UK expat’s massive Aussie slang blunder

An English tradie living in Australia has revealed an embarrassing blunder over a simple piece of slang.

An English tradie living in Australia has revealed an embarrassing blunder over a simple piece of slang.

The tradie, who goes by @_cloughy_ on TikTok, revealed he and his girlfriend’s father were taking a load to a tip in Brisbane.

“I didn’t think when coming to Australia, being English, there would be words and stuff that you can get mixed up,” he said.

But, when his girlfriend’s dad asked the workers at the tip if they could “go for a quick root over there” he quickly learned that was indeed the case.

“The guy was like nah, and looked back at his work colleague a bit weird,” he said.

The man’s companion then asked again, to which the worker said no as there were cameras filming the facility.

An English tradie living in Australia has revealed an embarrassing blunder over a simple piece of slang. Picture: TikTok/@_cloughy_

Since, the pair have learned that “root” is Australian slang for sex. Meanwhile, they meant it in a way that translated to “have a look around”.

“We’ve driven off, like that’s a bit weird. A week later, he’s driven into the tip and they’ve asked him what he was there for this time,” the expat recalled.

“Anyway, we found out root means shag. And it doesn’t just mean shag, apparently. The lads at work have said it’s like an aggressive f***.”

He said all they wanted to do was have a look around.

“They think I am his little toy boy,” he laughed.

He said it was first mix up while living in Australia, with social media users also having a chuckle at the X-rated mistake.

“The Aussie word you’re looking for is ‘squiz’,” one quickly said.

One other social media user added: “I like that the guys main issue with it was that you’d be caught on camera.”

“My British uncle once asked an Aussie real estate agent if they could have a root upstairs,” one added.

The man said it was his first blunder in Australia. Picture: Instagram/cloughy_7ceez

One social media user commented: “Hahaha I’m an Aussie and it took till the end of the video for me to understand what you were actually asking to do.”

Another revealed their own embarrassing blunder, saying; “Me as a young Aussie woman, I asked my new boss in London if I had to wear pants to work (with my work shirt) or could just wear a skirt. TROUSERS I MEANT TROUSERS.”

“My Irish colleague announced to the team she was “going for a quick root at lunch. She meant clothes shopping,” another said.

One said: “You can have a squizz, take a ganda or root around … you do not however, root at the dump.”

“I love that he didn’t judge you for wanting to root your father in law, but simply felt it was inappropriate due to the presence of cameras,” another revealed.

Originally published as UK expat’s massive Aussie slang blunder