Google Can Now Understand Australian Slang (Even If We Still Can't)

Struggling to locate the nearest billabong? Or wondering if a dingo really might eat your baby?

Internet search giant Google has added Australian slang and language recognition to its applications, addressing complaints that its software had difficulty in understanding thick local accents and complex place names.

Long accustomed to having their distinctive slang misunderstood, Australians can now substitute "footy" for football, "arvo" for afternoon and find directions to Mullumbimby or Goondiwindi, a spokesman told Reuters on Friday.

Read More: Google Gave This Much money to Guy Who Owned Google.com for a Minute

The extended vocabulary came after Google, which is now part of holding company Alphabet, added an Australian accented voice to its Google Maps and search applications last week.

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"People are starting to talk to their phones much more regularly now. Mobile voice searchers have doubled in the last year," Google Australia spokesman Shane Treeves said.

"Particularly all those tricky Aussie place names, they just sound much better in an Aussie voice that can get them right."