Bogan

Bogan (pronounced /ˈbəʉ.gn̩/, which rhymes with slogan) is an Australian and New Zealand English slang term, generally pejorative, for a person who is, or is perceived to be, unsophisticated or of a lower class background. The stereotype defines the speech and mannerisms of "bogans" to indicate poor education and uncultured upbringing. It mostly encompasses white, working-class people.

Like the British term "chav", and the US phrase "white trash" or "redneck", the term supposedly describes behaviour, rather than class alone.

The stereotype supposes a link between cultural practices of working-class people (i.e. style of dress, accent, and musical tastes) and anti-social behaviour.

History

The origin of the term "bogan" is unclear, and both the Macquarie Dictionary and the Australian Oxford Dictionary cite its origin as unknown.

The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) included the word in its Australian dictionary project in 1991, where it cited the earliest reference it could find to the term in a 1985 surfing magazine.

The term became widely known in the late 1980s, when the character Kylie Mole on the popular Australian sketch comedy television program The Comedy Company popularised the term by frequently using it disparagingly for anyone she didn't like; for instance, "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 the term was more in the sense of the Australian slang term "dag" ("dork" or "nerd") rather than in the sense of a "westie", which appearently predated "bogan" by some years.

There are places in Western New South Wales that have "Bogan" in their name, including Bogan Shire, the Bogan River and the rural village of Bogan Gate. Despite their remote locations fitting some aspects of the stereotype, these places are not regarded as the source of the term.

Bogan is also an Irish family name, albeit an uncommon one in Australia, and is also unlikely to be the source of the term. Although Melissa Campbell, who wrote her thesis on bogans in 2004, wrote in The Age: "It is no coincidence that Bogan is an Irish surname. Irishness is associated with bogans' 19th-century ancestors: English and American hooligans, and Australian larrikins." , there is no known evidence the meaning of the adjective is derived from the characteristics of any person or people named Bogan.

Elements of the Stereotype

The bogan stereotype is essentially the same as the British stereotype of a chav, or the American white trash, with some specific Australian cultural features. Note the term bogan is also commonly used to describe a similar stereotype befitting some New Zealanders. Most Australian aspects of the stereotype do not pertain to the New Zealand equivalent; aging Australian cars are the chief exception to this rule.

The stereotype may be summarized as follows:

• White, overwhelmingly Anglo-Celtic
• Poor, particularly on the dole or living in public housing.
• Often having an unattractive and brutish voice, manner, and appearance.
• Violent, anti-social, regularly criminal behaviour.
• Interested in sport, particularly Australian Rules or Rugby League football, depending on which sporting code is dominant in the bogan's area.
• Diet consists primarily of fast food, such as McDonalds and Pizza Hut. Four and Twenty meat pies (and other regional brands, such as Balfour's in Adelaide) are particularly prized for their nationalist connotations.
• Unintelligent, uneducated, anti-intellectual - more specifically, racist, radically nationalistic, and homophobic.
• Culturally blue-collar
• Uses traditionally working class dialect and pronunciation; for example, using 'youse' (plural form of 'you'), 'nuthin' ('nothing') , sumthin ('something'), anythink ('anything'), wiv ("with"), brang ("brought"), Dun eg. "I dun that yesterday" and Seen eg. "I seen it last week." .
• Sexually immoral. This stereotype is particularly applied to women and girls, and is particularly associated with being a single mother.
• A heavy drinker of pre-mixed bourbon and cola cans such as Woodstock & Cougar. A typical drink at a public bar would be a bourbon and coke, or 'Bundy' and coke (disparaged as "bogan juice"). 'Bundy' is a diminutive of Bundaberg Rum, a popular brand amongst bogans. Victoria Bitter beer is also highly prized, both because of its price and nationalistic associations.
• Often (although not necessarily) prone to the use of marijuana.
• Live in low standard housing with un-mowed grass and a 1980s Ford Falcon in a state of disrepair and sitting on bricks (the wheels have been removed) in the front yard or nature-strip.
• Tasteless. The basic idea of this aspect of the stereotype is that the bogan attempts to imitate desirable characteristics of 'normal', wealthier people and fails due to their own ignorance. For example: giving their children supposedly 'classy' but actually ridiculous non-standard names such as Dakota, McKenzie, Chappelle or Mercedes; wearing designer labels yet still appearing ludicrous; having a comically fake tan in an effort to resemble a member of the jet-set.
• Although not particular just to Bogans, living week to week on from their paychecks or social security benefits is definitely a pronounced habit amongst some. Wasting money on poker machines and items in large shopping malls, and not having a long term financial plan are factors common to most bogans.
• There is a detailed stereotype of what bogans wear, which includes Moccasin-style slippers, ugg boots 'uggs', jeans or black leggings, Blue Bonds singlets (known as 'Wife Beaters') , flannelette shirts (or black jerseys and jeans in Waitakere/West Auckland) and prominent tattoos, "stubbies" (tight 'footy shorts'), thongs/sandals/flip flops and sunnies. This can also include tracksuit pants (tracky dacks) in the case of younger male bogans, primarily due to their cheap price. Popular brands of "label" clothing include Kappa, Wu Tang, Fubu, Damani Dada and Fila. Inappropriate/unseasonal nudity can at times also be observed, primarily among males, for example walking bare chested around shopping malls or sporting arenas, and a noticable lack of footwear in public places. Ford or Holden racing car jackets and other related clothing are also favourites.
• Wearing a "mullet" hairstyle, or bleached hair with regrowth showing.
• Smoking. The brand of cigarette particularly associated with bogans is Winfield Blue 'Winnie blues' or Longbeach. Another factor of this stereotype is the storage of the cigarette packet tucked inside the t-shirt sleeve at shoulder height.
• There is a similarly detailed stereotype related to music, based around metal and Australian 'pub rock' - primarily Jimmy Barnes and his band Cold Chisel, particularly their song Khe Sanh, and AC/DC 'Acka Dacka'. Barnes is valued not only due to nationalistic associations, but also because, with such songs as Working Class Man, adherents of the stereotype presumably feel that he empathises with their typical reality and mindset. The drunk young man who loudly and gutturally demands that a band 'play some Barnesy', or 'play Khe Sanh', regardless of the band's style, is a recognisable element of the stereotype. Other musical artists prized by bogans might include Metallica, Rose Tattoo and The Angels (mainly among older adherents of the stereotype), the Choirboys, Noiseworks, the Screaming Jets, and possibly James Reyne. As "Techno" (as they call anything from trance to house music) has faded in popularity among people who were nightclubbing ten years ago, it has become very popular with Bogans also. Techno is also referred to as "Doof Doof" music by Bogans.

Bogan pride

Partly due to nostalgic reminiscence of the bogan hey-day of the 1980s, and partly as an expression of Australian nationalistic pride, the term "bogan" has been reclaimed somewhat as a badge of pride amongst some Australians, despite its origins as a pejorative term. Radio station Triple J held a popular "National Bogan Day" on 28 June 2002 which they commemorated by playing music from bands such as Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil and AC/DC. An Australian "bogan pride" website bogan.com.au was archived on the National Library of Australia's Pandora Archive in August 2006, as it was considered to be "of significance and to have long-term research value".

Actress Holly Valance, resident in Los Angeles for several years, is one celebrity who proudly states her bogan credentials in interviews with the Australian press.

Cultural references

• 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.

• Melbourne band TISM released a song written from the point of view of a bogan beating up a mod, "The Fosters Car Park Boogie", on their 1988 album Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance.

• The SBS televison show, Pizza portrayed a stereotypical bogan character named Davo (played by Jabba). Davo is often depicted wearing a flannelette shirt, thongs and a singlet. He also undertakes stereotypical bogan activities including drinking Victoria Bitter beer, smoking cannabis, talking bogan slang and is often referred to as a bogan by other characters.

• Australian comedian Chris Franklin's public persona is that of a self-proclaimed "King of the Bogans", which frequently depicts him eating meat pies, wearing a flannelette shirt with its sleeves ripped off, and occasionally with 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 relationship.[1]

• 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."

• "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.

• The Australian film Mallboy is about a teenager trying to grow up in a working-class community that defines itself by anti-social behaviour, crime, drug abuse, unstable families and boredom in suburban Melbourne.

Use in Marketing

"Cub" or "Cashed Up Bogan" has been used by one marketing researcher to describe people of a blue-collar background now earning a high salary, spending those earnings on such items as show-piece utility vehicles, jewellery and home appliances.

In modern use (2006) Bogan is also kown to be someone who lacks physical ablility, not due to to any mental problem, just due to bad coordination. This coordination is caused due to lankyness (see Lanky).

Regional equivalent terms

Although the term "bogan" is understood across Australia (and parts of New Zealand), certain regions utilise their own slang terms to mean the same group of people. These terms include:

• The term "westie" (or "westy") seems to predate "bogan" by some years, originating in Sydney, New South Wales in the 1970s to refer to people from that city's western suburbs. It is also used in Melbourne to describe people from their western suburbs. "Westie" is also used in Auckland, New Zealand to refer to the inhabitants of the suburb of Waitakere.
• In Hobart, Tasmania, the term "chigger" (also ""chigga" or "chig") is used. This appears to be a reference to the Hobart suburb of Chigwell.
• "Bevan" in Queensland.
• "Booner" or "boon" in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.
• "Gully" in Temora, New South Wales.
• In Adelaide, the term "Southern Scum" refers to those living in the deep southern areas, in particular, Hackham, Christies Beach, Morphett Vale, but predominantly Hackham who are particularly known as "Hackhamites". 'Southern Scum' awareness has been brought to Adelaide's attention more frequently by radio show announcer and former Big Brother Housemate, Ryan Fitzgerald, aka, Fitzy, who originates from the south.

See also

• Dres (Poland)
• White Trash (United States and Canada)
• Redneck (USA)
• Hesher (USA)
• Skid (United States and Canada)
• classism
• westie (Australia & NZ)
• yobbo
• Gronk
• Raggare (Sweden)
• Skeet (Newfoundland)
• Headbanging
• Mook (USA)
• Chav (UK)

External links

• Bogan.com.au: Australian Bogan website
• Bogan.co.nz: New Zealand Bogan website
• Save the Bogan (humorous website classifying bogans as an endangered species)
• Bogans - The Movie (New Zealand short film, featuring Peter Jackson)
• Warner Music Australia: Bogan! Simply the Best Pub Rock Album (compilation album: "...jam packed full of the best pub anthems that would get any mullet banging.")