1. Smothering everything in chicken salt.
View this photo on Instagram
The biggest culture shock when you travel overseas for the first time is asking for chicken salt on your hot chips and being told they've never heard of it. The rest of the world?? Doesn't??? Have????? Chicken salt????!! Tragic for them.
2. Saying "how you going?" — or, more accurately, "howyagarn?" — as a greeting.
"hey howyagarn mate? sorry i'm late, there was a bingle in south pasa, towies were hooning out so i had to chuck a u'ey cos traffic was chockers" PLEASE
It's the kind of thing you don't think twice about until you say it to a foreigner without realising and get a totally blank look back. It's really not that confusing, guys.
3. Using the word "heaps" for emphasis.
Like "howyagarn", we say "heaps" CONSTANTLY, but apparently no one else in the world does. Australian English really is its own thing, hey?
4. Frequently using the half flush on the toilet.
You might find some dual flush toilets overseas, but they're nowhere near the universal thing they are here. The low level of water in our toilets is pretty unique to us, too!
5. Going barefoot anywhere and everywhere.
Two: A lot of Australians I see on the train, in hotels, on the city streets, are barefoot. Shoes are somewhat optional? It's fascinating.
To everyone else, it's gross — to us, it's a natural state of being. Need to nip to the shops? Don't need shoes for that. Watching a movie in the cinema? Yeah, the shoes are coming off. Plus it's not summer until you've dine the "oh-eh-ah-oh" hop across a burning-hot bitumen road.
6. Not being able to split bills at restaurants and cafés.
'Sorry, no split bills'
"No split bills" signs are everywhere and it's an all-too-rare delight when somewhere you're eating lets you and your friends pay separately. Unless you're not in Australia, of course, in which case it's totally the norm.
7. Doing the Nutbush.
CATCH ME DOING THE NUTBUSH AT FORMAL
It's the one song guaranteed to get pretty much every Australian on their feet. The Nutbush is so universal here, you'd think it would be everywhere. It's not even an Australian song! And yet, we're the only ones who do THAT dance to it.
8. Responding to "thank you" in our own special way.
in australia instead of saying “you’re welcome,” they say “NO WUCKAS!” and i think that’s beautiful
"You're welcome"? Never heard of it. To Australians, it's "no worries", "no wuckas", "s'alright", "that's ok" or sometimes even no response at all.
9. Using our garages for everything but cars.
Why do Australians fill their garages up with crap you don't use and park in the driveway or street? That's really weird
We don't really do attics or basements, so for most, the garage is the best place to store things. It's not uncommon to put so much crap in there that you can't actually get your car in.
10. Eating dim sims.
View this photo on Instagram
You can find them in fish and chip shops across the nation – and they were invented right here in Melbourne by William Chen Wing Young (father of celeb chef Elizabeth Chong) in the 1940s. The recipe came from his desire to adapt his siu mai dumplings so they could be commercially produced.
11. Putting pineapple on burgers.
View this photo on Instagram
Okay, we all know beetroot on burgers — specifically pickled beetroot, which is basically the only way Australians eat it — is OUR thing, but did you know pineapple is too? It's just not a burger without it. And if you want to feel super patriotic, it must have egg too.
12. Going to the movies on a Tuesday to save money.
Australia is a nation of massive tight arses, so it's no wonder cinemas around the country invented a day to celebrate it/profit from it.
13. Having barbeques (read: barbies) literally everwhere.
View this photo on Instagram
Go to any beach or park in Australia and you're almost guaranteed to find a barbeque (or several) for you to use free of charge. We take it for granted, but public barbeques just aren't a thing elsewhere.
14. Using uptalk A LOT.
Why do Australians sound like every sentence is a question?
It's something we don't really notice, but a lot of Australians talk with upward inflection, so that pretty much every sentence sounds like it should have a question mark at the end when it's not actually a question at all.
15. Putting the "huh" in "h".
why do Australians pronounce the letter h as haych
It's "haitch", not "aitch". Why would you pronounce the letter H without an actual H?!?! It's the rest of the world that's wrong on this.
16. Drinking your way through Europe on a bus tour.
Australians love to travel, and it's basically a rite of passage to go on Contiki in your 20s. You don't realise just how Australian it is until 35 out of 40 of your fellow travellers are Aussies too.
17. Drinking things like flat whites and long blacks.
View this photo on Instagram
Flat whites are an Australian invention (it's true, don't @ us New Zealand), and although long blacks aren't, the name is specific to this country. It is a really weird thing to call coffee when you think about it.
18. And finally, eating musk-flavoured lollies.
View this photo on Instagram
To the rest of the world, musk is a scent. To Australians, it's heaven in a stick.
