Every so often a new piece of slang gains momentum in our culture. Thanks to a recent popular song, smoko became one such piece of slang propelled from hazy beginnings into the spotlight.
A smoko is a break from work or any activity in order to smoke a cigarette as well as referring more generally to a rest from work, or a tea break. As in:
Eight hours a day and time off for smokos – David Malouf
I’m on Smoko so leave me alone – The Chats
With many of us working from home, the smoko might look a bit different and while we don’t condone smoking at Macquarie Dictionary, we are still in favour of this excellent piece of Aussie slang and in taking regular breaks. So yes, when we are on smoko, we want to be left alone.
We are always on the lookout for new words, words that have changed definition and words that are having their moment in the spotlight. Check out our April new words blogs to see which popular words are on our radar.
For more fantastic slang words like smoko, take a look out our Australian Word Map.
Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.
