bogan

English

Etymology 1

Australian sense possibly after the Bogan River.

Noun

bogan (plural bogans)

1. (Australia, slang, derogatory) A person perceived to be unsophisticated or of a lower class background.
   • 1999, Tim Winton, Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster, page 6,

     Bogans were Lockie's least favorite kind of people.

   • 2009, Catherine Deveny, Free to a Good Home, page 47,

     The Reservoir I grew up in was populated by menacing, toothless Torana-driving bogans, crushed menthol-smoking pensioners and toddlers who swore.

2. (Australia, slang, obsolete) Something of poor quality.
3. (New Zealand, slang, derogatory) An Anglo-Celtic member of a lower socioeconomic group, stereotypically classified as wearing black jumpers or black concert T-shirts.
4. (New Zealand, slang, derogatory) A petrolhead.
5. (Canada, North Western Ontario, slang, derogatory) An aboriginal person perceived as having gangster ties.

Synonyms

• (unsophisticated person): dag (Australia), chav (British), redneck (US)
• (poor Anglo-Celtic person): bevan (Australia, Queensland), westy / westie (Australia (esp. Sydney), NZ (esp. Auckland)), booner (Australia, Canberra), white trash (US)

Translations

unsophisticated or lower class person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 土包子 (cmn) (tǔbāozi), 鄉巴佬 (cmn), 乡巴佬 (cmn) (xiāngbalǎo)

• Finnish: maalainen (fi)
• Russian: (slang) лох (ru) (lox) m

See also

• cashed up bogan
• hoon
• booner
• chav

Verb

bogan (third-person singular simple present bogans, present participle boganning, simple past and past participle boganned)

1. (rare) To act like a bogan.

   "If you're coming in to cause trouble, don't bother ... bogan it up at home." - Lord Mayor Robert Doyle [1]

Etymology 2

Apparently a conflation of logan (from pokelogan) with bog.

Noun

bogan (plural bogans)

1. (Canada) Any narrow water or creek, particularly a tranquil backwater.
   • 2001, Charles G. D. Roberts, Seán Virgo, Kindred of the Wild, page 130:

     All around the shores of the narrow bogan crowded the beasts, watching with wide, fascinated eyes the flight and fall of these disastrous missiles.

Anagrams

• Gabon

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈboɣɑn/

Noun

bogan

1. Plural form of boga