… a hairstyle that is short at the front and sides, and long in the back. Often ridiculed as a lowbrow and unappealing hairstyle, and facetiously referred to as “business in the front, party in the back. … the mullet is particularly associated with blue collar men, fans of country  and heavy metal music … as well as lesbians … thugs … or professional footballers. In Australia the haircut is associated with Bogans and NRL players, particularly those from the 1980s, as well as Lebanese-Australian youths.

They are demographically over-represented at Merrylands. What’s a Bogan? Again I delved into Wikipedia:

The term bogan (rhyming with slogan) is Australian and New Zealand English slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for a person who is, or is supposed to be, of a lower-class background and whose characteristics exemplify, often crudely, this background. The speech and mannerisms of a bogan, according to the stereotype, are such as to indicate poor education, a preference for cheap clothing, and uncultured upbringing. ‘Bogans’ tend to reside in outer metropolitan areas or large country towns.

The term has recently been applied to real estate, aka “boganvilla”, to describe large houses on small blocks of land in outer suburban areas, similar to the term “McMansion” in the United States. This term plays on the plant name “bougainvillia”, considered a weed in northern parts of Australia because of its prolific growth habit.

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A more expansive definition from www.bogan.com.au, their own, witty web-site:

BOGAN (pronunciation boe-gn) is a term used primarily in Australia to describe a particular section of the working class demographic.  This derogatory slang word is a gender-neutral noun; this being important as many bogans tend to gravitate towards one another forming relationships and extended families.  A bogan family is not an uncommon phenomena in certain regions.  A bogan typically resides in either a low-cost housing estate, government housing or in the outlying regional areas of continental Australia.  Generally bogans tend to congregate in areas with little or no features & amenities.

Generally the bogan fits a particular stereotypical image.  The perception of what actually constitutes a bogan has been shaped over the years primarily by the media; notable especially are television programs such as Channel 7′s Today Tonight and Channel 9′s A Current Affair.  These programs regularly feature stories of harrowing boganism including communities under siege from bogan terrorism, and bogans “rorting the system” in relation to welfare benefits and questionable practices.  A number of comedy programs have also featured bogans in the past, prime examples being Kylie Mole of The Comedy Company, Poida (bogan pronunciation of the name “Peter”) played by Eric Bana, and more recently Bloke Man of the Comedy Inc late shift.  Eric Bana’s portrayal of the character Poida gained him accolades within the industry and effectively launched his professional acting career.  This is one of very few examples of extreme boganism leading to success & wealth.

So now we have a basic understanding of the bogan, we may delve further into the mysterious world of mullets and long-kneck beer bottles in brown paper bags. Traits of the bogan can be summarised by the following points:

• A pronounced lack of dress sense in social situations.  Typical bogan attire consists of a flannelette shirt, King Gee stubbie shorts (either blue/khaki), torn or soiled jeans from the 1980′s or earlier, and of course double-plug standard issue white thong sandals with black rubber.  A bogan’s dress sense is not influenced by intended destination/occasion hence the line between workwear and formal wear is often hazy at best.  On rare occasions bogans may be spotted wearing enclosed shoes when entering the local RSL to “have a slap on the pokies” or to “get pissed wif me mates on the veebs (VB)”.  A female bogan will usually wear a matching ensemble usually consisting of second-hand fashions or products purchased from the discount retail chains Best and Less or Big W.

• A lack of personal hygiene.  A bogan will often allow his/her hair to grow into an attractive style named the “mullet” as popularised in the 1980′s.  A hair cut is a rare event for the bogan, and most styling occurs when the razor is brought out to either a) produce a “skinhead” style cut or b) a “frullet” (front-mullet).  Similar styles apply for females, however the female bogan frequently colours her hair auburn.  The bogan bathroom usually contains a bar of multi-purpose soap used for both cleaning the family, washing the hair, styling the hair and manicures/pedicures.  Whilst most non-bogans will use Eau de Toilette spray as a perfume, the most common boganistic fragrance is “Odour of Toilet”.  The bogan frequently rosters showers at irregular intervals such as once a week for males and twice for females

• Distinct vocabulary.  The bogan language is somewhat foreign to most English-speaking people.  For example in boaglish, the word “shooting” would be pronounced as “shootun”.  Similarly, the word “look out” is pronounced as “look eet”.  The boaglish alphabet does not contain the letters “i” or “g”, hence the pronunciation of words containing the suffix -ing are simply pronounced -un.  Examples include “rootun” (rooting), “fishun” (fishing) and the common phrase “where’s me fuckun beer woman” (what is the current location of my alcoholic beverage dearest female partner).  The boaglish vocabulary is mostly limited to frequent curse-words and miss-pronunciation of common English words.  A common bogan trait also includes shortening words.  Locations such as the Wyong Leagues Club become the “leaguesy”, the Crown Casino becomes the “leaguesy” and females/males such as Sharon/Barry become “Shaz” and “Baz”.

• A particular choice in motor vehicle.  The bogan usually drives one of two makes of vehicle.  Typically this is either a Holden or a Ford.  Common bogan variants manufactured by each of these companies include the Holden Commodore (VB-VP models), Holden Kingswood and the Ford Falcon (all models up to the recent EF).  Other well known bogan vehicles include early model Datsuns and Toyotas . “.

• Choice in music.  The bogan prefers either metal or pub rock.  A bogan would suggest that the song Khe Sanh by Cold Chisel would be a more appropriate national anthem than Advance Australia Fair.  AC/DC is also a popular choice.  Anything Barnesy. Midnight Oil is another classic example of the bogan genre.

• Employment status.  The common bogan is either a) not employed or b) a tradesman/labourer.  A bogan employee can be spotted kitted up in a fluorescent vest or polo shirt.  Unemployed bogans often frequent RSL’s/clubs for discount lunches during the day, before continuing on to the local Centrelink office to receive the hard-earned cash of the tax-paying public.  This will be followed by a journey to the most convenient bottle shop (“bottlo”) to purchase 2×24 cartons (“slabs”) of Victoria Bitter (“Veebs”) for $60.  Also included in this purchase is the all-important packet of Winfield Reds (“Smokes”).  The rest of this pension money is budgeted towards the “pokies” at the local pub

• A poorly-maintained house or unit.  As previously mentioned, the bogan often resides in regions of a lower socio-economic standing.  Basically, in most cases the bogan is located some way inland from a coastal fringe or major waterway.  In the case of Sydney, this has lead to the term “westie” being coined in order to distinguish the boganistic population of the inland western suburbs from the more affluent residents of the east.  In the case of NSW/QLD and Victoria, the majority of bogans are located on or west of the Great Dividing Range.  Whilst this is not always the case, it is important to note that the concentration of bogans per capita is somewhat higher in these areas.

All-in-all the bogan is seen as a top bloke by his mates, but is a menace to the rest of society.  Our bogan awareness campaign aims to expose the secrets of the bogan by delving into previously uncharted territory…. n shit

This is a long description but the author (the Bogan at the cricket) is an entertaining writer. We have two bogans in the family. Neither sport a mullet; one is completely hairy with only face showing and beard to solar plexus, has a Harley but no licence and writes:

 na! i wish.the hog is resting , have been stuck working in NSW for 2 months but the time will come. but will sends pics when it happens

 and:

 haha have a day an a half of work then flyin home for 2 wks off yeah yeah yeah going to camp on the beach for some chillin. how about yourself young lady

 Her response:

 Sounds good hahaha hope you enjoy your time off I’m still going with the flow too. I go for my Ps on tuesday, hope the flow involves me passing hehehehe

 And I got 30 days to move, really hoping the flow leads me to a good house (but I am prepared to settle for crap) HAHAHA

So whatcha got planned for your 2 weeks off?

and:

sounds good. a new venture in life . GO GIRL !!!! planning on sitting on a beacch and blowing a few spliffs

When I first came to Facebook, I was surprised at this style but Facebook is how he and I to communicate, and his (and her) writing style is common. The net has encouraged new communication channels for bogans, pointy-heads and SNOOTS to connect with associates, and that the bogans are writing, is a plus. In ‘Weblish’ I will look further into this and the conservative criticisms.