If you’re looking for a gender-neutral term for a firefighter that sounds kind of cute you’re sure to like this week’s common Aussie slang expression. Firie follows a common pattern in Australian informal English of shortening a word and then adding ‘y’ or ‘ie’. In my chippy post from earlier this year, I list some of the most common trades and you’ll notice that the majority of these also follow this pattern.

The expression firie has been around since the 1980s and refers to both volunteer firies and career firies. There are a large number of volunteer firies in Australia, especially in rural areas. These people do not get paid for their efforts and will often sacrifice their time and effort out of a sense of duty to their community.

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Glossary

gender-neutral – relating to words that do no show gender, and especially not male or female

firefighter – a person whose job it is to stop fires from burning

trade – a job, especially one that needs special skill, that involves working with your hands

volunteer – used to describe someone who works without expecting payment

career – full-time, paid firefighters

rural – relating to the countryside and not to towns

sacrifice – to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person

sense of duty – A person with a sense of duty has the type of character that makes them want to do the right thing.