It’s thought that, because he invented what contained a half-gallon, or a flagon, of wine, “goon” was derived from the word “flagon”. Thomas Angove, in 1965, was the original inventor of boxed wine, and he was an Australian. It was probably in widespread use in Australia, as well as other parts of the Commonwealth, by the middle of the 20 th Century.Įven though this is perhaps one of the most recent slang terms on this list, its origin isn’t completely clear. It originated in rugby clubs in the 19 th Century, and spread to Australia from there. This term, though, actually spread to Australia from Britain. Mostly, as you won’t be surprised to hear, “champers” refers to any sparkling white wine and not just the fancy stuff. You might assume the story is more or less the same with “champers”.Īgain, we are all guilty of referring to any sparkling white wine as champagne, even if it technically isn’t. When this happened is hard to say, since it happened in the vernacular. So, outside of the fancy wine tasting circles, Australians have just, over time, shortened chardonnay to chardy. It’s drunk everywhere, and Australia is no exception. This term has taken on a rather broader meaning today, often meaning a youthful drinker, or a social gathering that isn’t very fancy.Īustralians have a common tendency to simply shorten words down to make a new slang term, and that really is just about the whole story of “chardy”.Ĭhardonnay, as I say, is one of if not the most popular white wine in the world. It seems to have originally been a reference to the French word for white, blanc, and so it became “plonk” as a way of poking fun at the French language. Though it is used to some degree across Commonwealth English today, it has its origins in Australia, as best we can tell. This seems to be where the term “plonk” originates. One recurring theme you’ll see in the origins of these phrases is that they often come simply from Australians poking fun at the French who are so famous for their wine making. It also spawned its own game called “goon of fortune,” which is a drinking game involving boxed wine. There are some variations of this, such as goonie bag, goon juice and goon sack.
This describes the foil bag in which boxed wine is kept in, so this is really a slang term for any boxed wine. In all likelihood, you’ll hear them say “a goon of wine”. So, champers is just a catch-all slang term for sparkling white wine.įinally, one other way you might hear wine referred to in Australian slang is “goon.” So, these two are not strictly speaking slang terms for wine in general.īut as I’m sure you know, champagne isn’t technically champagne unless it comes from a certain area of France-otherwise it’s just sparkling white wine. However, “chardy” is pretty loosely used to mean any white wine if not any wine at all.Īnother is “champers”, which refers to champagne, a sparkling white wine.
“Chardy” refers, as you might have guessed, to chardonnay, one of the most popular kinds of white wine in the world, made from the grape of the same name. The most common among these are “chardy” and “champers”. There are a few slang terms for certain kinds of wine, too. Today, while it certainly does still have this meaning, depending on where you are and who you’re talking to, it can just mean any cheap alcohol. Plonk was any cheap wine, the kind you would buy in a bottle-o for a few bucks. In the past, this had a very specific meaning. The most common and widely used slang term for wine in Australia is “plonk”. Australians have a few different options for what they can call wine.
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