Togs vs Bathers vs Cossie: How Australians Name Swimwear
Cross one bridge and the word changes
Linguists mapping Australian English found that the word for a swimsuit can change within a single short walk. Jill Vaughan, Katie Jepson and Rosey Billington point to Albury and Wodonga, on opposite banks of the Murray River in New South Wales and Victoria, as their clearest example. Writing in The Conversation, they note that "a short walk across the bridge means you'll hear a majority of people using a different word for swimwear": more "bathers" on the Victorian side, more "swimmers" on the New South Wales side.
Australia has at least four everyday words for the same garment: togs, bathers, swimmers and cossie. This guide sets out where each one is used, where the words come from, and why the split follows state borders so closely.
The four words, state by state
The authors' article, also published by Australian Geographic, says preferences for "togs", "swimmers", "cossie" or "bathers" "vary markedly across the states and territories." It is illustrated with maps from their project "Mapping words around Australia".
For the state-by-state detail, two reference works agree. Wikipedia's article on Australian English says swimming clothes are "known as cossies, togs or swimmers in New South Wales, togs in Queensland, and bathers in Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and South Australia." Wiktionary's appendix of Australian clothing terms gives each word's home:
| Word | Where it is used most | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Togs | Mainly Queensland; also some people in Western Australia and Victoria | An old word for clothes |
| Bathers | Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania; occasionally elsewhere | From "bathing suit" |
| Swimmers | Mainly New South Wales; sometimes Queensland | From "swimming costume" |
| Cossie (or cozzie) | Mostly New South Wales | From "swimming costume" |
The short version: togs is the Queensland word, bathers covers the south and west, and New South Wales uses swimmers or cossie. Wiktionary adds that cossie is generally used for women's swimwear, while togs covers any type.
Where each word comes from
Togs is the oldest. Etymonline dates "tog" to 1708, meaning an outer garment, and notes it was usually plural from the later 1700s. It came from "togman", a 1560s thieves' slang word for a cloak, and goes back through French to the Latin "toga". Wiktionary records "togs" as British slang for clothes, and "swimming togs" as the word for a swimsuit in Ireland, Queensland and New Zealand. In those places the clothing sense narrowed to the clothes you swim in.
Bathers comes from "bathing suit", according to Wiktionary's appendix.
Swimmers and cossie both come from "swimming costume". Swimmers keeps the first half; cossie is a short form of the second.
Why the split follows state lines
You might expect a century of national radio, television and online shopping to have settled on one word. The linguists give two reasons it has not.
The first is history. "Australian English developed from the speech of colonists from various parts of the British Isles," they write, "so sometimes the word used in a particular Australian region is the result of one option winning out among people from different British backgrounds."
The second is identity, and it explains the sharp borders. The authors point out how "neatly some of this variation lines up with state lines", which suggests something more than history or distance is at work. Their explanation: "certain words become strongly associated with a regional identity." When there is more than one word to choose from, people may use one "because it's the most common term in their community, but also because that word indexes a broader group identity, such as Victorian versus New South Wales." In other words, saying "bathers" or "swimmers" is a small signal of where you are from. That is why the word can change across a single bridge.
They make a wider point too: "When we communicate we tend to use the words, pronunciations and linguistic patterns that we hear most often in the communities we live in."
Swimwear is not the only split
The swimwear words are the best-known example, but not the only one. The linguists say it is "often said that Australian English doesn't vary much geographically", and that the country does not show the striking differences found in some other parts of the English-speaking world. Even so, past and ongoing research has found real regional differences, and the clearest are the words people use for the same thing.
Their maps began as an educational activity for students in the Linguistics Roadshow, and they set off heated debate online. One argument was whether a barbecued sausage in a single slice of bread is a "sausage in bread" or a "sausage sandwich". Another was the potato cake, scallop or fritter divide. Wikipedia's Australian English article adds a household example: what Queensland calls a stroller is usually called a pram in the other states.
Some differences are in sound rather than words. The authors note that in parts of Victoria, "celery" is pronounced more like "salary", and ask whether "dance" rhymes with "aunts" or "pants" for you. They also note that not every regional word comes from Britain: some come from the names of people or brands, and some were borrowed from local Indigenous languages.
The words in the shops
Retailers pick a side too. The Australian retailer Swimwear Galore titles its children's guide "swimmers for every age in Australia", using the New South Wales word. Across the Tasman, the New Zealand label Covertogs builds the word into its name. Most national chains avoid the choice and file everything under "swimwear".
New Zealand and Ireland
Outside Australia the picture is simpler. Wiktionary lists "swimming togs" as the word for a swimsuit in Ireland and New Zealand, alongside Queensland. So the Queensland word is also the one used across the Tasman and in Ireland. For how the word is used when shopping in New Zealand, see our guide to girls' togs in New Zealand.
The British exception
Britain is the odd one out. There, "tog" is the warmth rating printed on a duvet. Argos describes it as "the unit of measurement used to describe a duvet's ability to trap air and retain heat". Wikipedia's Australian English article gives the British word for swimwear as "swimming costume". Our guide to what togs means covers how one word came to do both jobs.
Plurals and spelling
A few quirks catch people out in writing:
- Togs, bathers and swimmers are plural in form but name one garment. You pack "your togs", not "a tog".
- Cossie is also spelled cozzie. Wiktionary lists both.
- Swimwear is the neutral word that belongs to no state, which is why it is the safe choice for anyone writing for the whole country.
Quick cheat sheet
If you are reading or shopping across regions, based on the sources above:
- Queensland: togs
- New South Wales: swimmers or cossie
- Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania: bathers
- New Zealand and Ireland: togs
- United Kingdom: swimming costume, and "tog" means a duvet rating
None of these is more correct than another. They are regional habits, and Australians understand all of them. Using the local word is simply a small courtesy.
Where to buy
If you are shopping rather than talking, our guide to Australian swimwear brands covers who makes what, whatever you call it. For brand comparisons, see our premium swimwear comparison and our surf-brand comparison, and for children, boys' togs in Australia.
References
- The Conversation: Togs or swimmers? Why Australians use different words to describe the same things
- Australian Geographic: Aussie lingo, togs or swimmers?
- Wikipedia: Australian English
- Wiktionary: Appendix, Australian English terms for clothing
- Wiktionary: togs
- Etymonline: tog
- Argos: Duvet and pillow guide
- Swimwear Galore: Kids swimwear guide, swimmers for every age in Australia
- Covertogs