Broad and colourful Australian English has been popularised over the years by 'larrikin' characters created by Australian performers such as Chips Rafferty, John Meillon, Paul Hogan, Barry Humphries, Greig Pickhaver and John Doyle, Michael Caton, Steve Irwin, Jane Turner and Gina Riley.
It has been claimed that, in recent times, the popularity of the Barry McKenzie character, played on screen by Barry Crocker, and in particular of the soap opera Neighbours, led to a "huge shift in the attitude towards Australian English in the UK", with such phrases as "chunder", "liquid laugh" and "technicolour yawn" all becoming well known as a result.
Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for flora and fauna (for example koala, dingo, kangaroo).
The former is a high-pitched call (/ˈkuːiː/) which travels long distances and is used to attract attention, which has been derived from Dharug, an Aboriginal language spoken in the Sydney region.
[4] Many such words, phrases or usages originated with British and Irish settlers to Australia from the 1780s until the present.
Rhyming slang is more common in older generations though modern examples exist amongst some social groupings.
Some specifically Australian examples are dead horse for "sauce",[24] Jack Holt for "salt" (one famous Jack Holt was a horse trainer, another a boxing promoter), Barry Crocker for "shocker" (Crocker is a well-known entertainer).
Not only has there been a wide variety of measures in which beer is served in pubs in Australia, the names of these glasses differ from one area to another.
Prior to decimalisation, Australian monetary units closely reflected British usage: four farthings (obsolete by 1945) or two halfpence to a penny; 12 pence to a shilling; 20 shillings to a pound, but terms for the coinage were uniquely Australian, particularly among working-class adult males: "Brown": a penny (1d.
Association football was long known as "soccer" in Australia and that naming convention still persists among many Australians.
In other instances, it either shares a term with American English, as with truck (UK: lorry) or eggplant (UK: aubergine), or with British English, as with mobile phone (US: cell phone) or bonnet (US: hood).
Terms shared by British and American English but not so commonly found in Australian English include (Australian usage in bold): abroad (overseas); cooler/ice box (Esky); flip-flops (thongs); pickup truck (ute); wildfire (bushfire).
Australian English is particularly divergent from other varieties with respect to geographical terminology, due to the country's unique geography.
This is particularly true when comparing with British English, due to that country's dramatically different geography.
British geographical terms not in common use in Australia include (Australian usage in bold): coppice (cleared bushland); dell (valley); fen (swamp); heath (shrubland); meadow (grassy plain); moor (swampland); spinney (shrubland); stream (creek); woods (bush) and village (even the smallest settlements in Australia are called towns or stations).