Heartwarming moment a group ‘eshays’ lend a helping hand to a mother at a Sydney train station

A group of ‘eshays’ have gone out of their way to help a mother carry her pram down flights of stairs at a Sydney train station.  

The heartwarming video was posted on the ‘strictlytheculture’ Instagram page over the weekend.  

An ‘eshay’ is term used in Sydney street sub-culture used to describe young men who wear TN trainers, polo shirts, puffer jackets, tracksuit pants or baggy shorts. 

Hard-core eshays engage in assaults, robberies and threatening behaviour against other youths but many seem to wander the streets and hang around train stations aimlessly. 

In this particular video, the group of young men can be seen lending a helping hand to a mother by carrying her pram down the stairs at Redfern Station. 

These actions resulted in mixed responses from the viewers.

‘Good to see kids helping out…but there is a lift behind those stairs tho just saying,’ one person commented. 

‘Good to see kids helping out…but There is a lift behind those stairs tho just saying,’ one person commented

While a fourth said: ‘Good to see that there’s still good in the some of the younger boys’

Another joked: ‘It’s in reverse they are actually stealing the child.’

‘May he be blessed with a perfectly crisp $5 note for the bus, and a dart given upon first request from bystander,’ a third person wrote. 

While a fourth said: ‘Good to see that there’s still good in the some of the younger boys.’

Where eshays once predominantly came from disadvantaged backgrounds, their ethos is now more mainstream and widely promoted on social media.

Whatever the motive for urban teenagers with bad haircuts donning Nike TNs and slinging bumbags over their shoulders, they are apparently overtaking the suburbs

Favoured labels for the fashionable eshay include Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, and Lacoste, paired with Nautica, Adidas, Under Armour and Ellesse.

Some eshays scramble words and put ‘ay’ on the end in a form of pig Latin. ‘Eetswa’ means ‘sweet’ and ‘chill’ becomes ‘illchay’.

The term eshay is similar to the UK phrase ‘chav’ and can be interchangeable with ‘lad’, which in turn sometimes becomes ‘adlay’.

An eshay is easily identifiable by wearing Nike TN trainers with polo shirts, puffer jackets, tracksuit pants or baggy shorts and baseball caps. Pictured is an image from an eshay social media page

‘Eshay’ may have started as ‘eshay adlay’ – pig Latin for ‘he’s lad’ or be related to ‘sesh’, for a prolonged period of drug consumption.

When an eshay says ‘eshay’ it can mean yes, cool or excellent. 

Something high-risk is ‘red hot’ and an idiot is a ‘gronk’. To ‘staunch’ someone is to intimidate them, often with an intense stare while the challenger’s fists are held between their legs.

Eshays are said to have spread from Sydney’s inner-city graffiti scene in the 1980s through Housing Commission estates and out into the suburbs.

Some are said to ‘roll’ victims for their shoes and clothes but such crimes are not widely reported.

While some eshays had domestic backgrounds of violence, poverty and drug or alcohol use, many were likely copying a look that suggested a criminal outlook.

Their antics, which can include carrying weapons and taking drugs, are often filmed and posted on Tik Tok to widespread amusement. 

The drill rap of groups such as Mount Druit outfit OneFour is a popular accompaniment.

Parents on Sydney’s Northern Beaches have recently expressed concerns about anti-social behaviour of teens they describe as dressing like eshays.