“Chop Chop” meaning to “hurry hurry” is something my mum says a lot. My husband picked it up from her and uses it sometimes. The funny thing is that phrase was originally in Cantonese! I didn’t know that until I did a quick search about it. It was adopted by English seaman from Chinese workers. The earliest mention of it in print is in an English newspaper in China in 1834. And the earliest mention of it outside of China was in a London newspaper in 1909. (Wikipedia).

It obviously became a part of Australian English as well and I find it funny that my husband is learning a phrase in English that was originally rooted in Cantonese. I always find the history of words and phrases really interesting.