US woman shocked to discover Aussie slang phrase ‘is a lie’

A US woman living in Victoria is very “upset” after discovering the truth about an Aussie expression, describing her childhood as a “lie”.

An expat has said her “childhood was a lie” after discovering the truth about a common Australian slang phrase when she moved Down Under.

Brittany Neff – who lives in Geelong, Victoria – has created a series of videos in which she lists “things she didn’t know about Australia” before moving here in 2019.

In her latest, Britt talks about the phrase “throw some shrimp on the barbie” and that fact Australians don’t actually say it.

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Brittany Neff moved to Australia in 2019 and has been using TikTok to share things she’s learnt since living here. Picture: TikTok/neffenator

“Living in America you’d always hear this one Australian slang, ‘throw some shrimp on the barbie’,” she said in a TikTok video.

“I feel like after moving to Australia, my childhood was a lie because, I’ve never had shrimp on the barbie here.

“And two, Australians don’t even call shrimp, shrimp – they call them prawns. I’m upset.”

That wasn’t the only thing her viral video listed, with Britt revealing she was surprised to learn we call a cup of tea a “cuppa” and afternoon “arvos”.

“Until moving to Australia I didn’t know Australian Rules Footy was a thing,” she added, explaining that while she had no idea what was going on, she “likes it”.

In her most recent, she talks about the saying ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie’. Picture: TikTok/neffenator

She’s devastated to learn Australians don’t actually say it. Picture: TikTok/neffenator

Followers were quick to comment on the video, with one claiming the shrimp phrase came from a tourism campaign while others said shrimps and prawns were completely different species.

“The shrimp on the barbie thing started from a tourism campaign in the US starring Paul Hogan in 1984,” one user wrote.

“Shrimp and prawns are different animals,” someone else pointed out.

“Ad makers chose the word shrimp only to entice the American audience,” another wrote.

In some of her many videos – Britt has made 13 in total under the username @neffenator – she also loses it over the fact Australian Macca’s serve Frozen Coke as well as sharing her delight at discovering Paw Paw and muesli bars.

Another fact Britt clearly isn’t that keen on here is swooping magpies which she calls “terrifying”.

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