Crikey... Don't Be a Drongo!

What's your favourite Australian saying, colloquialism, or piece of slang!?

Yer blood's worth bottlin'

flat out like a lizard drinking

few sao's short of a packet; few roos loose in the top paddock;as dry as dead dingo's donger;;;
ridgy didge; bonza; ripper ;
perhaps it's time to watch crocodile dundee 1,2 & of course 3 again.

Stone the crows and starve the lizards!!!

Another that I love is "shiver me timbers"

These all make me think of Alf Stewart from Home & Away!

Is there any such thing as modern Aussie slang?

My brother's is "busier than a cat covering crap on a marble floor".

>5 hazeljune: as a boy in the '50's I remember an old digger (possibly from WWI) a bit 'pissed' stumbled of the tram and exclaimed "stone the flamin lizzards".

I had never heard that expression before that or ever after that.
I think he mixed up your crows and lizzards which I have/had heard before/since.

How about another, up the creek in a barbed wire canoe without an oar!!

A woman I worked with once answered a polite 'How are you?' with, 'I feel like thrippence worth of God-help-me on a stick.'

I don't know if it is a purely Australian expression but I do like the response to 'How are you?' Or 'Lovely day, isn't it?' Or 'Ower-ya-goin'?'

'Wouldn't be dead for quids!'

Not sure if this one is purely Australian but I love the euphemism "Tired and emotional" - i.e. drunk as a skunk

One I'm curious about is "Face like a dropped pie" (also "..like a dropped snot block" - vanilla slice).
I've heard it used in the unflattering sense mostly, but have also heard it used to describe someone with a look of sudden, surprised disappointment, as though they had dropped their pie and now had no lunch.

Has anyone else heard it used that way?

I heard a new one just the other day that I've never encountered, "Gone like a fart in a fan factory". I had to laugh.

#15 That would seem to go well with "he/she's off like a bucket of prawns!".

A personal favourite is "Fair suck of the sav" but I think the older version is "Fair suck of the sauce bottle".

Actually, I think it's "fair suck of the sarsaparilla." K Rudd mangled it.

Fair suck of the Saveloy, I think was the original. Saveloy was a type of sausage.

A saveloy was what we now call a hot dog. Sasparilla (my spelling may be a bit dodgy) was a type of soft drink, not exactly a cola, tasted awful. I have heard "fair suck" of both.

Another expression which I use but don't understand is "cheap at half the price", which you say when you've got a bargain.

#19 I've never heard the phrase "fair suck of the sarsaparilla" but wonder if it might be a Queensland thing, as my dad is a relocated banana bender from Bundaberg (where they make "real" sarsaparilla) and often speaks with fond memories of the drink :)

Fish and Chip shops still sell the good old battered sav and yes, it's a type of frankfurt.

While on the food chain another "I could spit hot chips" when someone is very angry.

I forgot to add that where K Rudd went wrong is that the expression he was (presumably) thinking of was "fair shake of the sauce bottle."

You can still get sarsaparilla if you look hard enough. There's a brand called Big Sars. It's taste is very similar to what's called root beer in the US

And I think you can still get it from corner Milkbars in Vic... Kirks make it in 375 ml cans, I'm pretty sure.

Yeah but where do you find a corner milkbar these days? There's not many of them left.

Coles often stocks Saxby's sarsaparilla, but having never tried it I've no idea if it's the "real deal".

I had just watched a very good movie and found myself saying "that was a humdinger" I am sure that it is a dinkum Aussie expression.

Built like a brick shithouse. About a footballer usually...

Speaking of the dunny, I've got to see a man about a dog.

Not exactly the topic, but since someone bought up Sarsaparilla (and my household is full of people who love the stuff!) that you can buy the Bundaberg brewed one from most Woolies stores....I always say that if the label says 'A Taste Of Yesteryear' then that's where it should stay....but am booed into buying submission ;)

I remember posting on an international forum, "Spat the dummy" and was asked by an American poster if she could use the phrase as she had never heard it before and thought that it was a real hoot.

Decades ago (sometime last centurey) when I was in primary school a locum preist visited the school and told a couple of intrutionary tales about behaviour.

He referred to the subject of one of his tales as a "wheelbarrow" - only works when you push him and even then he squeaks. I am doing my best to get this term back in circulation :)

I also use - "busier than a brickie in Bagdahd" which I believe is adapted from "brickie in Beruit" from the 70s

Cheers