Aussie slang US expat says would ‘never fly’ back home

An American woman who lives in Australia has revealed there is a slang term she discovered while Down Under that simply “wouldn’t fly” back home.

An American woman who lives in Australia has revealed there is a slang term she discovered while Down Under that simply “wouldn’t fly” back home.

Ellie Drabik, who has lived Down Under for almost five years, said every time she lands back in Australia she is reminded of so many things that would never be said in the US.

“My Americans, brace yourself for this, cause this would never ever fly in American,” she said.

“People literally call elderly people ‘oldies’. Like, they call them oldies and they talk about them like ‘oh yeah, those are the oldies’ or ‘that’s where the oldies go’.”

She said, from what she’s seen, it isn’t offensive in Australia. But, back in the US people people would not appreciate it.

“In America, calling someone old let alone calling you an oldie would send people through the roof. Like it would absolutely not fly. It would be completely not OK,” she said.

However, she did add that it was up there with one of her favourite Aussie slang terms.

Social media users quickly weighed in on Ellie’s assessment of the slang term.

“Oldies is affectionate! ‘The elderly’ makes them sound old,” one social media user commented.

Another added: “Aussie here, I refer to my father as ‘my old man’. It’s considered an endearing term.”

“Yeah. We don’t take ourselves very seriously,” another added.

Ellie is an American who has been living in Australia for close to five years. Picture: TikTok/@elliedrabik

One social media user added: “My mum used to go to an elder centre twice a week and we called it oldies daycare.”

“I can confirm, oldies is NOT an insult, it is a term of affection that helps us connect with other generations,” one said.

Another said: “Oldies — your parents or grandparents. Old mate — anyone of any age who you’ve forgotten or you do not know their name.”

“If someone is talking about their oldies, they’re talking about their parents,” another said.

One commented. “We call ourselves oldies. It’s OK. We are. Don’t ask for help, I’m too old.”

It’s not the first time an American has been surprised by a “uniquely Australian” act, with Brooke Laven revealing last year that one Aussie act changed the way she rode public transport.

“There’s this thing that Australians do and I absolutely love it, and it’s changed how I ride public transport,” Brooke said in TikTok viewed more than half a million times.

She explains if you catch a bus in Australia, you must say hello to the driver when getting on and “give the biggest thank you” when getting off.

She said she was shocked by the term oldie. Picture: TikTok/@elliedrabik

The keen traveller from Minnesota said she had been using public transport around the world for years and hearing everyone say thank you to the bus driver everyday in Sydney was “uniquely Australian”.

The observation shocked Aussies.

“Blows my mind that people don’t do it in other countries,” one said.

“Wait but these are basic manners? You’re telling me in other countries, you don’t say thank you to the person who drove you safely to your location?” another asked.

“That’s just common decency and it’s staggering to think such basic manners are unusual to some people!” added a third.

“As an Australian I thought this was a normal practice that everyone does,” wrote a fourth.

Originally published as Aussie slang US expat says would ‘never fly’ back home