A few weeks ago, I was a guest on the Newbie Writers podcast, and one of the hosts, Damien Boath, is Australian. Over the course of our conversation, I came to realize that Australians can make anything sound fun. They seem to have cute nicknames for even the most horrible, gross, and annoying things. There are cockies in the dunny, mate sounds fun, right? It’s not. Here’s a sample of Australian slang:

几个星期前，我去网络写作播客当嘉宾，主持人之一是一位澳大利亚人达米安博斯。在我们谈话的过程中，我意识到澳大利亚人能让所有的事情听起来都很有趣。他们甚至会为那些最可怕、最恶劣的和最让人讨厌的东西起很可爱的昵称。“There are cockies in the dunny”，听起来是不是很有趣?事实上这可不是什么好话。下面就为大家介绍一些澳大利亚俚语的例子：

1. Cockies

Cockroaches

相当于 "cockroaches", 是蟑螂的意思。

Just looking for a photo of cockies made me nauseated.

看到“小强”的照片就能让我作呕了。

2. Mozzie

Mosquito

相当于"mosquito", 指蚊子。

Some people call them the most dangerous animal in the world. Australians call them mozzies.

一些人认为蚊子是世界上最危险的动物，可澳大利亚人却叫它们“小蚊蚊”。

3. Dunny

Toilet

相当于"toilet", 指厕所。

I wonder whether other languages have cute nicknames for the toilet. I suppose potty sounds fun to people who don’t speak English.

我在想是否其他的语言也会用很可爱的昵称来作为厕所的代名词。我猜“potty(便壶)” 对一些不会说英语的人而言，这个单词的读音是有趣的。

4. Bingle

A car accident

交通事故

Accident sounds so negative. Sure, maybe you ran over a kid’s trike, but it was just a bingle. Apparently there’s an Australian insurance company called Bingle Insurance. Maybe someone should start Crash Insurance in the US.

“事故”听起来如此的消极。当然，可能你撞到了一个小孩的三轮车，这就仅仅是“bingle(小碰撞)”而算不上“事故”了。澳大利亚有一家保险公司叫“Bingle保险”。也许美国也应该开一家“Crash保险”了。