Australians tend to pride themselves on their plain-talking and the gusto with which they use swearwords in their everyday English.
As well as the usual swearwords shared throughout the English-speaking world (we’ll assume you know the basics), Australians have their own array of profanities and vulgarities that are very distinctive. They can use these not just to hurl insults, but also to implicitly say something about what it means to be Australian.
To the alarm of purists, however, younger Australians today are tending to use fewer Australia-specific swearwords in favour of more generic terms understood throughout the anglosphere. ‘Political correctness’ and exposure to international media – especially African-American slang, popularised via hip hop and rap music – have been blamed for this lamentable decline in profanity diversity.
We’re all terribly polite at 101translations, but we also regret this decline in distinctively Australian swearing. The words we used to blow off steam are deeply rooted not just in emotion, but also in the history and experience of the place they come from.
A language without swearwords is, as an Australian might say, about as useful as an a**ehole on an elbow.
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