The Swiss Army knife of Aussie address, used for friends, strangers, and the clown who just cut you off in traffic. Tone is everything: warm mate, flat mate, or that icy listen mate when someone’s pushing it. It gets chucked into sentences as filler, softener, or warning, and you’ll hear it everywhere from the pub to the checkout.
"Oi mate, that’s my park. Yeah right mate, I had the blinker on. Sure ya did. No worries mate, I’ll squeeze in round back."