“Please don’t dob me in.”
“You’re dobbed on.”
“I can’t believe he dobbed me in!”
“I’m going to dob on you.”
The most common meaning of ‘dob’ in Australian slang is ‘to inform upon (someone); to incriminate (someone) [Australian National University]. For example, a person may dob their neighbour in to the city council for leaving their rubbish bins out on the footpath for too long; or a child may dob on a sibling because they have done something naughty. In the first example, a person would contact their local city council (call, email, fill in a form, etc.) and report on the wrongdoing of their neighbour, and in the second, a child would tell a parent/guardian the ‘bad behaviour’ their sibling had done.
Dob is used as part of a phrasal verb and, as seen in the four examples at the start of the post, is usually combined with ‘in’ or ‘on’. Take care not to mix them up, though. The following examples are incorrect:
“Please don’t dob me on.”
“You’re dobbed in.”
“I can’t believe he dobbed me on!”
“I’m going to dob in you.”
Just as dag featured heavily in my childhood vocabulary, so too did ‘dob’. In fact, ‘dob’ was probably used a lot more often as we did a lot of ‘dobbing’ when we were children. This is a common thing in childhood. In American English, it is known as ‘to tattletale’. As people get older, though, dobbing tends to become less acceptable. In fact, ‘many Australians take a dim view of dobbing’ (Australian National University). As a result, dobbers usually keep their dobbing quiet as some Aussies believe it’s wrong to dob in your mates. Interestingly, these same people may feel differently if the dobber is a whistle-blower.
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Glossary
incriminate – to make it seem as if somebody has done something wrong or illegal
city council – the local government of a city
sibling – a brother or sister
naughty – When a child is naughty, they behave badly or do not do what they are told to do.
wrongdoing – a bad or an illegal action
guardian – a person who has the legal right and responsibility of taking care of someone who cannot take care of himself or herself, such as a child whose parents have died
feature heavily – was used a lot
vocabulary – all the words known and used by a particularly person
take a dim view of something [idiom] – to disapprove of something
dobber – a person who secretly tell someone in authority that someone else has done something wrong
keep something quiet – to not tell people about something
whistle-blower – a person who tells someone in authority about something illegal that is happening, especially in a business or government
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