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Cloverjo, how far north is 'oop north'? I'm in Scotland and don't think 'at the minute' is used up here!

Hannah, interesting to hear about the Aussies' love of abbreviations. I'm afraid I know only the rather cliched ones - tinnies and stubbies and Eskies (spelling?)!

I have, from crosswords, learned "arvo" and "ute"

ChrisE, I'd forgotten about those. I've never liked 'arvo' - it's ungainly!

ChrisE, Malone . .

"Ute" has virtually replaced "tilly" (utility truck)

When "stubbies" took their place beside "tinnies" in the '60's' they were known as "stumpies" where I lived, but the easier to pronounce name soon prevailed

Arvo = arvie = arv

Some abbreviations from the racetrack: Quaddie (Quadrella), Tri (Trifecta), Quinnie (Quinella)

Other abbreviations (and examples may not be as common as I had thought): "Nasho" (National Service), "Myxo" (Myxomatosis . . a disease introduced to control the rabbit plague), "Wal" (policeman . . from 'walloper' = rhyming slang for 'copper') . . Possibly used in 'The Old Country' (thanks Grandma) as well

Thanks, Hannah. I like the 'wal', policeman. Some of the rhyming slang things are so based in the past, it could be hard to remember their origins. I read online that Australians love sticking 'o' on words - your 'nasho' and 'myxo', for example, and I also saw 'servo'.

I'm afraid I'll have to think of 'arvo' as just another word for 'afternoon'. As an abbreviation, it makes no sense to me - pedants like sense! (I didn't understand the arvo, arvie,arv bit - sorry.)

I never understood why a sandwich is called a sarnie.

Rossim

I supposes it is short for sarndwich for those who use the long "a".
Here we just say butty.

Malone

You might prefer affo as in - "I'm going this affo" a more pleasant sound.

Cleverjo

I think "at the minute" might be North-East. A day earlier in the Times ,Carol Midgley was complaining about the use of "excited for" when it should be "excited about". I have sent her some material and hope she will use some of our complaints.

In Oz it's a 'sanga' . . probably an abbr. of the mispronunciation 'sangawich'

Arvo/ Arvie/ Arv are interchangeable . .

Servo . . Yes
Reno = Renovation
Typo = Typographical error
Reo = Reinforcing steel

Many of these I thought would be universal

Thanks, everyone.

Hannah, I still don't like 'arvo' - nor its friends arvie and arv. This is probably because it's rather a jumbled process getting from 'afternoon' to any of them! Yes, many of the -o words are very common. I think my favourite Australian term is 'thongs' for flip-flops - although it sounds odd to us, the word makes perfect sense. Last week I read a book set in Australia. At one point there was a dead body, and the policeman was asked 'Are you sure he suicided?'. I hope that usage, verb, stays in Australia!