Appendix talk:Australian English rhyming slang

Moved from Wikipedia
dropkick punt = cunt

Announcement concerning slang glossary policy discussion
As you are probably aware, there are many slang glossaries on Wikipedia with widespread acceptance, yet virutally all of them violate the following policy:

 Wikipedia is not a dictionary 

Wikipedia is not a dictionary or a usage or jargon guide. Wikipedia articles are not:


 * 1) Dictionary definitions. Because Wikipedia is not a dictionary, please do not create an entry merely to define a term. An article should usually begin with a  good definition; if you come across an article that is nothing more than a definition, see if there is information you can add that would be appropriate for an encyclopedia. An exception to this rule is for articles about the cultural meanings of individual  numbers.
 * 2) Lists of such definitions. There are, however,  disambiguation pages consisting of pointers to other pages; these are used to clarify differing meanings of a word. Wikipedia also includes  glossary pages for various specialized fields.
 * 3) A usage guide or slang and idiom guide. Wikipedia is not in the business of saying how words, idioms, etc. should be used. We aren't teaching people how to talk like a Cockney chimney-sweep. However, it may be important in the context of an encyclopedia article to describe just how a word is used to distinguish among similar, easily confused ideas, as in nation or freedom. In some special cases an article about an essential piece of slang may be appropriate.

This has created a situation where editors trying to enforce policy frequently nominate such glossaries for deletion, with most of the glossaries surviving the process with a consensus of Keep or No concensus. This ongoing battle has been raging on with respect to slang glossaries for at least the past two years. Yet the glossaries have survived, and more continue to be created. Based on the results of the majority of the AfD discussions, the general concensus seems to be that slang glossaries should have a place on Wikipedia. The relevant policy is no longer consistent with general consensus, and this schism has resulted in a large number of pointless AfD discussions which serve only to waste the time and effort of those involved. When the majority of Wikipedians defy a policy, it is time to reevaluate the policy.

Therefore, I have started a discussion on Wikipedia talk:What Wikipedia is not to discuss the fate of slang glossaries (such as this one) and to discuss whether or not the policy should be ammended to reflect the defacto acceptance of slang glossaries on Wikipedia. They are here, and based on the results of AfD discussions, they seem to be here to stay. So shouldn't the policy be updated? If the policy was changed to allow slang glossaries or changed to provide for their speedy deletion, either of these solutions would save a lot of time and effort wasted on fruitless AfDs. You are welcome to join the discussion. --List Expert 09:56, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

English Cough
"English cough - Soccer poof or SP for short- Someone who tries to call soccer football or has a generally internationalist and anti Australian outlook (the term is used in that manner when the perception is that such an opinion is media induced and somewhat ignorant and naive). The term is derived from the myth/fact that there are never more than three points of contact between people who use the term football for soccer(a tiny minority of people) and someone who is a pommy or a naturalised immigrant from England trying to push the use of the term. e.g. the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, Alan Oakley, who has adopted the use of the word to describe football, is an English immigrant."

never heard of it, doesn't rhyme, i'm deleting it. seems to be little other than a POV attack on alan oakley. Dibo | Talk | Contribs 11:31, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

I will remove the Oakley example because it was meant to be just that, an example, but it stays, it is standard Sydney slang and you should know it, if you really are from Sydney. Oh and it does rhyme.


 * I've never heard it and I've lived in Sydney and NSW all my life. And 'cough' rhymes with 'off' while 'poof' rhymes with 'choof'. I'm thinking it's just yet more bizarre POV pushing. Dibo | Talk | Contribs 23:08, 20 November 2006 (UTC)
 * It does rhyme and you know it because you have heard it spoken but are a blatent POV pusher. --Okay that does not make sense 02:40, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Wow, you really do have a barrow to push here don't you. Perhaps you should go to a Sydney FC game and see if *anyone* has heard to term " English cough".  You would also see 15,000 people, watching a football game, most who were born in Australia.  You also might have missed the 50,000 Australians who traveled to Germany to watch the football.  Tancred 10:39, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Westpac Banker
Does anybody say this? I propose the term "merchant banker" be added and "westpac banker" be removed. I have not once heard the latter used but maybe I am in the minority.--58.165.64.100 12:40, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Well known?
I'm an Australian who's lived there my entire life and I've never heard almost any of these even once in my life.

I wouldn't say that these are well known to most Australians. D4g0thur 08:32, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia got rid of most of these list articles where editors like to play a parlour game of inventing their own slang and adding it, or adding specialised terms used only by them and their two mates. Now the pages live on here. I think the vast majority of things here are either made up and never really used, were once briefly used but no more, or are used by a tiny minority of users. 124.148.156.81 19:17, 13 June 2010 (UTC)
 * I recognised 17 (of 90), about 5-6 were just English, and similar number only because my father (b 1916) used them.


 * I have been researching Australian RS for a while now and have a database of over 10000 citations. Of the 95 terms in this list, most are recorded from other AusE sources (literature, the media, dictionaries). For only 16 of the 95 terms in the current list, the earliest evidence I have is from this Wikipedia/Wiktionary list. Historically, many of the terms were formerly in wide usage, albeit, never especially high frequency terms.WikiLambo (talk) 04:22, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

I have lived in Australia for 60 odd years, and I, too, have not heard most of these expressions. A small handful come from Cockney rhyming slang and are familiar, but most of the rest I think are or were local to some region, and hardly of any wide currency. To this extent, this entry is very misleading.