Strayan Dictionary: Avo, Arvo, Mabo, Bottle-O and Other Aussie Wordos

Following up on the success of Strayapedia, Dom has put together a dictionary of all things 'Strayan. This is a funny, topical stocking stuffer for the Christmas market, and the perfect gift for anyone who loves The Chaser or The Betoota Advocate. See the attached sample definitions for a sense of the whole book.

Avo - avocado, because "cado" is just so onerous to say. Increasingly Australians "smash" their avocado as opposed to slicing it, also for laziness reasons. It was suggested by the social researcher Bernard Salt that young Australians couldn't afford to buy property because they blow their disposable income on "smashed avocado" at fancy cafe. As one of the baby boomers who profited enormously from the massive increases in real estate value, pricing millennials out of the market, Salt was fortunate that the understandable backlash to his article didn't lead to him getting smashed himself.

Bathers - swimmers

Battler - 1. Someone of limited financial means. 2. Someone of comfortable financial means who views themselves as hard done by because most of their disposable income goes on their foolishly large mortgage.
Howard's battlers - People who voted for John Howard because they shared his belief in ordinary enterprising Australians doing it for themselves without the interfering government getting in the way, and who were subsequently lavishly rewarded by his middle-class welfare programs.

BHP - Broken Hill Proprietary, a major mining company that was once known as "the big Australian." Its merger with the UK-based Billiton saw it follow the Australian tradition of hanging out in London, doing a little bar work, and ultimately coming back home when things didn't work out--consequently, the company is now known just as BHP. Its namesake hill in Western NSW is now considerably more broken, thanks to BHP mining it until it no longer exists. Nevertheless, as one of Australia's largest companies, it has a proud record of job creation both at home and in Papua New Guinea, where its Ok Tedi mine created many jobs fixing the 1300 square kilometers of countryside it polluted and helping the 50,000 people affected.

Billy - a bush teapot, originally made from an empty tin of "bully beef," and generally stoked in a campfire. Later usage commemorates the prime minister Billy McMahon, whom most Australians wanted to throw in a fire.

Bogan - a derogatory term for lower-class Australians. Bogans may be identified by their flannelette markings and mullet plumage, and are found mostly in Maccas car parks, sitting on the bonnets of the highly polished V8s they collect as trophies. Bogans undertake an annual migration to Canberra for a ritual known as the "Summernats," and are considered an endangered species thanks to their prodigious consumption of Winnie Blue cigarettes.


Author: Dominic Knight
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Published: 04/01/2020
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.00w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781760529352

About the Author
Dom Knight is one of the founders of The Chaser, and as a writer on most of their projects he was definitely responsible for all of the jokes you liked and none of the bad ones. In recent years he's also presented serious programmes on ABC Radio and a silly one on Triple M. His books include Strayapedia and Trumpedia.


This title is only available via back order