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goon


cheap cask wine: We'd better get some goon for the girls.

Contributor's comments: Widely used in WA, also a "gooner" or "goonbag" is the silver bag the goon comes in.


Contributor's comments: Also used in Queensland.

Contributor's comments: This word is used all round Tassie - you hear it everywhere!

Contributor's comments: My father (also from Adelaide) refers to a "goon", to mean cheap alcohol in quantity, i.e., a flagon.

Contributor's comments: [Perth informant] I originally heard it in the form "goona", as a slang term for a "flagon" or flagon wine -- before the widespread use of casks.

Contributor's comments: [Perth informant] Cheap wine, especially cask wine: "Want a glass of goon?" Or "Go down the bottlo and get us a cask of goon."

Contributor's comments: [Port Macquarie, NSW informant] Cheap wine: "Let's go drink a cask of goon."

Contributor's comments: Cask wine - the cheap stuff contained in the silver bladders which you can buy in bulk. Goon usage seems to be contained within the Brisbane region, pass it off elsewhere and expect a look of dubious confusion and mistrust. Goonie parties eventuated amongst the bored and impoverished, where multiple goonbags were hung on the hillshoist in the backyard. If you wanted a drink, a game of potluck or Russian roulette was involved. Stand under the hillshoist, give it a spin and the goonbag nearest to you when it stops is the source of your next drink. It could be $4 reisling or if your lucky, the $14 grenache. For a cheap night out stuff a goonbag down your pants and smuggle it into a club, unzip your fly for easy access to the nozzle and offer to replace your mates' empty with a nice glass of goon.

Contributor's comments: [Tasmanian informant] Cask wine also referred to as goon.

Contributor's comments: [Riverina informant] Very well used by very poor uni students all over the region.

Contributor's comments: In Melbourne in recent years the term goon seems to have extended its usability to encompass any wine, cheap or not, in a bit of a play on itself, in that the origin of the word is still remembered (cheap cask wine) but given the array of wines available.

Contributor's comments: I originally heard the word "goon" to describe a flagon of wine, and it was often referred to as a "flagoon", with emphasis on the second syllable. I suspect that this reference has been transferred to wine casks because flagons are not commonly available now.

Contributor's comments: Also used in Darwin.

Contributor's comments: 'Goon' is the cheap wine (< $4) that you get in a cask. The term is used all around our area (South Coast NSW) by anyone in their teens. 'Goon' comes in a 'goonsack' (i.e. the "bladder") or also called a 'goonbag'. A typical drinker of 'goon' is called a 'goonmonkey'. The term for 'to drink goon' is "to goon it up". P.S. goonism is most common with underage stingy teenagers who want a cheap night in the parking lot.

Contributor's comments: The wine is often also referred to as good juice or goonie-berry juice depending on how drunk you are. There is also a WA game called Goon-o-fortune. This requires a hills hoist and 4 goonbags, each with a different goon (one preferably with water) and you tie these to the corners of a hills hoist, spin and drink.

Contributor's comments: In Canberra, a drinking game is sometimes played called 'Goon of Fortune' where the goon bag is pegged to a hills hoist, and everyone stands around it while its spun. Whoever the goonbag ends up on has to take a mouthful.