Tell me if you can understand what the following sentence in Australian English says?
“Does the quote for renos include demo?” 🏠
Even I had to pause at first to work out what was being said here.
One of the defining features of Australian English is our thing for diminutives (also called hypocoristics). Essentially, Australians love shortening words and adding cutesy endings to them. Here are some common examples…
🐨 afternoon → arvo
🐨 breakfast → brekkie/brekky
🐨 Sharon → Shazza
🐨 Melbourne → Melbs
While all varieties of English use shortened forms, Australians have taken it to the next level. Legend has it that Aussies (hey, that’s a diminutive too!) do this particularly because we’re just too scared that all those flies are going to buzz into our mouths so we have to let go of those extra syllables.
But here’s where it gets tricky – sometimes the same diminutive has multiple meanings.
In the sentence above (from a DIY group on social media), “renos” was clear enough – it’s short for “renovations”.
Though Macedonian-Australian comedian My Cousin Vlad also talks about the “Sydney Renos”, who are the Sydney twenty-somethings who have undergone their own “renovations”, so to speak, in the form of comestic surgery, diet pills and steroids.
But “demo”? 🤔
In most contexts, “demo” in English (and not just in Australia) means “demonstration”:
📢 The demo blocked traffic in the CBD.
📢 She did a demo of the new equipment.
📢 He cut a demo track in the studio.
So why would a renovation quote include a demonstration?
Because in this Australian context, “demo” actually means “demolition”.
Same spelling. Completely different meaning. Entirely dependent on context.
And it’s not an isolated example!
Subscribe for free to find out more about the English that Australians actually use….
So here’s another tongue-twister full of Australian diminutives…
“She’s defo devo over the defo case”
So what does the above sentence mean? 🤷
Let’s dissect it... 🔪
“Defo (or deffo)” is short for “definitely”. This is not exclusively Australian though – Brits use it just as much. You’ll often here Aussies and Brits say that something is “defo” i.e. “definitely happening” or “definitely true”. Some claim that the Brits picked up using “defo” from hearing it on the Australian soap operas Neighbours and Home and Away, both of which were hugely popular in the UK in the 1980s.
The second “defo” though has another meaning – it’s short for “defamation”. While this diminutive has been in use in Australian legal circles for decades, there have been a number of high-profile defamation cases in the past few years that the Australian media has taken to using “defo” when reporting them e.g. “defo case” or “defo suit”. It’s now become mainstream that entries can now be found for this diminutive in Australian English dictionaries.
“Devo” (or “devvo”) is “devastated” though meaning more like “upset” or “sad”. Aussies can be “devo” about anything and everything.
This is the fascinating and yet occasionally confusing side of Australian English: the friendliness of the language can hide layers of meaning. And sorry to say, there’s no quick fix – you simply have to learn where and when to use or comprehend which diminutive by context.
I hope you’ve defo got this demo or else I’ll be devo!
If you want your text and content to be perfect for the lucrative Australian market, I'll be able to help you. You'll deffo won't be devo! Message me at info@nicknasev.com.
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