24-06-2025
US expat slams the three phrases Australians say that don't make sense: 'It's so wrong'
A US expat has identified a series of common yet non-sensical Australian expressions she's encountered since relocating Down Under.
Nashville woman Grace Harris recently released a video detailing some of the 'things Australian say that I genuinely cannot wrap my American brain around'.
The TikTok video, which has been viewed over 476,000 times, saw the American woman recount some frequently-used yet grammatically incorrect Aussie expressions she'd heard.
Her first observation was the way some Australians appeared to end a train of thought with the word 'hey'.
The content creator provided the example: 'You want to go get dinner later, hey?'
'[Australians] use it a lot of times after a sentence that would have a question mark at the end of it,' she observed. 'They just come through, with a "hey". I don't know why.'
Another common Aussie exchange that stumped Grace was the way locals responded after being thanked.
She said: 'If I say: "thank you", they'll be like: "it's okay".'
The American explained that in the States, the response 'it's okay' would be a more befitting reply after someone had apologised.
Grace said she'd even said questioned her Australian friends about why they would respond with 'it's okay', adding that her friend explained that it simply means 'no big deal'.
'And I'm like, "Well, I didn't think it was a big deal, or else I'd be saying sorry"!' she added, confused.
The final common expression that Grace highlighted in the video was the way Australians will say the erroneous phrase, 'How are you going?' in place of, 'How are you doing?'.
The video attracted several hundred replies - many from Aussies seeking to clarify the expressions and help the visitor decode the meaning behind them.
The most-liked reply corrected Grace's first gripe about ending questions with 'hey'.
The top reply explained: 'We are saying "aye" not "hey".'
'In Australian English, "aye" at the end of a sentence is not a word on its own, but rather a sound or expression that is used to seek agreement or confirm something.'
Another person added to this explanation, saying: 'I think it's also [used when] asking a question with an obvious answer. Like, "We haven't eaten the whole day, should we go get dinner aye?" It's like asking a question with the confidence the answer is yes.'
Then, when it came to Grace's uneasiness about Aussies' tendency to reply to 'thank you' with 'it's okay', one comment explained: 'Usually when you say "thank you" it's because someone has done something nice for you or done you a favour. We say "it's okay" to let you know we don't mind.'
Another conquered: 'The "that's okay/no worries" thing is to tell you that we weren't burdened by helping. We are generally socialised to help others, almost to the point that it wouldn't occur to us not to help.'
However, a fellow American expat understood Grace's discomfort with the 'it's okay' reply, explaining that in America the phrase is 'usually used in a negative conversation', most often after someone has apologised.
But some of the replies from Aussies turned the tables on this particular point, explaining that they similarly found it rude when Americans typically responded to 'thank you' with the one-word reply: 'Sure'.
'"Sure" sounds so dismissive,' one reply said.
There was less discussion in the comments about Grace's final 'how are you going' observation. But one reply did point out: 'It's not exactly a giant mental leap to go from 'how you doing?' to 'how you going?'
Another reply summed up the cultural differences best, saying: 'Every country has its own quirky language... Aussie are very laid back with slang, that's what makes us unique.'
It's not the first time that Grace's observations as an American living in Queensland have attracted attention.
She previously released another video that had over 1.5million views, which particularly questioned the way Aussies referred to their parents in conversation.
In that video, Grace was baffled by the way Australians don't use the word 'my' when speaking about their own parents.
She imitated: '"Dad took me to the store. Dad dropped me off."'
'What do you mean, "dad"? Grace questioned. 'That's your dad, babe. That's not my dad. That's your daddy.'
