The iconic Aussie habits that still have tourists confused
Come onnn, everyone does these! Right??
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If you’re someone who’s lived in Australia for a while, chances are our little Aussie-isms have become second nature to you.
And, that only makes it funnier when someone from overseas points it out for the first time.
A Reddit post in the AskAnAustralian subreddit has proven just that - and the Kidspot team has weighed in with some of their favourite classic Aussie habits.
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Just so Aussie!
An Aussie Reddit user has taken to the platform asking fellow Australians what their favourite classic homegrown habit is.
“What’s an Australian habit you thought was normal until you realised the rest of the world doesn’t do it?” they asked.
Commenters from near and far came out in droves, with over 1000 comments now on the post.
People in the comments listed everything from banging shoes together in case there are spiders, to being extra conscious of our harmful sunrays.
But, the Kidspot team has come to the party with some of their own favourites - and you’re lying if you say you don’t do these.
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Good on ya, mate!
It’s no surprise that us Aussies say some weird things. We love to shorten our words - and tend to make a few up entirely.
The classic ‘yeah nah’ was a stand-out for Leah.
“Saying ‘yeah nah’ seems to confuse a lot of people who aren't from Australia. Are you saying yes? Are you saying no? How can it be both?” she said.
Lauren said that chatting with taxi drivers was one thing she never realised was exclusive to Australia.
“I'm not sure if this is just Aussie... but asking the taxi driver how his nights been on a night out. i feel like I've never experienced that overseas,” she said.
Phrases like ‘geez Louise’ also got a shout-out - sorry to all the Louises out there!
“I'd also like to know who ‘Louise’ is and why she is always the one we refer to when something goes wrong / is too much. ‘geez Louise’. Like, poor Louise. I'm sure she didn't want to be remembered this way,” said Leah.
“Not happy Jan,” Emily added.
If you’ve ever knocked over a glass on a night out, you’d know this one all too well.
“Dropping your glass at a pub and people yelling 'taxi!’,” said Liz.
Isn’t this normal?
As it turns out, in addition to the strange things that come out of our mouths, we actually do some pretty weird stuff, too.
Leah said that getting takeaway coffee wasn’t common anywhere but Australia.
“Getting takeaway coffee any chance we get. My French cousins were visiting last year and found it very odd that we would always get a takeaway coffee - especially on casual strolls, shopping, beach. They think if you want a coffee, sit down and enjoy it,” she said.
Some of our messaging around health and safety is also exclusive to Australia, like ‘no hat, no play’.
“This is drummed into school kids here, but no one else seems to know it. Our friends from America were like, what's that all about?” said Liz.
And this goes for the one and only Healthy Harold, too.
“Barefoot everywhere, the Democracy Sausage, being taught sex ed by a giraffe,” Emily said.
“Healthy Harold is a king,” Lauren agreed.
Our favourite pastimes, despite how incredible they may be, also haven’t made it overseas quite yet - unless you count the H2O TikTok trend. Oh no! Cleooooo!
“Bin chickens, fairy bread, an unhealthy obsession with mermaids because of H2O just add water (the original version), chicken salt (my sister buys so much when she comes to visit from America.) no hat, no play, playing cricket on the street with bins as the stumps,” Lauren said.
And don’t forget one of the most Aussie things ever - our birds.
“Aggressive bird song. Like we are so used to kookaburras but imagine hearing that for the first time,” Emily said.
“Also the twisty cables on the bike helmet to protect from maggies!”
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