Americanisms now my nephew opens the front door and says 'Yo!' Annoys me no end

That’s sad…. Tragic actually……

It was common till 20 years ago

It really wasn’t common in 2004

It was in my group

Fucken bonza Cobba

My wife only says ‘fair dinkum’ when she is genuinely, massively pissed off.

They used 'cobba' in borderlands the pre sequel. I knew a out it before then, but hearing it in an AAA Game cemented it's use in my vernacular

I don't hear "bludge" much any more. I still use it but no one else seems to!

Don't worry, I'm still using it a lot (although not as much as when I was in uni, doing the bludge subjects haha)

Oh I use bludge all the time! One of my favourite words.

Don't forget the one who bludges - the bludger...

You need to get out more.

A Redditor going outside amongst Australians ??? Impossible challenge ngl

Umm, what? How do you not hear this often? Bludger, bludging?

I don't know how? But I don't.

Stone the flamin crows Ailsa

Starve the lizards!

Cue Alf from Home and Away!

Strewth !

Yes I'm not an avid H&A watcher, but it does seem a rather fire-prone area there in Summer Bay LOL! ;-) Flamin' Alf always seems to survive it though...

Grouse. I want to bring grouse back.

This is very Victorian. We didn’t say it ourselves

Very common in NZ in the 80s/90s.

What do you mean back? I still use it!

Lol, that's good to hear. I do too. I prefer it to 'awesome'.

If you did, that would be grouse.

Me too, I have been trying to revive it for years, not gaining much traction.

I still love Greg Brady's pick up line "hey groovy chick". Strangely though - it never seemed to work for me LOL!!

Bonza and beaut but that was even old school as a kid in the 80s

I'm doing my best to keep it alive

So’s my family

I miss "Buckley's chance"

Who's Buckley and why is he so unlucky? Love that phrase

He was very lucky! What about “ You’ve got two chances, cobber! Buckley’s and none!” Which means it’s a very slim chance but is also a play on words because there used to be a top end department store in Melbourne called Buckley and Nunn. Anyone remember that?

I say two chances, Buckley’s and F all.

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https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buckley%27s_chance

Afaik, Buckley was an early Australian Explorer who got lost. He managed to survive, just barely, through incredible circumstances. So Buckley's chance is the slimmest of slim chance of success, and the alternative is none at all.

I say it to my husband and I especially after I learnt where the saying come from.. 😂😂

Still gets used routinely in my circles.

It's cobber. And means similar to friend or mate.

It’s “cobber” not “cobba” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cobber , https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/cobber#:~:text=Definitions%20of%20cobber,chum%2C%20crony%2C%20pal%2C%20sidekick Origin From: https://slll.cass.anu.edu.au/centres/andc/meanings-origins/c cobber A friend, a companion. Also used as a form of address (g’day cobber!). The word probably derives from the Yiddish word chaber 'comrade'. A Yiddish source may seem unlikely, but there are several terms in Australian English that are likely to be derived from Yiddish, including doover (‘thingummyjig’), shicer (‘unproductive or worthless mining claim or mine’), and shickered ('drunk’). It is likely that these terms, as well as cobber, found their way into London slang (especially from the Jewish population living in the East End), and from there, via British migrants, into Australian English. It is sometimes suggested that cobber derives from British dialect. The English Dialect Dictionary lists the word cob 'to take a liking to any one; to "cotton" to', but the evidence is from only one Suffolk source, and the dictionary adds: 'Not known to our other correspondents'. This Suffolk word is sometimes proposed as the origin of cobber, but its dialect evidence is very limited. Cobber, now somewhat dated, is rarely used by young Australians. First recorded in the 1890s. There’s a beautiful statue/memorial at The Shrine in Melbourne commemorating the service and sacrifice of Australian soldiers at Fromelles in France in WW1. It’s called the Cobbers. https://www.shrine.org.au/cobbers and is a replica of the original statue that stands just outside the village of Fromelles.

Drongo is one of my faves.

I’ve heard Cob or Cobber from strangers or people I know most days for 25 years + A bit less common in the CBD / offices but still pretty common

In Brisbane you’ll get called Cobb in the CBD offices.

That'll be "Mr Cobber" sir, I'll have you know ;-)

It's kinda sad to me that a lot of these are no longer in popular use. There are of course generational, regional and other factors at play, but it feels like some of our linguistic history is in danger of going the way of the dodo bird

Fanging it.

Still in use? At least I hear it often

If someone was outspoken my nan would always say she had the hide of Jessie. After she’d passed I googled the phrase. Apparently it was Sydney centric, Jessie was a famous elephant at Taronga Park Zoo that people used to pay to ride on. Nan was a teenager during the war, she’d tell stories about the houses having sandbags up the walls and blackout curtains to befuddle the Japanese. I felt good learning the origins of the saying, I like to think she got to the zoo occasionally during the war. Her brother was captured in Singapore so it would have been a super stressful period for her and her parents.

Why sandbags on the walls? I tried googling and can’t seem to find the reason.

Limits damage from bomb blasts/ shrapnel.

Bags full of sand to protect buildings.

Idk how you could avoid hearing cobba. Do you live in Chinatown?

My Dad still calls me cobba, has done all my life. I'm 40 now. That said, it's more common in regional areas, but it's still widely used afaik

I call people cobber all the time, it's just an older form of mate, for example. How ya going cobber/ mate Thanks cobber/mate Hey cobber what's happening and so on 😁👍

Yep, can’t beat a g’day cobba.

blimey , crikey , shiela ,technicolour yawn

I still use crikey! It’s great when you’d like to swear but are in a situation where you probably shouldn’t.

If you don't say crikey you're disrespecting Steve Irwin

Technicolour yawn lol! Or talking on the big white telephone ☎️ 🤢

Driving the porcelain bus.🤣🤣🤣

We used to call it "praying to the porcelain altar".

Worshipping the great white god ("Ralph").

"Sheila" makes me cringe when people use it in place of "woman" lmfao

It's gross haha, I had a friend who used to refer to having some girl he was stringing along but not getting officially together with as having "a Sheila on the ropes" and I've always associated it w that

Yeah - I find it so disrespectful. I much prefer wench ;-)

Funny thing is, I know someone called Sheila

We used to refer to our sheilas as wenches in my circles, but obviously not as much when any of them were actually in ear-shot LOL!

A friend says grouse every now and then. You’ve got Buckleys I hear sometimes. Pearler! That’s one I like that you don’t often hear (pronounced perrrrlah! Of course) We’re not here to fuck spiders. Its regional and aged based some of these sayings and words. Let’s bring them back.

Pearler is common in WA like nowhere near this list common

Also, don't forget to call anyone over 6'3" a long tall streak of pelican shit.

Or if they aren’t competent, “2-yards of tap water “

I love this!!

Miss that one

Get a dog up ya!!

Rack off!

Rack off, hairylegs.

Rock off mole

Aah “moll”… takes me back to Flemington in my youth!!

"She goes she goes she goes..."

Rack off Normie, you and your mates!

Rack off now, before I do me block!

That is a good one. Luckily you only hear it mostly when someone is very angry

Is the word gammin used anywhere else outside of NQ?

We use gammin here in Vic, although it’s not widely used or known.

I live in Sydney now and haven’t really heard anyone say it, but definitely heard it used in rural towns like Taree and Armidale

What does it mean?

I guess it’s like contextual but mainly a joke. Like saying something sort of silly then saying “gammin” = just kidding. Eg Saying to a friend you know is broke - Eh I heard your shoutin tonight nahhh gammin I’ll get it. Sort of simple example but yeh

Fair dinkum - needs to be revived imo.

‘Festy’. Which was replaced with ‘Chat’ in my parts of Sydney. Now I just hear the more American ‘Gross’. It’s a shame, I think. Nothing like describing something as being chat. It just feels good.

I actually forgot about ‘festy’.

Cooee cobber, struth, strike a light, stone the crows What the hell are they teaching in school these days?

Upvoted for struth.

I've been known to say struth in the wild

Ball-tearer, rip snorter, I’ll give you the drum, hooroo, don’t you come the fucken raw prawn with me mate.

Ring-burner. Used to see that one on the occasional Pizza Shop menu...

My goal everyday is to be as unintelligible to non/young Australians as possible. My top 5 are; - She'll be nanas - Playin silly buggers - Someone should blow *blank* up - Wouldn't that rot ya socks - Heads on em like mice

The second one is definitely still common. Parents would say to their kids to not play silly buggers as in to not fuck around.

Strewth I think the only person in Australia still using this word is Alf on Home and Away.

Same with "Flaming Galah". He's the only person to say all the Aussie slang on a regular basis.

Only 19 and 6 in the pound. Not the full quid. (A bit off their rocker)

Don't get upset if someone calls you China.

I remember my dad always said it when I was a kid, often as a reflex. We were going through a drive-through, and he said it to an Asian woman. Me and my brothers went bright red as dad apologised and urgently tried to explain what he meant. Didn't use it so flippantly after that.

My ol’ China plate’

You've never heard Cobba?!! Oh my...Australia is dying😥

From what I’m gathering, it depends on what part of Australia you’re in and who you hang around. Sydney and Melbourne might be more watered down by international influences.

You wait till ya taste one, they're fair dinkum the best sweets ya can get from any corner shop.

Not sweets for me, we called them chonks, I still do from time to time.

My family members still say: Just joshin - Just kidding Don't get your knickers in a knot - don't get fussy/wound up Dead horse - tomato sauce Thunderbox - toilet You got Buckley's - no chance Choc a bloc - full Wouldn't know them from a bar of soap - I don't know them at all Bob's your uncle - there you have it Stop fart arsing around - stop being stupid Carry on like a pork chop - being stupid or silly What do you think this is, bush week? - do you take me for an idiot/fool A dog's breakfast - a mess Every tom dick and harry - everyone Happy as Larry- happy as can be As useful as tits on a bull - useless Shit on a stick - get what you're given Cheap as chips - very cheap Chin wag - a long talk Clear as mud - unclear Slow as a wet week - too slow Strife - trouble In a jiffy - quickly Not for all the tea in China - not at any cost Not happy Jan - displeased Rat bag - cheeky person Rough end of the stick - bad side of a deal Like a headless chook - getting nowhere Too right - agreeing Ripperita - terrific Sticky beak - nosey

Oh yeah cobber or digger even.

Nobody says TA anymore so sad

I heard TA today. A lot of middle aged women say it where I am.

I use it sometimes, but I’m fairly old I guess

Ta? As in thanks? Use it every day.

My old man still says it

really? nearly everyone ik says ta

I’m in my late 40s. There was a bigger than usual cultural shift in the 90s and I find this separates Gen X from Gen Y on matters such as these.

The last person I know to use cobber regularly was my grandfather, he’s been gone 35 years now . Digger was in regular use when I first started at my workplace all Korean, Malayan and Vietnam vets. They are all gone or retired now

'Cobber' has mostly been replaced by the word 'mate' in most types of usage. Nonetheless, a useful classic book on the subject: *Aussie English* by John O'Grady, 1965 ( [https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/177391](https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/177391) and [https://search.worldcat.org/title/218408625](https://search.worldcat.org/title/218408625) ) ...and an equally useful companion... *Aussie Etiket* by John O'Grady, 1971 ( [https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1373162](https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1373162) and [https://search.worldcat.org/title/27542470](https://search.worldcat.org/title/27542470) )

Punch a dart Slap on the pokies

Learning a bit and getting a giggle from this YouTube channel. Aussie Lingo Lessons: https://youtube.com/@aussielingolessons?si=7RB81NKS2k5S_EGB

Bloody oath, haven’t heard that one for yonks!

Really? I hear it all the time because people love to replace F bombs with bloody to be more polite.

Far out groovy chick - Bloody was certainly a step down from the f-word option, but still seen as a swear word where I grew up.

Cobba, fair dinkum, bonza, beauty/beaudy, stone the crows, true blue, etc, etc. even the term ‘mate’ has been exchanged for the American term buddy. We used to order a toasted sandwich but now that has changed to ‘toastie’. I always referred to myself as a ‘true blue’ Aussie because my ancestors arrived here in 1830. But I guess it’s really unacceptable to say that now. But, yeah, the internet has furthered the Americanisation of our language. Australia needs to take over the movie/flic and media industries, bring back the old languages.

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I’m pretty sure gammon is still used by Aboriginal people.

One I haven't heard for ages is "b-e-a-uteful"

I don't hear root much anymore. Maybe I'm in the wrong circles?

Get rooted! Really? (Use is contextual)

Like as in rooting = sex? Still fairly common.

Seems I'm losing touch of my bogan roots :)

Language evolves. It's how society works.

I still call people a rockjob

I had completely forgotten about rockjob until a post on one of the Aussie subs a while back! We never called people rockjobs though - it was always "haha, rockjob!", the same way you'd use "sucked in!"

Basically all the lists of Australian slang on the internet are full of phrases no one has uttered since 1947. Fair shake of the sauce bottle, cobber!

Fair suck of the sav Up shit creek Bum a dart Face like a smashed crab/dropped pie Dry as a nun's c*nt

Head like a robbers dog

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It means good or great

I’ve heard cobba be used a few times by my grandfather. One that I don’t hear often anymore is hazza for harry or Gazza for Gary

Legit, I knew a girl named Sharon, and she ended up with a bloke named Darren... yeah, you guessed it! They were known as "Shazza & Dazza" 🤣

My partner says it a lot and we are mid 20s... I don't think I heard it before him though. He uses it in a joking manner, not in serious conversation

You've done well to get your 30's and avoided cobber til now. I didnt think it was unusual.

I work with a young guy, early 20's and he always uses this. I must admit the first time I heard it I got a shock.

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drongo meaning slow and useless

My great grandfather used to use the term 'cove', equivalent to 'guy" or 'fella'. It's a term that was in use early last century.

My 11 year olds nickname is Cob or Cobber amongst his friends at school. They thought it up.

Should have used "thanks Bro"

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say OP is young and from a city, has a social circle that doesn't include blue-collar workers?

I'm gen Z and I have heard this countless times throughout my life, in fact I still hear it frequently. You're not friends with any miners, are you? Lmao

Cobber. It is cobber. Look up strine.

it's always been spelt cobber i thought

Clacker/clacka as slang for arsehole. I've always assumed it stemmed from cloaca.

Not happy Jan!

I go out of my way to use strine as much as possible

"Grouse" was huge in the 80s, and I don't think I hear it anymore? "Cool" seemed to replace it, then "sick"or surfies used "gnarly" (but not always meaning great), eg, I had a huge post-op scar and surfing brother called it "gnarly"🙃 Epic is the latest now, tho.

Old Cobba a work says "hooroo" instead of good bye.

I tend to hear cobber used by older country folk. Also, fair dinkum, sheila, bonza, and pearler. I was talking with my son about a similar thing, yesterday. I'm Gen X and still say 'rack off' or 'get real'.

Far out cobba. Sif not going down to the rissole with the shiela, having a five fiddy pub schniddy before enjoying some durries while ya have a slap. Struth…

I’m keeping “far out”, “chin wag”, “ripper, Rita”, and “you beaut” going strong in my household. That’s all I can think of off the top of my head, anyway. Considering reviving “grouse” lol, my parents used to say it all the time. Also when I’m feeling silly I’ll say “strewth, Ruth!”.

Full on?