Friday, August 15, 2008

Down Under Lingo, Part 2

The conversation below is close to the one I had with a bartender in Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia, near the Great Barrier Reef:

Bartender: G’day. [Hello]
Me: Hi. Do you have Bailey’s?
Bartender: Out of it, mate. [friend] Try the bottle shop (liquor store) down the street.
Me: The what?
Bartender: Bottle shop. They’ve got it.
Me: Never mind. What’s your most bitter beer?
Bartender: VB. [Victoria Bitter]
Me: Huh? OK, may I have that?
Bartender: Schooner? [a large glass]
Me: No, a VB.
Bartender: (Pours a large glass.) No worry, mate.
Me: By the way, where’s the rest room?
Bartender: Say again?
Me: The toilet.
Bartender: (Points.) The dunny [toilet] is over there.
Me: The what?
Bartender: The dunny [toilet].
Me: Oh. I thought you call it the loo.
Bartender: The Oz [Australian] vocabulary is rich enough to have more than one word for it.
Me: I guess. The weather is great here, considering it’s winter.
Bartender: Come in summer. You’ll see heaps of mozzies [mosquitoes] the size of your fist.
Me: Huh? (Taking the beer and leaving a tip.)
Bartender: You’re a good bloke. [man]



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