Bogan: Difference between revisions
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People who grew up on a farm in Melbourne, Australia. E.g, Sarah Sorrell |
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{{Use Australian English|date=April 2011}} |
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{{Other uses}} |
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The term '''bogan''' is [[Australian English|Australian]] and [[New Zealand English|New Zealand]] [[slang]], usually pejorative or [[Self-deprecation|self-deprecating]], for an individual who is recognised to be from a [[lower-middle class]] background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background.<ref>{{cite news| last =Lauder| first =Simon | coauthors =| title =Bogan Pl residents lobby for name change| work =| pages =| language =| publisher =[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]]| date =12 April 2008| url =http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/12/2215081.htm| accessdate = 2008-04-12}}</ref> While Bogan is widely recognised, localised names exist that describe the same or very similar groups of people.<ref name="BBSB">Moore, Bruce: [http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/pubs/ozwords/November_98/2._regionalisms.htm Of Boondies, Belgium Sausages and Boguns], [http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/pubs/ozwords/index.php Ozwords] ([[Australian National University]]), November 1998.</ref> |
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==Etymology== |
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The origin of the term bogan as a pejorative is unclear; both the ''[[Macquarie Dictionary]]'' and the ''[[Australian Oxford Dictionary]]'' cite the origin as unknown. Comparison might be made with the [[Scots Gaelic]] ''[[bogle|bòcan]]'' or the [[Manx language|Manx]] ''[[buggane]]'', mythological creatures with elements of mischief, nuisance or malice. |
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The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) included the word in its Australian dictionary project<ref name="ANDC">[[Australian National University]]: [http://www.anu.edu.au/andc/res/aewords/aewords_ab.php#bogan Australian National Dictionary Centre]</ref> in 1991, attributing the earliest known reference to a 1985 surfing magazine {{Citation needed|date=October 2011}}. The 1902 poem "City of Dreadful Thirst" by Australian poet [[Banjo Paterson]] 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 New South Wales.<ref>In this context it could also mean a lot of show but very little substance which also applies to its present usage. [http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/P/PatersonAB_Banjo/verse/riogrande/dreadfulthirst.html "City of Dreadful Thirst"].</ref> |
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There are places in western [[New South Wales]] that contain bogan in their name — for example, [[Bogan Shire]], the [[Bogan River]] and the rural village of [[Bogan Gate]] — but they are not regarded as the source of the term.<ref name="ANDC"/> |
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==Usage== |
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According to anecdote, the term emerged in [[Melbourne]]'s outer-Western and outer-Eastern suburbs in the late 1970s and early 1980s{{Citation needed|date=June 2010}} as a non-pejorative term, used by fans of [[Heavy Metal (music)|heavy metal]] and hard rock music to describe themselves, and was used almost interchangeably with "head-banger". Bogans typically wore "acid wash" jeans, [[ugg boots]], and band t-shirts; had "[[mullet (haircut)|mullet]]" style haircuts; and lived in the suburbs. |
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The term became widely known in the late 1980s when the teenage character Kylie Mole (played by [[Mary-Anne Fahey]]) in [[sketch comedy]] television series ''[[The Comedy Company]]'' frequently used the term to disparage anyone she disliked. The same program included a sketch about a magazine called "Bogue" (a parody of [[vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]), which featured traditional bogans. |
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The term has been used in reference to people living in the [[Logan City|Logan]] region in [[Queensland, Australia|Queensland]]. The place name rhymes with bogan, and people of this region have been associated with the stereotype.<ref>{{cite news|last=Davies |first=Hannah |url=http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,24876367-3102,00.html?from=public_rss |title=Logan in a tizz over famous bogan Catherine McNeil | The Courier-Mail |publisher=News.com.au |date=5 January 2009 |accessdate=2009-12-28}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> |
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Australian [[ska-punk]] band [[Area-7]] achieved one of their biggest hits with the song "Nobody Likes A Bogan". |
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Bogan was deemed one of twenty Australian colloquialisms by the Microsoft Corporation to be most relevant to Australian users.<ref>Press release: [http://www.microsoft.com/australia/presspass/news/pressreleases/2006_05_15_microsoft_office_2007_recognises_dinkydi_words.mspx Strewth! Microsoft Office 2007 will recognise more dinky-di words], [[Microsoft Corporation]], 15 May 2006.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23533259-5013110,00.html |title=Not the place for bogans | The Daily Telegraph |publisher=News.com.au |date=14 April 2008 |accessdate=2009-12-28}}</ref> |
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==Bogan concept== |
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{{See also|Strine}} |
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<!-- Note: To avoid introducing original research, please do not change the content of this section without discussing proposed changes on the talk page first. --> |
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Certain types of clothing are stereotypically associated with bogans, including [[flannel]]ette shirts, monkey hoodies, [[Stubbies (brand)|Stubbies shorts]], [[ugg boots]],<ref>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</ref> [[jeans]] and black [[leggings]].<ref>Anatomy of the trend - leggings - The Age: http://www.theage.com.au/news/fashion/anatomy-of-a-trend--leggings/2006/10/05/1159641427417.html</ref> Vehicles such as [[Holden Commodore]] or [[Ford Falcon (Australia)|Ford Falcon]] [[Coupé utility|utes]] also have similar associations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bogan.com.au/definition/index.php |title=Definition |publisher=BOGAN.com.au |date= |accessdate=2009-12-28}}</ref> |
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In the early 90s, long standing West Auckland punk band The Warners released their last album entitled Bogans Heroes on Widside Records. |
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==Non-pejorative usage== |
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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 28 June 2002, which they commemorated by playing music by bands such as [[Cold Chisel]], [[Midnight Oil]], [[Rose Tattoo]] and [[AC/DC]].<ref>Griffin, Michelle: [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/07/15/1026185158244.html Bogansville: meet the new in-crowd], ''[[The Age]]'', 16 July 2002.</ref> |
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==Use in Marketing== |
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"CUB" or "cashed up bogan," was used by one marketing researcher in 2006 to describe people of a blue-collar background [[Nouveau riche|now earning a high salary]] and spending their earnings on expensive consumer items as a matter of [[conspicuous consumption]]. The media adduced [[tennis]] player [[Lleyton Hewitt]] and his actress wife, [[Bec Cartwright]], as examples.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/19/1147545524374.html |title=Snobbery alert: the 'Cub' is busy turning Melbourne into Boganville|work= Age | publisher = Fairfax |date=20 May 2006}}</ref> Subsequently, the Kaesler Winery, in the [[Barossa Valley wine district|Barossa Valley]], released a Shiraz wine under the name Bogan. |
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[[Mel Campbell]] argued in a 2006 article in the ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]'' that bogan (including "cashed-up bogan") is a nebulous, personal concept 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 though many people believe they know exactly what a bogan is and what their characteristics might be, there is no defined set of characteristics of a bogan: the speaker imagines the denoted person to be different from, and less cultured than, themselves. Campbell considered "cashed-up bogan" to be a "stupid term".<ref>{{cite web | last =Campbell| first =Mel| title = Perhaps there's a little bogan in everyone | work = Sydney Morning Herald | publisher = Fairfax | date =8 June 2006| url =http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/perhaps-theres-a-little-bogan-in-everyone/2006/06/07/1149359814143.html| accessdate = 2008-09-05}}</ref> A similar argument is made by David Nichols, author of ''The Bogan Delusion'' (2011), who says that people have "created this creature that is a lesser human being to express their interclass hatred".<ref>Chris Johnston, [http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/class-war-festers-in-hated-bogan-zeroes-20110603-1flc7.html Class war festers in hated bogan zeroes], ''The Age'', 4 June 2011. See also [http://www.affirmpress.com.au/the-bogan-delusion ''The Bogan Delusion''], Affirm Press</ref> |
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==Regional equivalent terms== |
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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: |
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*In [[Hobart, Tasmania|Hobart]], [[Tasmania]], the term "chigger" (also "chigga" or "chig") is used. This appears to be a reference to the Hobart suburb of [[Chigwell, Tasmania|Chigwell]].<ref name="BBSB">ref chigger</ref> |
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* "Bevan" or "Bev" in [[Queensland]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Smitz|first=Paul|title=Lonely Planet Australia|year=2004|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=9781740594479|page=1064}}</ref> |
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* "Booner" or "boon" in [[Canberra]], [[Australian Capital Territory]].<ref name="BBSB">ref booner</ref> |
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* "Scozza" in [[Geelong]], [[Victoria, Australia]].<ref name="BBSB">ref Scozza</ref> |
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* "Lexie" in [[St Kilda, Victoria|St Kilda]], [[Victoria, Australia]].<ref name="BBSB">ref Lexie</ref> |
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* "Div" or "Divo" in [[New Zealand]] |
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The term [[westie (person)|"westie"]] or "westy" is not synonymous with bogan, although westies are often stereotyped as being bogans. "Westie" seems to predate bogan by some years,<ref name="BBSB">ref westie</ref> and originated in [[Sydney, New South Wales|Sydney]] in the 1970s, to refer to people from that city's western suburbs. As Sydney's western suburbs are predominantly working class blue collar areas, the term connotes a predominantly working class blue collar person - someone with little education, little intelligence, little taste, and very limited horizons. Someone whose idea of a good time is meat pies, beer, cigarettes and playing the poker machines at the local football club. "Westie" 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]]. In South Australia, "Hackham Westie" denotes a resident of the notorious Adelaide suburb [[Hackham West, South Australia|Hackham West]]. |
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==See also== |
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* [[Hoon]] |
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* [[Ocker]] |
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* [[Bodgies and Widgies]] |
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* [[Sharpies (Australian subculture)|Sharpies]] |
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* [[Yobbo]] |
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* [[Westie (person)|Westie]] |
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* [[Feral (subculture)|Feral]] |
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* ''[[Kath & Kim]]'' |
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'''International:''' |
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* [[White trash|White Trash]] ([[United States]] and [[Canada]]) |
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* [[Redneck]] ([[United States]] and [[Canada]]) |
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* [[Guido (slang)|Guido]] ([[United States]]) |
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* [[Hoser]] ([[Canada]]) |
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* [[Skid row|Skid]] ([[United States]] and [[Canada]]) |
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* [[Chav]] ([[UK]]) |
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* [[Ned (Scottish)|Ned]] ([[Scotland]]) |
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* [[Jejemon]] ([[Philippines]]) |
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* [[Scanger]] ([[Ireland]]) |
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* [[Ah Beng]] ([[Singapore]]/[[Malaysia]]) |
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* [[Raggare]] ([[Sweden]]) |
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* [[Dres (Polish subculture)|Dres]] ([[Poland]]) |
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* [[Tokkie]] ([[Netherlands]]) |
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* [[Tamarro]] ([[Italy]]) |
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* [[Hortera]] ([[Spain]]) |
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* [[Naco (slang)|Naco]] ([[Mexico]]) |
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* [[Beauf]] ([[France]]) |
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'''Concepts:''' |
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* [[Classism]] |
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* [[Class conflict]] |
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* [[Peasantry]] |
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==References== |
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{{Reflist|2}} |
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==External links== |
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* [http://www.bogan.com.au/ Bogan.com.au: Australian Bogan website] |
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* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doGXIKJyzI4 The Surry Hills Bogan:] Video of a typical Australian Bogan |
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* [http://www.lukasland.com/humour/Aussie/Save-The-Bogan.htm Save the Bogan] (humorous website classifying bogans as an [[endangered species]]) |
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* [http://www.bogancentral.com/ Bogancentral.com A discussion of Bogan culture] |
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* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417496/ Bogans - The Movie] (New Zealand short film, featuring [[Peter Jackson]]) |
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[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]] |
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[[Category:Social class subcultures]] |
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[[Category:Australian English]] |
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[[Category:New Zealand slang]] |
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[[Category:Social groups]] |
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[[Category:Stereotypes]] |
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[[Category:Fashion aesthetics]] |
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[[Category:Australian slang]] |
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[[Category:Article Feedback 5]] |
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Revision as of 21:54, 30 March 2012
People who grew up on a farm in Melbourne, Australia. E.g, Sarah Sorrell