The University of Queensland Pharmacy School will teach Australian slang to international students, giving them the verbal tools to help clients Down Under.

The University of Queensland Pharmacy School’s project team leader, Jacqueline Bond, has put together this language program for first-year University of Queensland Pharmacy School students, and it recently won the 2011 UQ Teaching and Learning Award.

The Australian slang program is meant to help pharmacists assist customers and clients in life or death situations.

“In a serious situation, someone might urgently seek advice from a pharmacist saying: ‘he’s cactus, he’s carked it, call the ambo!’,” said Ms. Bond. “Someone might tell a pharmacist they have a gut-ache, had a chunder, caught a wog, chucked a sickie, couldn’t eat brekkie or got bitten by mozzies. These sayings can completely bamboozle pharmacists from non-Australian backgrounds.”

She said the language program was developed as a multi-disciplinary collaboration between University of Queensland academics in the fields of pharmacy, language and higher education.

“It’s vital that pharmacists have excellent communication skills when they enter the profession, to ensure that medicines are used safely and effectively,” Ms. Bond said. “For cultural or linguistic reasons, some students face challenges in using both the colloquial language required for interactions with patients, and the clinical language required for interactions with other health professionals.”

So what other slang terms does the University of Queensland Pharmacy School teach its students? Here’s just a sampling:

• “They might hear that someone has been out raging all night, got rotten, been on the plonk, on the turps or on the grog, had a liquid lunch, and now feels rooted or stuffed. They might complain about not being able to ‘eat’ tea.”
• “A patient might ask a pharmacist if something is ridgy-didge or fair dinkum, or say: ‘are you having a lend?’ They might offer to give something a burl, say a child has been screaming like a stuck pig, or that someone has gone troppo.”
• “Customers might ask about their old fella, their map of Tassie, whether they can buy some frangers or should see a gynie.”
• “They might get the wrong idea if someone said they were feeling upset because ‘the boss got up me today’. “
• “Pharmacists working in beachside locations might hear how someone got stung by a bluey or had a brush with a Bondi cigar.”
• “Someone might tell a pharmacist they don’t like injections because they are a real wuss, or don’t want a product because it is too exxy. Or something might be ‘a piece of piss’.”
• “If there are communication difficulties, the clients could be mad as a cut snake and accuse the pharmacist of being a drongo and having kangaroos loose in the top paddock!”

Ok, we’re confused, how about you? Of course we’re kidding (wait – what’s a Bondi cigar?), but this language program is such a phenomenal idea. It’s addressing cultural language slang barriers, allowing University of Queensland Pharmacy School students be the best they can be in their chosen career path.

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Think you’re up for the Australian slang challenge? Learn more about the University of Queensland Pharmacy School!

Find out how you can apply to Australian Pharmacy Schools in Australia