Oz Vocabu-slang #3

Chook

1. (noun) a chicken.

Another of my favourite pieces of Aussie slang. It refers to either a live chicken happily living on a farm and cooked chicken sitting on my dinner plate.

Where are you from?

When I lived in Canada I was from PEI. It was a simple answer to a simple question.

Now that I live in Australia it isn't so simple. The conversation with an Aussie (Oz) usually goes something like this:

Oz: Were are you from?
Me: Canada?
Oz: Where in Canada?
Me: Prince Edward Island
Oz: Is that near Vancouver? My cousin went to Vancouver once.
Me: No, it is on the far east coast.
Oz: (with a look of confusion) The east coast?
Me: Yes, the far east coast.
Oz: Is that the french part?
Me: No, past the french part.
Oz: (still looking confused) Past the french part?
Me: Yes, past the french part. (At this point many people still look confused and I often suspect they don't believe me. Sometimes mentioning our beloved Anne helps.)


I have only once had someone say they knew where Prince Edward Island was. I got quite excited and told them they were the first Aussie I had met that knew where it was. She said her cousin had gone there on a trip to BC. Sigh, wrong coast.