18 "Normal" Australian Things That Are Actually Anything But

To think I've been taking Frozen Coke for granted all these years.

1. Frozen coke

Picture this: It's a hot summer afternoon. You pass a Macca's or HJs and you know exactly how to make your day better. An icy cold Frozen Coke straight out of the slushee machine. But did you know that these really aren't a thing outside of Australia? Bizarre.

2. Paywave

Chris Keall @ChrisKeall

Can’t wait for the 2020s when we get Paywave

05:21 AM - 31 Dec 2019

Twitter: @ChrisKeall

Tap 'n' go, Paywave, contactless...whatever you call it, it's goddamn convenient. But if you go to the US and hover your card or phone over their EFTPOS machine, they'll look at you like you've got two heads. To be fair, it's started becoming more of a ~thing~ around the world recently, but we're still a good five years ahead of everyone else.

3. Chicken salt

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If I order chips and they come with regular salt, you best believe I will not be frequenting that establishment ever again. It's chicken salt or it's nothing, baby. But travel anywhere else in the world and they'll have no idea what you're on about.

4. Switches on outlets

Legoktm / Creative Commons / Via commons.wikimedia.org

I'm no scientist, so when I say that those on/off switches above powerpoints stop the electricity from leaking out, I'm probably wrong. But they're still hella convenient to have. Spare a moment for our friends in North America who've had to learn what it's like to live without them.

5. Not using a clothes dryer

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In other countries, they use their clothes dryers after every wash cycle. But in most homes here in Australia, we either don't have a dryer or our mums have put the fear of God in us about using them only in VERY NECESSARY CASES.

6. Pedestrian crossings that make noise.

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In fact, it's such a weird anomaly for us to have sound-emitting crossing signals that Billie Eilish's brother Finneas sampled Sydney's crosswalks in her song "Bad Guy".

7. Dual-flush toilets

Flickr: bunnicula / Via Flickr: bunnicula

I don't quite know why we're one of the only places where toilets come with a half-flush option. Is it because we're water-conscious?

8. Having bad Wi-Fi

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Wtfffffffffffff is up with our slow internet speeds? Anyone who's been to the US or Europe will know the feeling of being able to download a (totally legal and paid-for) movie in less than a minute, when here in Australia it'd take half the night.

9. Saying "but" at the end of a sentence

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Somehow we've all agreed that ending a sentence with the word "but" is not only grammatically correct, but it's also kinda a part of being Aussie.

10. Also, we say "reckon" a lot

Matt @matthewcress

FYI. The Australians say "I reckon" like every other sentence.

06:34 PM - 10 Jan 2015

Twitter: @matthewcress

I reckon this, I reckon that. It's a fully-integrated part of our vocabulary that just isn't present in most other places.

11. Mandatory bike helmets

Elke Meitzel / Getty Images

You wouldn't hop on your bike to brave the streets in Australia without a helmet —but barely anyone in Europe, except kids and professional cyclists, wear them. They're zipping around in their cushy, wide bike lanes without a care in the world.

12. Linking seasons to months

Cee @CeeFor

Australia just hit Autumn on the first. Timely. Prompt. North America over here waiting until the 19th and shit, making us say “Winter” for damn near 3 more weeks. Trash.

07:27 AM - 02 Mar 2020

This one makes so much sense. Twelve months, four seasons, three months per season. That way you don't have to remember dates or anything! December 1 is the first day of summer. But up in the northern hemisphere, they complicate things by linking it to space or something so you get summer starting on June 21. Nonsensical!

13. Having good coffee on every corner

Ross Jardine / Getty Images

Australians really, really take their coffee for granted. Like, we all know it's good, but it's not until you go overseas that you realise how spoiled we are. Sure, you can find great quality coffee in every city around the world, but you're going to have to really seek it out. Here you can stumble into any coffee shop and get at least a good coffee, if not great.

14. And Starbucks being kinda shit.

Skyee Allan @SkyeeSuperBerry

Apparently its a really Australia thing to hate Starbucks #trainfact

09:57 PM - 12 May 2013

Twitter: @SkyeeSuperBerry / Via Twitter: @SkyeeSuperBerry

In most countries around the world, you can depend on Starbucks being a reliable source for coffee that is perfectly fine and not offensive to the tastebuds. But here in Oz, it's overpriced and it's honestly just kinda shit when you compare it to everything else.

15. Cafe culture

Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

Speaking of coffee, the cafe culture in Australia is impeccable. Other world cities are starting to cotton on, but we have really pioneered the ~vibes~ of a cafe. The energy of an Aussie one on a weekend morning, everyone in their activewear, enjoying a leisurely coffee or avo toast...you literally can't replicate that.

16. Pronouncing the letter "h" like hay-ch

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Everyone else says "aych". I don't know why, but I gotta say "haych" makes more sense. It has an actual "h" in it!

17. Unique names for things

Reid Parker @ReidParker_

I just found out that loads of Australians call slides “slippery dips”. Fuck you people are weird

01:02 AM - 04 Aug 2019

Obviously, we're the royals of shortening and abbreviating words. But we've got a ton of bizarre vocab in Australia that just won't make sense anywhere else in the world (except maybe New Zealand). To name a few: Slippery dip, budgie smugglers, eksy, tracky dacks, whipper snipper, durries, bum bags, spag bol, gobbies, ranga, etc.

18. And finally, loving P!nk

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No other country in the world loves P!nk as much as Australians do. It's perplexing, but I love it.