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Bogan

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For other uses, see Bogan (disambiguation).

The term bogan (Template:PronEng, rhyming with slogan) is Australian and New Zealand English slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for a person who is, or is perceived to be, of a lower-class background. According to the stereotype, the speech and mannerisms of "bogans" indicate, poor education, cheap clothing and uncultured upbringing. 'Bogans' usually reside in economically disadvantaged suburbs (often outer metropolitan) or rural areas[1].

The term is a close regional equivalent to the English term Chav or Pikey, Scottish term Ned, Irish term Scanger or Spide and the North American terms White Trash and Hillbilly.

File:Page1.jpg
Page 1, Issue 1 of Bogue Parody found in MDNW
Page 2, Issue 1 of Bogue Parody found in MDNW

History

The origin of the term 'bogan' as a pejorative is unclear; both the Macquarie Dictionary and the Australian Oxford Dictionary cite its origin as unknown. Comparison might be made with the Scots Gaelic bòcan or the Manx buggane, mythological creatures with elements of mischief, nuisance and/or malice.

In a name context, it means "soft" like a bog or "bow" as in bow and arrow. The name can be found in the records of the English Parliament, especially from Devonshire, and all over Ireland.

The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) included the word in its Australian dictionary project[2] in 1991, attributing the earliest known reference to a 1985 surfing magazine. The 1902 poem "City of Dreadful Thirst" by Australian poet Banjo Patterson makes reference to a "Bogan shower" as a term meaning "three raindrops and some dust". However this is clearly a reference to the dry region around the Bogan River in Central Western NSW.[3] 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 they are not regarded as the source of the term.[2]

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 disliked: "[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 'bogan' is closer to the common use of "dag" ("dork" or "nerd") than "westie," which apparently predated 'bogan' by some years.[4]

Bogan was deemed one of twenty Australian colloquialisms by a selection panel and in an online poll to be most relevant to Australian users.[5]

Elements of the stereotype

Certain types of clothing are stereotypically associated with bogans, including flannelette shirts, Stubbies shorts, track pants (tracky dacks) [6], ugg boots[7], thongs, jeans, black leggings [8] and trucker caps [9].

Non-pejorative usage

The term 'bogan' has been employed favourably to indicate being proudly un-fashionable or 'rough around the edges.' Radio station Triple J held a "National Bogan Day" on June 28, 2002, which they commemorated by playing music by bands such as Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Rose Tattoo and AC/DC.[10]

Australian humour website bogan.com.au was archived on the National Library of Australia's Pandora Archive in August 2006,[11] for it was considered to be "of significance and to have long-term research value."[12]

Residents of streets such as Bogan Place and Bogan Road have been moved to action by the negative connotations of their street names and lobbied to rename them. [13]

  • 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.[14]
  • 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]
  • In 2005 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."[15]
  • "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.
  • Bogan Pride is a 2008 comedy television series on SBS TV, starring Rebel Wilson which follows the adventures of suburban characters who are proud to be bogans.
  • The popular Australian TV show Kath & Kim can be seen as a parody of the 'cashed-up bogan' lifestyle. [16] [17] [18]
  • In November 2008, newly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Robert Doyle vows to rid the Melbourne city centre of "bogans".[19]
  • The term "bogan" is used numerous times in the Australian mockumentary show Summer Heights High.
  • Although having an Italian surname, the Western Australian based female tennis player Casey Dellacqua is considered to be a typical bogan.

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. [20] The Kaesler Winery in the Barossa Valley wine district make and produce a Shiraz wine called the 'Bogan.'

Mel Campbell argued in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that bogan (including cashed-up bogan) is a nebulous, personal term that is frequently used in a process by which "we use the idea of the bogan to quarantine ideas of Australianness that alarm or discomfort us. It's a way of erecting imaginary cultural barriers between "us" and "them"." Campbell argues that while many people believe they know exactly what a bogan is and what their characteriestics might be, in reality there is no defined set of characteristics of a bogan: people using the term merely use it to describe those imagined to be different to, and less cultured than, the speaker. Campbell judged "cashed-up bogan" to be a "stupid term". [21]

Regional equivalent terms

Although the term bogan is understood across Australia and 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,[4] 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, where it especially refers to the denizens of West Auckland.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lauder, Simon (2008-04-12). "Bogan Pl residents lobby for name change". ABC. Retrieved 2008-04-12. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ 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).
  3. ^ Paterson, A.B.: "City of Dreadful Thirst".
  4. ^ a b c d e 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).
  5. ^ Press release: Strewth! Microsoft Office 2007 will recognise more dinky-di words, Microsoft Corporation, 15 May 2006.
  6. ^ http://www.bogan.com.au/definition/index.php
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ Anatomy of the trend - leggings - The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/fashion/anatomy-of-a-trend--leggings/2006/10/05/1159641427417.html
  9. ^ UTS Experts Making News July: http://www.uts.edu.au/new/experts/media/2003/july.html
  10. ^ Griffin, Michelle: Bogansville: meet the new in-crowd, The Age, 16 July 2002.
  11. ^ Pandora Archive: Bogan.com.au. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  12. ^ Pandora Archive: Selection Guidelines. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  13. ^ Not the place for bogans | The Daily Telegraph
  14. ^ Rage: ARIA Top 50 playlist, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 26 February 2002.
  15. ^ Martin, Steve: Not happy with Neighbours: Colac residents say enough is enough, 15 June 2005.
  16. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/perhaps-theres-a-little-bogan-in-everyone/2006/06/07/1149359814143.html
  17. ^ http://www.crikey.com.au/Is-It-Any-Good/Kath-and-Kim.html
  18. ^ http://www.theage.com.au/news/tv--radio/return-of-the-bonafide-bogans/2008/08/12/1218306889405.html
  19. ^ City mayor Robert Doyle scolded by proud bogans
  20. ^ "Snobbery alert: the 'Cub' is busy turning Melbourne into Boganville". The Age. 20 May 2006.
  21. ^ Campbell, Mel (2006-06-08). "Perhaps there's a little bogan in everyone". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2008-09-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  22. ^ http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bevan
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