Here is a guide for speaking Perth for our recently arrived International residents.
West Australians are lazy – we shorten everything and add an o at the end as a rule of thumb. Here are some of the things we say that you might find helpful to know.
When we describe where we live it is either North of the (Swan) River or South of the (Swan) River.
Some of the fun places we like to visit are:
Rotto - Rottnest Island
Freo - Fremantle
Subi - Subiaco
We also love going Down South. This generally refers to the Margaret River region, a popular holiday destination known for its gourmet food and wines. Because we are lazy, we call Margaret River, Margs, Busselton, Busso, and Geraldton, Gero.
Sometimes we travel over east which refers to the Eastern States of Australia, generally Melbourne and Sydney.
We love our sport and have the WACCA where cricket is played. Our footy (AFL football) teams are called the Dockers (Fremantle Dockers) and Eagles (West Coast Eagles).
Every celebrity who comes to Perth chases a Quokka selfie to post on their socials. A Quokka is a small, short-tailed wallaby found mostly on Rottnest Island.
The Fremantle Doctor is the welcome afternoon sea breeze that cools Perth on a hot summer’s day.
A “Sunday Sess” is an afternoon of drinks with friends at a pub typically from 5 – 9pm on a Sunday.
FIFO stands for Fly-In-Fly-Out and refers to employees who fly in to work in a remote location and then fly home on their days/weeks off.
Bathers are what we called swimmers, cozzies, trunks or togs. Boardies is short for board shorts which are worn by surfers. Speedo style men’s bathers are called Budgie Smugglers.
Smoko is a term used in workplaces mostly construction work sites for morning tea.
If you are invited to an event which states “Bring a Plate” that means to bring a plate of food that can be shared with others.
One for the girls - Lackys are hair elastics/ties.
Down at the Pub beer is ordered by the middy or pint there is also a schooner but that is a weird thing from “over east”.
If you are looking for a Water Fountain, then you ask someone where the bubbler is.
West Australians are sometimes referred to as a Sandgroper - A rare west Australian insect. Sometimes we also refer to WA as the Wait a While state which used to refer to us being a bit slow to get on board with the latest trends not true of course this one came about because of our perceived isolation from the other major cities of Australia.
Welcome to Perth!