"wadjela" means: Relating to white people.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
wadjela
(AU, Aboriginal, _, slang) Relating to white people.
Definitions
(AU, Aboriginal, _, slang) Relating to white people.
Finally, the colonisers were attempting genocide, they wanted us all dead. If I identified with my wadjela ancestry at the expense of my Aboriginality, the colonisers win.
"wadjela" means: Relating to white people.. This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
"wadjela" means: Relating to white people.. Register: informal slang, fine in casual conversation, texting and social media but not in academic essays, business writing or formal speech. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
Comments
(AU, Aboriginal, _, slang) A white person.
It was the wadjelas that created the ‘one drop’ rule, that defined anybody with a single bla(c)k ancestor as black. ‘Traditional’ is such loaded language, enshrining a belief that we are stuck in the past rather than being one of the mos…
Comments
For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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🇦🇺About Australian & NZ slang slang
Aussie and Kiwi vocabulary — bogan, daggy, brekkie, sheila, bach, jandals — the whole Antipodean lexicon, including outback dialect, surf and beach culture, and Sydney/Melbourne street slang.
See all Australian & NZ slang slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "wadjela" (W)
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Semantically related
- whitefella68%
(Australia) A white man or Caucasian person, especially as opposed to an Aboriginal Australian.
- abelungu62%
White people collectively.
- whitefeller60%
(Australia) A white settler in Australia; a non-Aboriginal Australian; often used attributively.
- abelungu60%
(South Africa, now, _, chiefly, _, pejorative) White people collectively.