A reader named 'bump' asked about the phrase "bloody hell", which has been used in a recent Australian tourism advertisement. (You can see the ad here: http://www.wherethebloodyhellareyou.com/index_japanese.html)

This phrase are very common in Australia, and there are several different ways it can be used. Here are some of the most common ones:

1. "Bloody hell!"
This expression is commonly used in Australian as a mild curse phrase, to express annoyance or surprise.

E.g. “Bloody hell! This spider is huge!”

2. "hell" / "the hell"
"the hell" is sometimes added to a question phrase to add a strong feeling of surprise, shock, or anger. I wouldn't advise using this expression, because it can sound very aggressive.

E.g. "What the hell is that?" [expressing surprise at seeing something]
E.g. "Where the hell have you been?" [expressing anger]

(This kind of "the hell" expression is much more common than "the bloody hell" expression that's used in the tourism advertisement. I think they used "the bloody hell" in the ad because it sounds a bit more silly than "the hell", which sounds too aggressive.)

3. "bloody"
"bloody" is commonly used as an equivalent to "very".

E.g. "It's bloody hot." = "It's very hot."

"Bloody" can also be used as an adjective to express annoyance towards something. I wouldn't recommend using "bloody" this way, since it can sound quite rude.

E.g. "Turn down the bloody music!"

This usage of "bloody" can be seen in Australia's long-running (and very successful) advertising campaign against drinking and driving: "If you drink, then drive, you're a bloody idiot."


Overall, using "bloody hell" and "bloody" isn't usually thought to be offensive in Australia, but they are mild swear words and shouldn't be used in very formal situations.

If anyone else has any Australian slang questions, please send them in!

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