Friday, January 18, 2008

Aussie expressions

For any foreigner in Australia, you will encounter many expressions and words that are uniquely used here or more commonly used here. These could be colloquial or just proper English words that we just don't use (in Singapore). Forget the usually touristy words like 'throw the shrimp on the barbi, mate'; these are the ones that WILL be used in an office:

'Knock knock' - who ever uses 'knock knock' except for "knock knock jokes"? This is used to get the attention of your colleague when go to another cubicle to look for him/her and they are too engrossed in their work to notice you.

Argy bargy - heated discussion, usually over a subject of controversy.

Flesh-out - to put meat on. Means to add substantial content (meat) to existing documents, reports, etc that are still in the 'skeleton' stage.

Flat-out - adjective describing someone fully loaded with work. Imagine someone lying on the floor 'flat out' arms outstretched, due to exhaustion from writing reports. Yeah, you get the idea.

Doco - Document or documentation. Could also refer to documentaries in the context of television.