Working holiday slang
Aussie slang for backpackers and hospitality
Chuck a sickie meaning: take a sick day when you're not sick. It happens on the Monday after a long weekend, the morning after a big night, and the day after the Melbourne Cup. The boss doesn't love it. Everyone else understands it.
If you're on a working holiday, the slang you need isn't the postcard stuff. It's the eight things that get said to you on shift, over a coffee machine, at the end of a row of fruit trees, or across the bar at 1am. Here they are, with a clip of a local saying each one so you recognise it at speed.
Working holiday Australia slang: the eight you will hear on shift
Pulling beers in Byron, picking in Bundaberg, running plates in a Melbourne cafe: same eight words, same order of appearance.
1. Chuck a sickie
Chuck means throw. A sickie is a sick day. You chuck one.
One thing worth knowing before you do. Casual work here pays a higher hourly rate and no sick leave, so a sickie is a day you don't get paid. And if you're doing your 88 days for the second-year visa, it's a day that doesn't count. Also, don't post the beach photo.
Say it: "Half the floor chucked a sickie the day after the Cup."
Hear it
Chuck a sickie: Chuck a sickie
More on this saying: Chuck a sickie.
2. Smoko
Smoko meaning: the work break. Ten or fifteen minutes, mid-morning or mid-arvo, a coffee and a sit down. Nobody needs to smoke, and most people don't. It's also the food you eat during it.
On a building site smoko is close to sacred. In a cafe it's whenever the rush dies. If the boss says take your smoko, take it, because the next chance might be four hours away.
Say it: "Take smoko now, it'll go off at twelve."
Go off means get slammed. You'll hear that one too.
Hear it
Smoko: Smoko
A local says smoko on its own, then in a sentence.
3. Flat out like a lizard drinking
Flat out means very busy. The lizard is lying flat on its belly to drink, so it's flat out in both senses, which is the joke. You'll hear plain "flat out" more often. The full version comes out with a grin, usually from someone who's just finished a shift like that.
Say it: "How was it? Flat out like a lizard drinking, mate."
Hear it
Flat out like a lizard drinking: Flat out like a lizard drinking
A local says the full saying, then just flat out.
More on this saying: Flat out like a lizard drinking.
4. Knackered
Exhausted. What you are after a double, after a close then an open, or after week three of picking. Also stuffed, buggered and cooked. They all mean the same thing and none of them are rude in this context.
Say it: "I'm knackered, six days straight."
Hear it
Knackered: Knackered
A local says knackered on its own, then in a sentence.
5. My shout
I'm paying. This is the round system, and it matters more than most things on this page. Someone says my shout, they buy this round, and you buy the next one. It's a loop, not a gift. Same with coffee: a workmate shouts you one, you shout the next. Don't hand them the cash for it. That's weird.
It's your shout means it's your turn. Don't miss it twice.
Say it: "Put your wallet away, it's my shout."
Hear it
My shout: My shout
6. Bottle-o
The bottle shop, where takeaway alcohol is sold. Supermarkets mostly don't sell it here, so the bottle-o run is its own errand. Goon, the boxed wine that runs every hostel, lives there too.
Say it: "Someone do a bottle-o run before it shuts."
Hear it
Bottle-o: Bottle-o
A local says bottle-o on its own, then in a sentence.
7. Maccas
McDonald's. Open late, free wifi, decent toilets, and the only thing with the lights on after a 2am close. A Maccas run is a trip there, usually in someone's ute.
Say it: "Maccas run after close?"
Hear it
Maccas: Maccas
A local says maccas on its own, then in a sentence.
8. No worries
It's fine. Also you're welcome, and also okay. On shift it's the answer to "can you close tonight" and to "thanks for covering", and it's how you tell table six that redoing their steak is not a problem, even when it is.
Say it: "Can you swap Saturday? No worries."
Hear it
No worries: No worries
A local says no worries mate, relaxed, as a reply.
More on this saying: No worries, mate.
Backpacker Aussie slang: what to say back
Say no worries and my shout and you'll pass. Leave fair dinkum and g'day for a few months, or you'll sound like you're doing an impression.
A few more that only turn up on shift. A docket is the order slip. "The salmon's off" means sold out, not rotten. A double is two shifts back to back. Casual is the kind of job you've probably got: better hourly rate, no leave, and hours that change weekly.
Where the rest are
The twenty words you'll hear in week one, on shift or off, are at Australian slang words you will actually hear. When someone says you're taking the piss, or tells you to bring a plate, the sayings are at Australian sayings. The full dictionary is at the Australian slang dictionary.
And when they ask where you're working, say the town right. Cairns is cans and Brisbane is BRIZ-bun, and the rest are at the most mispronounced Australian place names.
The Aussie Talk app has the slang dictionary and the sayings with locals saying them, so you can hear flat out like a lizard drinking before it's said at you at 2pm on a Saturday. Get it on the App Store.