The universal mateship code

June 18, 2009 3:49 AM

Anyone who has been to Australia or talked to any Australian males (sometimes females) will know they frequently call people they have never met before or even people they're angry with: "mate". What other expressions of universal male bonding are used in other countries?
posted by vizsla to society & culture (35 comments total)

bro, man, buddy, champ, dude, boss and various variations thereof are some of the many that are popular in the US.
posted by ruwan at 3:52 AM on June 18

Also, pal and friend. To my ear, those seem more like terms you would use with strangers rather than actual friends or acquaintances. I'm in the US.
posted by ellenaim at 3:56 AM on June 18

When I was living in England more than a few men called me 'Geezer' in the same way that I'd call them 'mate'.

I'm having a bit of a blank as to the region (somewhere West?), but elsewhere in England a few female strangers (bartenders, shopkeepers and the like) called me 'my lover', which was a little odd, though quite endearing.
posted by twirlypen at 4:02 AM on June 18

'Malacha' get used a lot in Greece, both as a quite heavy duty insult (I think it translates as 'wanker') and as a term of ironic endearment used betweeen good (normaly male) friends.
posted by Chairboy at 4:02 AM on June 18

oh, and seconding 'geezer' in england, especially in london and the south east.
posted by Chairboy at 4:03 AM on June 18

chief, squire, old chap, nuncle.

And 'my lover' isn't the exclusive realm of women. Older men in the westcountry frequently address boys and younger men as 'my lover', 'my flower', 'my buck' etc.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 4:03 AM on June 18

Boy is used in Waterford in Ireland. Well boy - hello. Nah boy - no.
posted by minifigs at 4:04 AM on June 18

Other Irish phrases: head (mostly Galway, I think), boss (Sligo). As in, "howya head?"
posted by Grinder at 4:14 AM on June 18

In Scotland, "pal" is used near-ubiquitously. Glaswegians also say "china" to a friend, and Aberdonians say "min" (which is their pronounciation of 'man', so "How you doing, man?" becomes "How ye daen, min?").
posted by Happy Dave at 4:14 AM on June 18

Che in Argentina, tío in Spain.
posted by itsjustanalias at 4:14 AM on June 18

"Brov" ("brother") is now very much like "mate" in Australia amongst the younger generation in London and perhaps elsewhere for all I know.

And similar to "mate" I've heard "brov" used very aggresively (a prelude to fisticuffs) and also in a friendly/casual fashion.
posted by selton at 4:30 AM on June 18

Grew up with "brah" in Hawaii.
posted by Nothing at 4:32 AM on June 18

Oh yeah, and the South African blokes in my building call each other 'bru' all the time.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:35 AM on June 18

Chief, bud, brother, pops, captain, boss...
posted by bigmusic at 4:39 AM on June 18

Hoss
posted by orme at 4:51 AM on June 18

In Barnsley, north of England, it's "cock." Yep...
posted by creeky at 4:52 AM on June 18

"Dude" and "man" seem ubiquitous in the U.S. "Buddy" and "pal" (and "chief" and "boss") I think maybe be a bit older, in the U.S. at least, or perhaps are for more intimate acquaintances. I've also heard the following:

Miami: bro
LA: brah
NY: son, kid
Germany: alter (lit. old man)
Spain: tío (lit. uncle)
Czech Rep: ty, vole (lit. you, ox)

Then of course there's always this one
posted by DLWM at 5:05 AM on June 18

HappyDave - "China" in Scotland would be a shortening of the rhyming slang "China Plate", ie. Mate :]

I used to live in Bristol where along with "my love" you could also say "my babber", being a local slang for "my baby" - quite odd when you think about it.

In full Bristolian accent: "awwite my babber?"
posted by greenish at 5:06 AM on June 18

"dost" - bengali. though it's not exclusively a bengali word, i've only ever heard it used in the "buddy" sense of the word in bengali.
"yaar" - hindi

Both these words mean "friend" and tend to be used in the same sense as "mate".
posted by Ziggy500 at 5:11 AM on June 18

In German: Kumpel = buddy
posted by Valuev at 5:25 AM on June 18

A female shop keeper near me calls everyone she serves 'duck' about 10 times.

Similar to 'bruv', is 'blud'.
posted by lukeo05 at 5:28 AM on June 18

In the north of England "love" is prevalent. Both sexes use it for the opposite sex but men don't usually use it the same way as the "my lover" example above. In the north east of England there is "pet" which is used similarly. In the north west, "chuck".

"Mate" is very, very common in the UK. An American friend of a friend recently came to the UK for the first time. The customs bloke said something like "papers please, mate" and he replied "I'm not Australian". The bloke just looked at him, trying to decipher this non-sequitar.
posted by ninebelow at 5:30 AM on June 18 [1 favorite]

In (coastal?) South Carolina one says 'Bo'. Never heard it anywhere else in the US!
posted by toastchee at 5:42 AM on June 18

In Urdu as in Hindi, yaar. In Urdu as spoken in Karachi, bhai or bhaiyya ('brother'). Some urban Punjabi: paa ji.

But yaar is the most common.
posted by tavegyl at 5:47 AM on June 18

"Hey, dude, your shorts are on fire."

(my dad interjects "brother" when he's trying to be extra casual with me. It's kinda weird.)
posted by notsnot at 5:57 AM on June 18 [1 favorite]

On Long Island, some people use "honey" for *everyone*.
posted by kosmonaut at 6:03 AM on June 18

Can't speak to how common it is, but when a friend and I visited Ireland last year we were called "lads" at least once. (Note: we're both in our thirties and the person speaking appeared to be about our own age.) This was in Dublin, if it makes a difference.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 6:10 AM on June 18

I'm having a bit of a blank as to the region (somewhere West?), but elsewhere in England a few female strangers (bartenders, shopkeepers and the like) called me 'my lover', which was a little odd, though quite endearing.

That would be Cornwall. I had the same reaction as you.

Seconding: mate, bruv, geezer, guv (or guv'nor) in the UK. Mate would be far more common, in my experience. [Though not everyone gets it: a utility helpdesk worker asked my friend his name, he replied 'it's Brad, mate' and got mail addressed to Mr Brad Mate. He then got accused of fraud when he tried to correct their records....]
posted by Infinite Jest at 6:17 AM on June 18

In Polish you have 'kolega' ('kolego' when calling someone), which literally means "colleague", but also refers to any sort of not-too-close acquaintance. Probably stems from children in school being referred to as each others "colleagues". You'll often hear it in confrontational bar room situations as well.

Poles also use the polite pronoun, Pani or Pan (Ma'am or Sir) with anyone they don't know. When I moved back to Poland I wasn't 100% on how this worked, so it was really weird for me to hear a bus driver to telling someone to get out of his fucking way, using the polite form.
posted by jedrek at 6:23 AM on June 18

Can't speak to how common it is, but when a friend and I visited Ireland last year we were called "lads" at least once. (Note: we're both in our thirties and the person speaking appeared to be about our own age.) This was in Dublin, if it makes a difference.

Lads is common all over Ireland.
posted by minifigs at 6:34 AM on June 18

"Cus" short for cousin. Mostly in usage with young black guys here in the SE US.
posted by torquemaniac at 7:18 AM on June 18

In Eastern Canada, you've got b'y (boy, pronounced by)...e.g "how's she goin', b'y?"
posted by Pomo at 8:19 AM on June 18

"Hiya butt" is common in the valleys of South Wales.
posted by ceri richard at 9:12 AM on June 18

Many male tagalog speakers use 'pare' (pronounced pah-reh not pear) to similar ends, originally from the spanish compadre, but not quite the same in meaning.
posted by gushn at 10:59 AM on June 18

"Comrade" (同志) used to be quite common in China, and I suppose other communist countries, but now has the connotation of homosexual.
posted by monocot at 3:00 PM on June 18