Today we have David Peachey on the show.
David came on the show a while back and taught us about the Australian phrase “Yeah nah” and he also showed us what we can learn from actors to become better English speakers.
He is back today to show us 3 insider Australian terms that will help you immediately connect with locals in Australia if you move there or visit there.
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3 Australian Terms:
- Chook – this is a chicken. “Go and feed the chooks.” “I’ll need to buy a chook for dinner.” We also use it as a term of affection: “Is everything alright, chook?” Sometimes we wish each other good luck by saying “chookas!”
- Crook – this means you are sick. You’re crook. You feel crook. It probably comes from the word “crooked”(bent). We might change the expression “sick as a dog” to “crook as a chook.” A sick day is a “sickie”, but if you “chuck a sickie” (have a day off work due to illness), you usually aren’t crook.
- Sook – this is an act of sulking, or sitting alone in a bad temper. It can be a verb, but you usually find it in the phrase “to have a sook.” A person who whines, complains or sulks is called a (big) sook.
**BONUS: Spruik (sproo-ik) – this means you present or promote a product, usually out the front of a store with a small PA system. A person who spruiks is called a spruiker. This was common actor work some years ago, but not anymore (perhaps due to noise complaints?). Why this word exists is a mystery – perhaps it came from Dutch or Afrikaans.
David’s Bio:
David comes from sunny Brisbane in Australia. He graduated with a degree in Theatre over 20 years ago, and has since travelled the world, learnt several languages, and taught general and business English in central Europe, Turkey, Russia and Thailand. He has also been an italki teacher for the past five years.
David is currently working with students to improve their natural speech, using vocal techniques from his theatre background. He also does speaking workshops for IELTS candidates, and is more than happy to have a general chat, of course!
What questions do you have from today?
Let us know in the comments below.
