Essential English phrases

Hello / how are you. Not a question about your commute.

What you actually buy in Canberra. There is no freehold land in the ACT — you purchase the balance of a 99-year lease from the government, plus the house on it. Banks lend on it exactly as they would on freehold.

The ACT. It is not a state — one Legislative Assembly does the job of a state parliament and a city council at once, which is why there is no separate council rates notice and no mayor.

Canberra's city centre. Nobody says 'the CBD' or 'downtown' — the district is officially City but everyone has called it Civic since the 1920s.

Belconnen, Woden, Tuggeranong and Gungahlin. Canberra was built as a set of separate towns with their own centres rather than one city, and where you live decides which one is 'your' shops.

The mountain range on the western horizon. They are the reason Canberra freezes in winter, and the reason it has a ski field two hours away.

Roughly September to April. Canberra has eastern brown snakes in ordinary suburban nature reserves and along the lake paths. Not a joke and not rare — look where you put your feet on a warm afternoon.

Swimwear. Canberra is a transplant city so you hear every state's word for it, plus 'cossies' from Sydney arrivals. Nobody corrects you here, which is unusual in Australia.

The Australian Public Service. Roughly a third of Canberra works for it directly and most of the rest sells to it. 'Are you in the APS?' is the local version of 'what do you do?'.

Public service classification levels, used socially the way other cities use job titles. EL1 is roughly a senior manager, SES is the executive band. People will tell you their level unprompted.

The city's own name for itself. Half the built-up area is nature reserve, kangaroos graze on the edge of suburbs at dusk, and the bushfire risk that comes with it is real rather than decorative.

The emergency number. Say which service you need; 112 also connects from any mobile.