After a break to celebrate my 25th anniversary of becoming a TESOL teacher, Common Aussie Slang is back. This week’s expression is ‘banana bender’. I forgot to include it when I was doing Common Aussie Slang starting with ‘b’, which is a surprise because I AM a banana bender. I’m also surrounded [see Glossary] by banana benders. So, what could it possibly mean?
A banana bender is simply a Queenslander. Bananas are commonly associated with Queensland because this state grows a lot of them. In fact, 94% of Australia’s banana production (in 2017/18 that was more than 364,000 tonnes) occurs in the Sunshine State.
Interstate rivalry in Australia is common and, as a result, Aussies tend to take any opportunity to put down another state or territory.
“Did you know that bananas actually grow straight and need people to put the bends in them? That’s what those banana benders up north do all day.”
This is an example of how people from the southern states might talk about Queenslanders. Of course, this statement isn’t true. Bananas grow that way naturally. Aussies love to tease, though. So, if an Aussie tells you something that sounds a bit odd, it’s best to take it with a pinch of salt.
The expression banana bender has been around for a long time. The Australian National University states that it was first recorded over 80 years ago, in 1940, and is still commonly heard today.
Despite it being used to deride Queenslanders, I’m proud to be called a banana bender. Right, I have to go now. I’ve got a big pile of bananas to bend!
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Glossary
surround – to be everywhere around something
Queenslander – a native or inhabitant of the Australian state of Queensland
associated – connected
production – the process of making or growing goods to be sold
tonne – a unit of weight in the metric system, equal to 1,000 kilograms
Sunshine State – a nickname for Queensland
interstate – involving two or more of the states into which some countries such as Australia are divided
rivalry – a situation in which people, businesses, etc. compete with each other for the same thing
put down [informal] – to make someone feel silly or not important by criticising them
bend – a curved part of something
tease – to laugh at someone or say unkind things about them, either because you are joking or because you want to upset that person
odd – strange or unexpected
take something with a pinch of salt [idiom] – to not completely believe something that you are told, because you think it is unlikely to be true
deride – to laugh at or show no respect for someone or something, because you think they are stupid or of no value
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