FlySurfer said..
So when are you supposed to use each?

Buddy - only when taking the piss out of Seppos or talking to Lance Franklin.

Bro - only when taking the piss out of Kiwi's

Mate - everything else

You left out wanker

I get "Champ" off wog real estate agents.
I get satisfaction knowing that they think they are killing it.

FlySurfer said..
But it seems like everyone is using bro these days... seppos, poms, kiwis, people with accents and now a lot of locals.

Like every other american word they copy.

I so hate that

Beached as bro
You better watch out buddy
Maaaate

Don't you all know the rules of the ocean ?

In simple terms :

When on starboard tack leaving the beach, under sail with keel retracted and the other vessel is on the opposite tack having just gybed clockwise - then its 'maaaate'

Port tack to port tack, or one vessel is foiling, or more than one vessel is a kite with the upstream rider keeping the kite low - then it is 'hey buddy'

At secret Western Australia desert locations, or on the Gold Coast Broadwater, when the combined travelling speed is less than the total signed speed limit, or no speed limit is signed, one or more vessels are auxiliary solar power assisted and at least two vessels are displaying the red and yellow checked flag, then it is 'Look out Bro'

In Seabreeze general forum, where the original poster has more than 3,000 posts and a user name beginning with a letter from A to M and the reply has no spelling or grammatical errors then either 'mate' or 'buddy' is the usual convention.

At most other times it is '**** off wanker'

Good one Chief!

It's really effing simple, there's only one word to remember: "mate" All Australians should be able to handle that.

It even works when you're holding a gun on someone (we've all been there...)

Bro is recent Seppo-speak. You'd never hear that in old movies.
Yes it"s has caught on down here - too many american sitcoms on the idiot box.
Too close to 'bromance' for my taste...

Friends: devalued, as in "I got 10 billion friends on Facebook".

Mates are aplenty, mateship is rare. We call everyone a mate, but fact is, we have very few real mates, from early life usually. Past 30s, they're just good friends.

A mate of mine in a large company used to greet people in the morning with "eh, reckon she bangs?". IBM, of all places - no joke. His argument was that people around him weren't mates, so he didn't want to greet with "how's'goin' mate?". Nice guy...

It's all "backpacker speak" now, as in "Hey Guys".

Any ad on Gumtree that starts with "Hey Guys" is some backpacker trying to flog off something he has used the crap out of and owes him nothing and he wants more than he paid for it.

If somebody calls you "pal", you are obviously not his pal.

"Mate" is the universal Aussieism that can be friendly, neutral, sarcastic, unfriendly or even aggressive depending on voice inflection.

I tend to distrust anybody who calls me buddy or bro or gives me anything but a conventional hand shake. They might work for African Americans but not for me.

ockanui said..

I agree, the other thing is the hand signals, mate what happened to the "old thumbs up" symbol of Aussie spirit rather than this " I'm. an Hawaiian waterman hand signal" that seen in lots of photos....FFS ....

Yeah, don't even get me started on all these fancy "handshakes"

I use bro all the time and I'm not even a kiwi...I also use china a lot and get some weird looks especially when I drop the e off the end....

haven't heard "China" used in a while

Q:Why didn't the Kiwis get to the moon?
Ran out off scaff tube !

You don't see the forks much any more. It's all the bird and that's just not right.