An American expat has taken to social media to call out a common misconception about moving Down Under.
Katie Payne, who moved to Melbourne five years ago, shared a clip to Instagram last month to complain about “one of the biggest lies” she was told about Australians before making the move.
The 27-year-old expat admitted that she hardly ever hears a quintessentially Aussie expression despite its international recognition as a local phrase.
“I feel like one of the biggest lies I’ve been told about Australians is that they say, ‘g’day mate’. No, they don’t,” Payne said.
“Or at least not in the way they tell us in America of like ‘g’day mate’,” she said as she impersonated a thick Australian accent.
“Very seldom do you hear a ‘g’day mate’ out in the wild and, when you do, it’s pretty iconic. But I wouldn’t say it’s the go-to phrase around here.”
The Melbourne-based woman then went on to list some of the more common things she hears in Aussie culture.
“What they will say, which I do love, is: ‘I’m just gonna go say g’day to that person’.
“F***ing right you are, go say g’day,” she quipped.
The second saying that she says Aussies “can’t get enough of” is: “How ya goin?”
“In fact, I don’t even know the American translation of it. How are you? Lame.”
She added that another favourite Australian phrase she had picked up is “What’s doin’?”
Aussies flooded the comments section of the Instagram post to give their two cents on her discovery, with many telling her that the phrase is commonly used, just not in Melbourne.
“In fairness, you don’t hear gday mate because Melbourne isn’t really Australia. Ya gotta come up rural with Qld to hear proper Australian slang,” one person wrote.
Another chimed in: “Can confirm, ‘g’day mate’ is alive and well in South-West Sydney.”
“Lmao maybe you need to come to the NT. ‘G’day Mate’ is still very common,” a third penned.
Even Aussie actress Ruby Rose took to the comments section to commend the social media user on her knowledge of Australian slang.
“You have absolutely mastered this part of our language. Many have tried, few have succeeded,” Rose shared.