Comments on: Doobalackie

By: Blue Tyson

Blue Tyson — Thu, 03 May 2007 09:38:44 +0000

My spousal unit is a septic (and an aussie, too, now). The whole davo, johnno, jacko, arvo, smoko thing bugs her, how do you _know_ which abbreviation etc. to use she has complained on several occasions.

Very funny.

By: Tap

Tap — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:16:12 +0000

Speaking for I don’t know who, I am an American who knows some South Africans, and they and the people around them use “muso” (actually, it’s almost in the plural as “musos.”) So it probably isn’t just Australia.

By: Elmo

Elmo — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:26:29 +0000

do you know another word that a lot of people don’t know is actually pure Australian slang: Ugg Boots.
and I was really scared when I found out that people from other countries hear our ‘i’s as ‘oi’s, and our ‘a’s as ‘i’s…scarey…

By: Dess

Dess — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 21:52:12 +0000

in the us we say comforter or quilt for what you call a doona.

By: Fence

Fence — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:52:16 +0000

Here in Ireland we often use yoke for a thingymebob. But I have to say that I was really surprised when I learned that the rest of the world doesn’t say press for cupboard

By: lili

lili — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:13:01 +0000

yep. the brits say duvet, and the usians say… quilt? i think? dunno. it’s just us and the kiwis with doonas.

huh.

according to wikipedia…

from a trademarked brand name derived from the Old Norse dunn meaning “down feathers”.

By: Emmaco

Emmaco — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:22:41 +0000

sorry, Lili, doobywacker is just weird

Doona is Australian?!

By: lili

lili — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 06:10:46 +0000

i always said ‘doobywacker’, but i think i may be alone there.

and it’s still called ‘chinese whispers’.

i love learning the aussie words that no one else knows that i think are completely normal. like doona. and capsicum. and milk bar.

By: Justine

Justine — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 03:46:20 +0000

Emmaco: It’s you and me against the stupid Macquarie and everyone else who spells it with a smelly “v”. I spit at their “v”s. Ptoui!

By: Emmaco

Emmaco — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 02:36:31 +0000

Sorry for the late comment (Easter holiday) but I just wanted to say that I still think it’s spelt doobalackie, no matter what the Macquarie says

And I meant to send you the link to the Sounis discussion earlier, but forgot – I’m glad you found it!

By: Dess

Dess — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 21:03:10 +0000

australia i suppose

By: Ally

Ally — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 01:45:21 +0000

what is oz?!?!

By: Ron

Ron — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 21:34:15 +0000

definitely “dooverlacky” with a “v” in our house – never heard it pronounced with a “b” innit before…

also “thingamajig” and “wotsis”. and “bedoover”

does hugh lunn claarify “doover-/doober-lacky” question in that silly book on oz slang wot i gave you? maybe it’s a different state thang? (tho’ you and i are from nsw so that theory doesn’t really hold water!)

By: Cat

Cat — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 20:43:09 +0000

justine:
We use “Oh sha” to mean “oh look at the cute little baby/puppy/really tiny pair of shoes”

By: Ally

Ally — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 17:30:52 +0000

Thats what i figured

By: Justine

Justine — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 13:04:54 +0000

Ally: When I use “y’all” I do it in a imitating Scott’s relatives way. His grandma also says stuff like afixin’ as in “I’m afixin’ to do that”. I love it! But, yes, “y’all” is a very Southern parts of the USA thing.

Ted Lemon: “you lot” is just as acceptable as “youse”. I prolly use “you lot” more often than “youse”. “You mob” is another one. English is sadly lacking in formal you plurals.

John H.: I have no idea of the origins of either “jumper” or “sweater”. I assumed that “jumper” was older but I have no evidence for that.

Cat: Isn’t “oh sha!” “Oh chere” as in “oh dear” or “Oh Darling?”

Walter Jon Williams: I don’t hold with froggy talking, no how.

By: Cat

Cat — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 03:01:56 +0000

Also, I use thingamajig alot. Sometimes, mulitiple times in one sentence. For example: “Mom, look! There’s a thingamajig on top of that htingamajig in the thingamajig!” Mom just stared at me and we were on the highway, so by the time I explained it was too late for her to look. In you were wondering, the first thingamajig was a bird, the second was a rollercoaster, and the third was an amusment park.

By: Cat

Cat — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 02:57:17 +0000

I live in South Louisiana and no one else seems to know what the phrase “Oh sha!” means or what we’re talking about when we ask “Are you getting down?” or what it means to “save” something, as in telling a little girl to save her doll. And, of course, our language is peppered with French phrases that no one gets.

By: Walter Jon Williams

Walter Jon Williams — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 01:45:12 +0000

Norman Spinrad says “youse,” which is understandable given the borough of New York he is from.

But when he speaks French he says “vouse,” a usage uncommon in any borough, anywhere.

By: calliope

calliope — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 19:05:08 +0000

i love dooberlackie and plan to use it all the time.
ill say thingamajig, whatchamacallit, thing, thingie, ummmmm, 2whatsitcalled, what the heck is that called.

By: John H

John H — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:51:22 +0000

Well, in the UK they also refer to sweaters as jumpers. Not sure where it originated, but so far that usage hasn’t caught on in North America.

(I’m also at a loss to say what a sweater has to do with jumping, but that’s a different story…)

By: Chris S.

Chris S. — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 16:13:27 +0000

When I worked down under, it didn’t seem slang so much as natural shortcutting. As in, make it shorter and add a vowel. Like ‘Let’s go to the servo for smoko this arvo’.

Thing, thingie, whatsit, thingamabob, thingamajig, and when language fails entirely, noun, accompanied by pathetic mime. Like, ‘Pass me that… that… (flap hand, waggle fingers)… that noun there… yeah, that one…”

By: Ted Lemon

Ted Lemon — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:51:23 +0000

A friend of mine from Melbourne says “you lot” instead of the more correct “youse” or “you all.” :’) It’s fun hanging out with her – she has all kinds of strange words like bickies and nappies and serviettes (dunno if that’s how it’s spelt). To me, the australian usage of “jumper” is quite weird – in the states I think of a “jumper” as something a baby wears, with integrated booties. So when an adult talks about putting on a jumper, it’s rather comical.

By: John H

John H — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 14:19:20 +0000

I’ve used a whatchamacallit and a doohickey, and occasionally a whatsit or a thingamebob. Never heard of a doobalackie (or dooverlackie, for that matter)…

By: Damien Warman

Damien Warman — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 07:13:50 +0000

(lazing away a Good Friday in sunny Adelaide)
I always thought that dooverlackie was a drwan out doover, and a doover was originally either something that would do in a pinch (”do for now”), or else that it was something French, maybe like a truc d’ouvrier, a worker’s wossname…

Hmm. The SOED thinks it’s a doofer.