Greetings
How ya going?
A greeting — answer 'Good thanks, you?'
Hello / how are you. Not a question about the trip up the M1.
Social
Novocastrian
noh-voh-CAS-tree-un
Someone from Newcastle. Used seriously and often — the local paper, the football club and the university all reach for it. Confusingly, people from Newcastle upon Tyne use it too.
The Pasha
PASH-uh
The Pasha Bulker, the bulk carrier that ran aground on Nobbys Beach in the June 2007 storm and sat there for weeks. Still the local unit of measurement for a big weather event.
Knock-off at the Kent
—
The Kent Hotel in Hamilton, and the broader habit of a Friday beer garden. Newcastle keeps earlier hours than Sydney and the good pubs fill at five, not nine.
Daily life
The Hunter
—
The Hunter Valley and its river — the coalfields, the vineyards, Maitland, Cessnock and Singleton. Newcastle is the port at the end of it, and the region's economy and the city's are the same conversation.
Togs / cossies
—
Swimwear. Newcastle sits on the boundary — you will hear Sydney's 'cossies' and Queensland's 'togs' in the same conversation. Nobody will correct you.
The Baths
—
The ocean baths — tidal saltwater pools cut into the rock at Newcastle and Merewether. Merewether is the largest in the southern hemisphere. Free, open, and the single most Novocastrian thing you can do before work.
The Interchange
—
Newcastle Interchange at Wickham, where the Sydney train now stops. Heavy rail was cut back from the old CBD terminus in December 2014 and light rail covers the last stretch — a decision people here still argue about.
Darby Street
DAR-bee
The café and shopping strip in Cooks Hill, and the standard answer to 'where should we meet'. Beaumont Street in Hamilton is the other one, and it is the Greek and Italian side of the city.
Stockton
STOK-tun
The suburb across the harbour mouth, reached by a five-minute passenger ferry or a thirty-minute drive around. Also shorthand for the city's long-running coastal erosion problem, which has taken metres off its beach.
Emergency
Swim between the flags
—
The most important sentence on any Australian beach. Red and yellow flags mark the patrolled area. Rip currents kill more people here every year than sharks, floods and bushfires combined.
Triple zero
Dial 000 for police, fire or ambulance
The emergency number. Say which service you need; 112 also connects from any mobile.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.