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Bogan

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For other uses, see Bogan (disambiguation).

Bogan (pronounced /ˈbəʉ.gn̩/, rhyming with slogan) is an Australian and New Zealand English slang term, generally pejorative, for a person who is, or is perceived to be, unsophisticated or of a lower class background. According to the stereotype, the speech and mannerisms of "bogans" indicate poor education and uncultured upbringing. The term is mainly applied to white, working-class people.

History

The origin of the term "bogan" is unclear; both the Macquarie Dictionary and the Australian Oxford Dictionary cite its origin as unknown. It is believed, however, to have originated in Tasmania or Victoria, where the term is most abundantly used.

The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) included the word in its Australian dictionary project[1] in 1991, in which it attributed the earliest known reference to a 1985 surfing magazine.

The term became widely known in the late 1980s, when the character Kylie Mole (played by Mary-Anne Fahey), from the popular Australian sketch comedy television program The Comedy Company, popularised the term, using it frequently to disparage those she did not like; for instance, "[a bogan is] a person that you just don’t bother with. Someone who wears their socks the wrong way or has the same number of holes in both legs of their stockings. A complete loser." Kylie's use of the term was more in the sense of the Australian slang term "dag" ("dork" or "nerd") than a "westie", which apparently predated "bogan" by some years.[2]

There are places in Western New South Wales that contain "Bogan" in their name — including Bogan Shire, the Bogan River and the rural village of Bogan Gate — but these places are not regarded as the source of the term.[1]

Bogan is also an Irish family name, albeit an uncommon one in Australia, and also unlikely to be the source of the term. While Melissa Campbell, who wrote her thesis on bogans in 2004, wrote in The Age: "It is no coincidence that Bogan is an Irish surname. Irishness is associated with bogans' 19th-century ancestors: English and American hooligans, and Australian larrikins."[3], there is no known evidence the meaning of the adjective is derived from the characteristics of any person or people named Bogan.

Bogan was deemed one of twenty Australian colloquialisms by a selection panel and in an online poll to be most relevant to Australian users.[4] Bogan: What is a bogan? a bogan is a neighbour, a very annoying neighbour.

Elements of the stereotype

The bogan stereotype is roughly equivalent to the American white trash, although the term bogan does not necessarily suggest violent or anti-social behaviour. Certain styles of clothing are stereotypically associated with bogans, including Moccasin-style slippers, ugg boots, jeans, and black leggings. [5][6][7]

Non-pejorative usage

The term "bogan" has sometimes been used in apparently favourable contexts, despite its origins as a pejorative term. Radio station Triple J held a "National Bogan Day" on 28 June 2002, which they commemorated by playing music from bands such as Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Rose Tattoo and AC/DC.[8]

Australian humour website bogan.com.au was archived on the National Library of Australia's Pandora Archive in August 2006,[9] for it was considered to be "of significance and to have long-term research value".[10]

Actress Holly Valance, resident of Los Angeles for several years, once described herself as a bogan in an interview with the Australian press.[11]

Cultural references

  • Australian band Area-7 released a single called "Nobody Likes a Bogan" in 2002, which listed several aspects of a stereotype bogan named "Bazza". The song reached #46 on the ARIA Charts in February of that year.[12]
  • Melbourne band TISM released a song written from the point of view of a bogan beating up a mod, "The Fosters Car Park Boogie", on their 1988 album Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance.
  • The SBS television show Pizza portrays a stereotypical bogan character named Davo (played by Jabba). Davo is often depicted wearing a flannelette shirt, thongs and a singlet. He also undertakes stereotypical bogan activities including drinking Victoria Bitter beer, smoking cannabis, and talking bogan slang, and is often referred to as a bogan by other characters.
  • Australian comedian Chris Franklin's public persona is a self-proclaimed "King of the Bogans", in which he frequently eats meat pies, wears a flannelette shirt with its sleeves ripped off, and occasionally wears a football beanie over his permed mullet. In 1999, Franklin released a comedy single called "Bloke" (a parody of "Bitch" (1997) by Meredith Brooks), which expressed a bogan perspective on male/female relationships.[1]
  • Residents of the Victorian town of Colac objected to the backstory of the fictional Timmins family (described by ABC Local Radio as a "bogan family") on the soap opera Neighbours, which portrayed them as being from the town. Scriptwriter Ben Michaels denied regional stereotyping, stating "I think most people know there is a bogan contingent in every town, and we happened to take the piss out of the bogan contingent of Colac."[13] In the story the family frequently refer to themselves as bogans, to the extent that youngest daughter Bree wrote a book (based on her mother Janelle's idea) entitled The Bogan's Tipped Hair.
  • "Cricketer Shane Warne receives regular ribbings from the Australian media for his bogan persona. His struggles with weight loss and cigarettes, the unsophisticated dietary habits, are all fodder for commentators who recoil at his uncouth habits. But Warney is the ultimate Aussie bloke: all brawn and few brains when it comes to controlling his appetites, plus a blinding addiction to blondes who are typically clones of his attractive wife." (Emma-Kate Symons, "Spinning out of control", The Weekend Australian (2-3 July 2005), p 19.

Use in Marketing

The term "Cashed Up Bogan", or "Cub", has been used by one marketing researcher to describe people of a blue-collar background now earning a high salary and spending those earnings on conspicuously expensive consumer items. The media has cited tennis player Lleyton Hewitt and his actress wife, Bec Cartwright, as examples.[14]

Regional equivalent terms

Although the term bogan is understood across Australia (and parts of New Zealand), certain regions have their own slang terms for the same group of people. These terms include:


The term westie (or westy) is not synonymous with bogan; however, westies are often stereotyped as being bogans. This term seems to predate bogan by some years,[2] originating in Sydney, New South Wales in the 1970s to refer to people from that city's western suburbs. The term is now in wide use in many cities and towns across both Australia and New Zealand.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Australian National University: Australian National Dictionary Centre Cite error: The named reference "ANDC" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e f Moore, Bruce: Of Boondies, Belgium Sausages and Boguns, OzWords (Australian National University), November 1998. Cite error: The named reference "BBSB" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ Campbell, Melissa: The order of Australia, The Age, 14 July 2002.
  4. ^ Press release: Strewth! Microsoft Office 2007 will recognise more dinky-di words, Microsoft Corporation, 15 May 2006.
  5. ^ UTS Experts Making News July: http://www.uts.edu.au/new/experts/media/2003/july.html
  6. ^ The uggly side of life - The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/danny-katz/the-uggly-side-of-life/2006/09/27/1159337216912.html
  7. ^ Anatomy of the trend - leggings - The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/fashion/anatomy-of-a-trend--leggings/2006/10/05/1159641427417.html
  8. ^ Griffin, Michelle: Bogansville: meet the new in-crowd, The Age, 16 July 2002.
  9. ^ Pandora Archive: Bogan.com.au. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  10. ^ Pandora Archive: Selection Guidelines. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  11. ^ Adams, Cameron: Holly, the bogan's hero, Sunday Herald Sun, 19 August 2006.
  12. ^ Rage: ARIA Top 50 playlist, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 February 2002.
  13. ^ Martin, Steve: Not happy with Neighbours: Colac residents say enough is enough, 15 June 2005.
  14. ^ "Snobbery alert: the 'Cub' is busy turning Melbourne into Boganville". The Age. 20 May 2006. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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