Greetings
How ya going?
A greeting — reply 'Good, you?'
Hello / how are you. Not a question about your journey.
Daily life
The Doctor
The Fremantle Doctor
The strong south-westerly sea breeze that arrives most summer afternoons and drops the temperature ten degrees. Perth plans its evenings around it.
Freo
FREE-oh
Fremantle, the port city at the mouth of the Swan. A separate place with its own character, not a Perth suburb in spirit.
Rotto
ROT-oh
Rottnest Island, 19km offshore — quokkas, no private cars, and the ferry from Freo or Hillarys.
SmartRider
'Tag on with your SmartRider'
Transperth's card. You tag on and tag off, and autoload gets you the cheapest fare on the network.
Togs
Rhymes with 'dogs'
Swimwear. WA and Queensland say togs, Melbourne says bathers, Sydney says cossies.
Servo / bottle-o
SERV-oh, BOTTL-oh
Petrol station / liquor shop. WA has some of the tightest liquor licensing in the country — plan around it.
Sprinkler roster
Checked on the Water Corporation site
Your two permitted watering days, allocated by street number. Watering outside them is fineable, and all sprinklers are banned 1 June to 31 August.
Work
FIFO
FIE-foh
Fly-in fly-out. Mine site work on rosters like two weeks on, one week off. A huge share of Perth households have someone doing it.
Social
Sundowner
SUN-down-a
Evening drinks, usually outdoors and usually facing west. In a city with the Indian Ocean on its doorstep this is a genuine institution.
Emergency
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Some of this may be out of date.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.