The Handy Guide For Understanding The Word “Mate”

If you follow some friends who live in Australia on Twitter, or any social media site, you have probably seen the word “mate” in their correspondence. I live in Atlanta, and we don’t use the word mate here, well, at least not in the way they mean it in Australia. So, it’s always fun to see that word floating around here and there.

Have you ever stopped to think about what exactly the word mate actually means? I’ve seen and heard it used in so many different ways, so it’s always been a little bit of a mystery to me. We won’t have to be confused anymore since now there is an entire website devoted to educating us newbies all about that elusive word, mate.

The website is called The Meaning Of Mate, and it consists of 18 different ways to use the word mate, complete with a tiny video for each one to illustrate how it’s used. Mate must be a pretty iconic word in Australia if it can be used 18 different ways. The Meaning Of Mate project was conceived and executed by Collector’s Edition, and they launched this a few months ago for Australia Day. I’ve put the first two videos below, and you can click over to the website to see the other 16. Now that I understand this word, I’ve got to work on my Australian accent so it will sound right when I say it. I mean, saying the word mate with a southern accent from the United States just doesn’t cut it. I never knew a simple 4 letter word could be so much fun!

The Meaning Of Mate