Let’s peel back the wrappers to the sweet centre of what is a lolly, the slang terms and more to satisfy any sweet tooth…

The lowdown on the Local Lingo…

In the Northern Territory, where we enjoy the warm weather (when it behaves), we also have a unique Tru-Blu Aussie twist to the language.

It’s those everyday local terms that somehow find their way into my stories.

Terms that are foreign to some of my overseas readers.

And the fun part is, I get to interpret them like this word: Lolly.

What is the Aussie Version of Lolly?

The lolly is a sweet or confectionery known to some as candy. Mostly the hard candy variety, that has been a part of the Australian vocabulary since the 1850s.

It’s not to be confused with chocolate, which we call chokkie.

But to really confuse you, taffy is also considered a lolly, but we still call the candy cane a candy cane.

Oh, and lolly is singular. Lollies are plural, coz you can never stop at one!

via GIPHY

The sweet history of the lolly

The lolly was first created by the caveman from eating honeycombs and honey to create a taffy-like confectionary. True story.

Since 1500BC the ancient Egyptians spruced up their goodies of honey by adding figs, nuts, dates and spices.

The types of Lolly:

The top three types of terms that involve sugary treats are:

A conversation lolly is a sugary lolly that generally comes in heart shapes with some romantic words impressed into them. They’ve been a part of the Aussie diet since the 1890s, popular for weddings and Valentine’s Day.

 Lolly water is a fizzy soft drink. The same term is also used for a cordial-flavoured drink. Either way, it’s sweet, brightly coloured water that is not to be confused with the other iconic Aussie drink, the spider. 

Lolly bags are a children’s birthday party must-have. They’re packed full of goodies to send their young guests home to get high on more sugar.

Oh, and it’s also another term for those budgie-smugglers known as Speedos that are spotted at Aussie beaches.

Other Lolly Slang Terms you may not have heard of

Lolly can mean also money, which was popular in the 1960s. It’s also British slang for the tongue.

Don’t lose your lolly, is a term for losing your temper.

Lolly legs can be long, skinny legs, or a lanky person with long legs.

A Lolly gag is when someone is wasting time. But then I learned that to lollygag is to indulge in some serious kissing time! That’s a new one for me.

Lolly is also a girl’s name that means “laurel or sweet bay tree; a symbol of victory”.

Lolly is also a valid word in Wordle.

The lollipop

The word lollypop (as someone traditionally spelled it) “lolly” = British slang for tongue + “pop” = meaning to slap.  So that would make the word lollypop a tongue slap!

Basically, a lollipop is candy on a stick. Some US states call them ‘suckers’ and in the UK they’re ‘a sweet, sweets, or sweeties’. And they’ve been around since the ancient Egyptians who got sick of sticky fingers when sucking on their lollies and decided to eat them with sticks.

These potential cavity-crackers then arrived among the European aristocrats around the 1100s, where it’s rumoured these sweet treats on a stick were the perfect cure-all for fevers, coughs, sore throats, stomach aches and even chapped lips. No wonder it became a thing for doctors to hand out lollipops to children after getting their shots!

In 1908, candy maker George Smith created the lollipop design we love to lick today.

Oh, and Charles Dickens refers to these jawbreakers as candy on a stick in his mid-nineteenth century novels.

via GIPHY

 The iconic lolly favourite – Fairy Bread

Since 1929, the Australian Fairy bread has been an iconic favourite at children’s parties.

Basically, it’s lots of little balls of candied rainbow sprinkles known as 100s & 1000s (Hundreds & Thousands), layered over fresh white bread and real butter, cut into triangles.

To keep the crust on or crust off is a long-time debate that still rages among many fairy bread connoisseurs.

So how does Fairy Bread taste? It’s like a cake without the wait to bake it, but it’s also crunchy, fluffy, and greasy all at the same time. Yummy.

via GIPHY

Some popular Australian Lollies are:

Some of Australia’s most popular lollies are:

Red Ripperz (formerly known as Redskins or Red Skins) is a red, raspberry-flavoured chewy confectionery,

Sherbies are an orange flavour taffy that covers a sherbert centre.

Jaffas are small, round orange lollies with a soft chocolate centre and a crispy-crunchy orange-flavoured coating.

Minties are a hard, white and chewy, rectangular mint-flavoured confection.  And they’re notorious for causing dental fillings to come out—so we found out on a recent road trip.

Fantales are chocolate-covered caramels that contain a brief biography about movie stars on the wrapper. They update these stories every two years. 

The feel-good sweet without the sugar…

If you are looking for a feel-good treat without the sugar then check out the following sweet romance stories found in the Elsie Creek Series, or the international bestseller Winter’s Walk. It’s free. Go on, you deserve it.

**All still images relating to this post’s topic are via CANVA.com 

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