Hiya, I am doing a university paper that includes a little section about 'backpacker' nicknames for people; nicknames of geographical places; events etc while on the road.
I am thinking Jogja for yogacharya, Bangers for BKK while literature has suggested FNG for F(*(^%^ New Guy, which I have never heard while traveling (although its used in Garlands..The Beach)..
Any nicks that are in common parlance out there?
Any help is appreciated!
SC
Does "bangers" mean BKK (i.e. the airport) or Bangkok generally?
Back in the 70s there were Pie Alley in Kathmandu and Chicken Street in Kabul. I have no idea what their real names were.
I don't know if it's limited to backpackers, but Aussies come from Oz for Australia, Kiwis come from New Zealand, we Yanks are from the States, some travelers come from SA (South Africa), and to turn a phrase, Kiwis and Aussie call Brits POMS which was what the Brits called the origional people sent there.
Hope that's a start.
POMS which was what the Brits called the origional people sent there.
No.
You may be thinking of one of those acronym legends.
I am trying to think of common 'backpacker' names which aren't simply a case of people from NZ or Australia shortening every sodding name they come across.
"Doing Pamps" or simply "pamps" is one I particularly recall and disliked - meaning going to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls.
I can't recall many which are actually well known though other than by those already in country. Potentially phrases such as Hippie Trail or Silk Road could be examples but I don't recall people my age (29) ever using those terms.
To follow on from the Kiwis, Aussies, Yanks (and Seppos)- also Saffers for South African's and Zimbos. I don't recall ever hearing 'zimbo' other than when around backpackers, although Zim is pretty common. I would not say Kiwis, Aussie or Yank is particularly backpacker - at least not from a New Zealand perspective.
I would possibly say saffer was more of a backpacker/traveller term for the only reason that I have never heard the expression used by anyone other than people who have travelled on a gap year. More common to say 'Jaapies'. And whilst it could be argued it is incorrect, it is probably more common. In fact, here in New Zealand it is probably just as common to simply refer to them as Seth Efricans than anything else.
Like i said though, there's a difference -potentially hard to separate - between names given to backpacker trails and experiences (such as Bangers, Hippie Trail, Silk Road, etc) and simply people from certain countries (like NZ and Australia) shortening just about every word they come across!
Edited by: sneaker_fish
the old name for a white Zimbabwean was soutie, afrikaans for salty
salt cock, they have one foot in southern africa, one foot in Britain, their member is dangling in the salty Mediterranean
Someone here once complained about a German town (Kaiserlautern?) being called "K-town" by Anglophone tourists. Here in New York, K-town is the part of town that is Koreatown.
Among tourists in Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu is KK.
A pet peeve of posters on the Western Europe branch is tourists who call Amsterdam "The Dam".
Also there's Jo'burg (Jo-burg?) in South Africa, and if you want to annoy people from San Francisco you can call their city San Fran or Frisco.
I thought people from Johannesburg did refer to 'jo burg"? Or maybe it was South African's from other areas who refer to it as that!
Actually this question is annoying me now - I know there are a few particularly related to South East Asia, New Zealand and Australia. But for the life of me I can't recall them. We do a similar thing here with our towns, but it tends to be locals rather than tourists doing it (Q- Town, Invergiggles, Dunners, Citadel being Queenstown, Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch).