Most Kiwis know these words but tradies use them so often it’s like they have their own language – how many of these do you and your mates use on the daily?

Barbie – BBQ – ‘Come for a barbie after work mate.’

Beaut – beauty, beautiful – ‘Your new ute is a beaut.’

Bloke – man – ‘Who’s that new bloke over there?’

Bugger – expressing disappointment – ‘My car broke down this morning.’ ‘Bugger.’

Chippy – Builder – ‘What do you do for a living?’ ‘I’m a chippy bro.’

Chocka – full/overflowing – ‘The roads were chocka today!’

Choice – pleased with something – ‘Got you a pie.’ ‘Choice, bro!’

Ciggie – cigarette – ‘Time for a ciggie?’

Crack up – funny – ‘Jim is such a crack up!’

Cuppa – tea or coffee – ‘Let’s stop and have a cuppa.’

Flat out – fast, busy – ‘Sorry can’t chat, we’re flat out on the site today.’

Hard yakka – hard work – ‘We’ll have to put in some hard yakka to get this finished on time.’

Hungus – hungry person – ‘Four pies?! You’re such a hungus bro.’

Knackered – tired – ‘All that lifting has me knackered.’

Munted – inebriated – ‘Jeff got so munted at Jim’s party last night!’

Muppet – idiot – ‘Check out this muppet – he’s put the door on the wrong way!’

She’ll be right – it will be okay – ‘This looks a bit wonky.’ ‘Nah, she’ll be right mate.’

Sickie – sick day/pretending – ‘John’s pulled a sickie again boys.’

Skint – broke – ‘Can’t hit the dairy today, I’m too skint.’

Smoko – mid-morning break – ‘Is it smoko time yet?’

Snags – Sausages – ‘Throw some more snags on the barbie.’

Sparky – electrician – ‘That sparky’s definitely got his wires crossed.’

Spinning a yarn – telling a (likely bullsh*t) story  ‘John’s not sick, he’s just spinning you a yarn.’

Stoked – pleased – ‘Boss gave me a raise today, I’m stoked!’

Sunnies – sunglasses – ‘Heck that sun’s bright today, where are my sunnies?’

Suss – suspicious, to investigate – ‘That guy seems a bit suss.’ ‘Okay, let me suss him out.’

The turps – alcohol – ‘Jeff’s getting on the turps again tonight!’

Wop-wops – middle of nowhere – ‘Where’s the job?’ ‘Out in the wop-wops mate.’

Need help with your insurance? Want to know more about KiwiSaver? Looking for some moolah for your mortgage? We speak your lingo so get in touch with the team at Cactus today!