Bogan

This article is about the slang term. For the concept in Star Wars, see The Force. For the 2017 film, see Bogan (film).
Not to be confused with Bogen.

Melbourne street art of a stereotypical male bogan. He is depicted as a repulsive character with a cigarette in his mouth, a tomato sauce-covered meat pie in one hand and a stubby of Melbourne Bitter in the other. On his arm is a tattoo of bushranger and outlaw Ned Kelly.

Bogan (/ˈboʊɡən/ BOHG-ən[1]) is Australian and New Zealand slang for a person whose speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour are considered unrefined or unsophisticated. Depending on the context, the term can be pejorative or self-deprecating.[2] The prevalence of the term bogan has also been associated with changing social attitudes towards social class in Australia.

Since the 1980s, the bogan has become a very well-recognised subculture, often as an example of bad taste.[3][4] It has antecedents in the Australian larrikin and ocker, and various localised names exist that describe the same or very similar people to the bogan.[5]

  1. ^ "bogan noun – Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com". www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
  2. ^ Lauder, Simon (12 April 2008). "Bogan Pl residents lobby for name change". ABC. Retrieved 12 April 2008.>
  3. ^ Kay Frances Bartolo. "'Bogan' Polite or not? Cultural implications of a term in Australian slang" (PDF). Griffith University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  4. ^ Melenie Parkes (20 November 2014). "Bogan Hunters: A Field Guide". Yahoo! NZ. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  5. ^ Moore, Bruce: Of Boondies, Belgium Sausages and Boguns, (archive of dead link Archived 12 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine) Ozwords (Australian National University), November 1998.