For a discussion of the phrase the big stoush, see our Word of the Month for April 2015. Dinkum is an Australianism meaning reliable or genuine', and dinkum oilmeans reliable information or an accurate report. In Australia the full bottle came to mean very good, and then very good at, knowledgeable about (something). The phrase also takes the form mad as a snake. Why did she Waltz? The first such factory was established in 1804 at Parramatta in New South Wales. 1978 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 27 August: Eddie is the ultimate lurk-man Eddie is as flash as a rat with a gold tooth. The earliest evidence is associated with Australian troops in action to the north of Australia during the Second World War. : With all the rain that had been about, most of the gilgais would be full, which meant that wed be drinking fresh water. she yelled at me. In Australian English a noun meaning 'a swim or bathe; a bath' was formed from the verb: 1847 A. Harris, Settlers and Convicts: In the cool of the evening had a 'bogie' (bathe) in the river. Sayers, Jumping Double: A hit behind the ear from one of those back street lairs.

The term is often found in this phrasal form where it now has several meanings: 'to be financially bankrupt, to come to nought; to fail, to collapse, to break down'. after dropping down on them from trees. The word wallaby (used to describe many smaller marsupials of the family Macropididae) is a borrowing into English from the Sydney Aboriginal language. The speaker resents being mistaken for a country bumpkin. In some regions boomerangs are decorated with designs that are either painted or cut into the wood. This suffix works as an informal marker in the language. The Dictionary of New Zealand English suggests a Scottish origin (from the Clydesdale area) larrie meaning 'joking, jesting, gibing'. It is best known from Banjo Paterson's use of it in Waltzing Matilda. For a more detailed discussion of the term see our Word of the Month article from February 2013. 2006 Townsville Bulletin 6 January: The two married after dating for two years. This figurative sense is recorded from the 1930s, and derives from the perceived stupidity of the bird. 1910 Sunday Times (Perth) 6 March: I'll tell you, sir, what happened, and I tell the dinkum truth.

7): Like most inshore saltwater predators, Salmon hunt around rocky headlands, offshore islands and bomboras [etc.]. Boomerang is a corruption used at Sydney by the white people, but not the native word, which is tur-ra-ma; but 'kiley' is the name here. 'When some of the young guys started talking with American accents to big-note themselves they were called "bodgies".'. Big-noting arose from the connection between flashing large sums of money about and showing off. 2001 B. Courtenay: We'd heard Nancy say he'd come back like a drover's dog all prick and ribs. Cornish miners probably brought the term to Australia in the 1850s and used it to describe their search for gold. All rights reserved. HungerfordSowers of Wind:There's a circus down by the dance-hall, a Jap show What about having a geek at that? Jumbuck is an Australian word for a 'sheep'. But he never did win. No luggage? Fatty Vautin and Peter Sterling reportedly held angry meetings with their producer declaring they would not speak to Wilson if she was hired. It is often said that Australians have a tendency to cut tall poppies down to size by denigrating them. The term is first recorded in the 1890s. An ape-like monster supposed to inhabit parts of eastern Australia. bush week: what do you think this is, bush week? The earliest evidence of rogaining is found in 1979. This significant Australian word derives from wrought, an archaic past participle of the verb to work.

The term is an elliptical and transferred use of Manchester wares or Manchester goods'cotton goods of the kind manufactured in Manchester' in Lancashire in England. 1903 Sydney Stock and Station Journal 9 October: In the class for ponies under 13 hands there was a condition that the riders should be under ten years of age. A square of sponge cake coated in chocolate icing and desiccated coconut. The jury is still out on this term. 1971 B. Humphries Bazza Pulls It Off: If they guess Im from Oz the shit will really hit the fan! 2006 D. McNab Dodger: What brought him unstuck were his brazen schemes and lavish lifestyle. In the late 1970s a large number of bottom of the harbour schemes were operating in corporate Australia. 2001 U. Dubosarsky Fairy Bread:The morning of the party, Becky and her mother were in the kitchen making fairy bread. reverse card giphy via In April 1770 Captain James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour reached the southern land. Sickie is first recorded in 1953, and is often found in the phrase to chuck a sickie, meaning to take a days sick leave from work (often with the implication that the person is not really ill). Public servant has its origin in Australias history as a penal colony. First recorded from the 1920s. Be the unlikely winner of an event; to win an event coming from well behind. He was as flash as a rat with a gold tooth. 1954 Queensland Guardian (Brisbane) 20 January: Snow says he thinks that this is the raw prawn. It was on such grotesque shapes that May Gibbs modelled her banksia men in Snugglepot and Cuddlepie of 1918: 'She could see the glistening, wicked eyes of Mrs. Snake and the bushy heads of the bad Banksia men'. It applied to a person of great heart, who displayed courage, loyalty, and mateship. Prichard Bid me to Love: Louise: .. See what I've got in my pocket for you Bill: (diving into a pocket of her coat and pulling out a banksia cone) A banksia man. We will all be ruined. 2002 Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) 10 November: The Australian sports public are a forgiving lot. In the Mavis Bramston Show (1963-68) Ron Frazer (1924-83) played the character Ocker. The wordwaltz in to waltz Matilda is a jocular or ironic way to refer to the hard slog of carrying your possessions as you travel on foot, although waltz may possibly influenced by a German colloquial term, auf die Walze gehen,which means to go a-wandering; to go on one's travels. During the gold rushes in Australia in the mid nineteenth century, in a specialisation of this sense, the term guernsey was used to describe a kind of shirt worn by goldminers: 1852 F. LancelotAustralia as it Is:The usual male attire is a pair of common slop trowsers, a blue guernsey a broad-brimmed cabbage-tree hat. For a discussion of these and other terms for Australian freshwater crayfish, see our blog The problem with yabbies from February 2013. Early evidence suggests it was borrowed from a language in, or just south of, the Sydney region. She had a quiet, middle-class upbringing in Box Hill, attending a private girls' school. A flat-soled boot made from sheepskin with the wool on the inside. 2015 Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 12 April: In fact some of Hughesy and Kate's listeners are laughing so hard they have to pull over in their cars or risk having a bingle on the way back from work.

1963 H. Porter TheWatcher on a Cast-Iron Balcony: Mother is wishing Miss Brewer some female ill, is putting the mozz on her. The origin of the term was revived at Flemington in 1977 when a Drongo Handicap was held.

'Bogan: from Obscurity to Australia's most productive Word'. Bodgies and widgies had their heyday as a youth subculture in 1950s Australia, and widgies, like bodgies, were readily identified by their style of clothing. A small sweet pastry case filled with mock cream, and sometimes including jam, topped with brown and white or pink and white icing. (adverb) 1914 B. The etymology proposed by Meston appears to be without foundation. Today the use of pom and pommy to refer to an English person is common and widespread. Look out - female approaching! The following quotations give an indication of how the term is used: 1951 E. LambertTwenty Thousand Thieves: 'Yair, and I got better ideas than some of the galahs that give us our orders'. 2013 S. Thorne Bonzer: A typical weatherboard Queenslander, it was built for the climateup on stumps for the air to circulate underneath, with verandahs and lots of louvres. A matildais a swag, the roll or bundle of possessions carried by an itinerant worker or swagman. This is an abbreviation that follows a very common Australian pattern of word formation, with o added to the abbreviated form. 1941 Somers Sun 2 July: When you are called Drongo, ignore it.

The word first appears in 1915. Dob is first recorded in the 1950s. I asked if they were familiar with the Oz usage 'acco', meaning 'academic'. Quolls are cat-sized marsupials with long tails, pointed snouts, brown fur, and distinctive white spots. 2014 Townsville Bulletin 7 November: Participants are advised to choose their start time carefully to ensure they are finished before it gets dark and the drop bears come out at 6.30pm. 1993 R. Fitzgerald Eleven Deadly Sins:It is preferable to refer to one's opponent as the honourable member for Woopwoop rather than as that idiot scumbag. The starting point is to make the debate more dinkum. The term derives from the joking notion (as perceived from the southern states of Australia) that Queenslanders spend their time putting bends into bananas. The term to waltz Matilda is first recorded in the late 1880s, and is likely to have had a fairly short life, if it hadnt been for the poet Banjo Patterson. It combines the Australian stubby with the borrowed American sixpack (a pack of six cans of beer), demonstrating how readily Australian English naturalises Americanisms. Despite the fact that there have not been zacs in our wallets for fifty years, the wordzac,and the notion that it is not worth a great deal, can still be found in Australian usage.. 2012 Northern Daily Leader (Tamworth) 4 June: They are feral lowdown scum and should be portrayed as such. To exert a pressure that is difficult to resist; to exert such pressure on (a person, etc.

It refers to an English person, especially a migrant, who is regarded as a habitual complainer. For a further discussion about this term and its possible origins see the article 'Send Her Down Who-ie?' But this meaning is now obsolete. Word of the Month article from September 2007. Skippy has a later meaning, kangaroo meat, first recorded in the early 1990s and derived from the same source. It was named after the style of singlet worn by shearer John Robert (Jacky) Howe who established a world shearing record by hand-shearing 321 sheep in 7 hours and 40 minutes at Alice Downs, Queensland, in the 1890s. Subsequent research has cast doubt on this etymology, and in 1990 the following statement was made in Australian Aboriginal Words in English: 'Although it has been suggested that this must be a borrowing from an Australian language it is not one. 1992 Sydney Morning Herald 2 November: With most games, of course, I'd simply spit the dummy, hit the switch and give up. 2015 Southern Highland News (Bowral): Everyone knows bunyips live in the Wingecarribee Swamp, problem is, there are quite a few different theories about this elusive animal and it all seems to turn on how much grog visitors to the swamp have had before they hear the distinctive roar. A didgeridoo. Some of the troops do not suffer from lack of imagination. He wrinkled his forehead thoughtfully. Billabongs are often formed when floodwaters recede. Never ever wear a striped suit, a striped shirt and a striped tie together - just dreadful You look like a real dag. A man who 'wacks the illy' can be almost anything, but two of these particular illy-wackers were equipped with a dart game. And so it came to mean 'an idler, one who makes little effort'. 2022 LoveToKnow Media. 2014 Sydney Morning Herald 14 July: What you write about your life in your autobiography is a little like what you say when under oath.

These verbal senses of boomerang have also moved into International English. The Australian Aboriginal boomerang is a crescent-shaped wooden implement used as a missile or club, in hunting or warfare, and for recreational purposes. Ant's pants is an Australian variant of the originally US forms bee's knees and cat's whiskers with the same meaning. Pokies are coin or card-operated. 1967 J. Wynnum I'm Jack, all Right: It's way back o' Bourke.

A phrase used to allude to wool as the source of Australias national prosperity. 2013 Age (Melbourne) 13 January: When sales assistants ask Are you right?, I have answered: No, I'm left of centre. What's wrong with May I help you? It found its way into 19th-century Australian pidgin, where the phrase to go bung meant to die. They called this hypothetical place Terra Australis, Latin for 'southern land'. 1925 Cairns Post 24 March: You know, Mr Editor, those Jacky Howes are cool and comfortable, are they not? 1891 Truth (Sydney) 15 March: Jackeroos .. are such fun, and vary, from the sensible one, in a fair way for promotion, to the larrikin, who will either sling station life or hump the swag. Her beauty and her terror Ned Kelly and Australian English, James Hardy Vaux: Pioneer Australian Lexicographer, Chasing Our Unofficial National Anthem: Who Was Matilda? This is a response to someone who is taking you for a fool, and indicates that you have more experience or shrewdness than you have been given credit for. 2014Border Mail (Albury & Wodonga): The diverse range includes some films that ordinarily would be unlikely to get a guernsey outside our capital cities. The word is recorded from the early 20th century. Whats that? said His Royal Highness, waving his hand again to brush the flies off his face. 1893 J.A. The word is probably derived from the Yiddish word matsemeaning '(unleavened) bread'. A catchphrase used to express the great value of a gift, prize, object, etc. 1971 F. Hardy Outcasts of Foolgarah: Even the most primitive societies protect, succor and shelter the aged, but not so the affluent society with the principle of he that cannot work neither shall he eat (except Silver Tails who wouldn't work in an iron lung). This sense appears as early as 1910, but its typical use is represented by this passage from D. Whitington's Treasure Upon Earth (1957): '"Bludgers" he dubbed them early, because in his language anyone who did not work with his hands at a laboring job was a bludger'. Cask wine.

It is more probable that the burnt and blackened tree stumps, ubiquitous in the outback, and used as markers when giving directions to travellers is the origin - this sense of black stump is recorded from 1831. It is probably derived from the Scottish dialect word saxpence. It was named after the botanist Sir Joseph Banks, who was on the Endeavour with James Cook on his voyage of discovery in 1770. More recently, the tribal or language term Palawa is increasingly being used. 'Well, life wasnt meant to be easy!' The expression was further popularised by its use as the title for Joseph Furphys famous novel about rural Australia (1903). An importunate request (especially of a monetary or sexual nature). In the Sydney Morning Herald,11 February 1955, there occurs an interesting description of the 1950s widgie: Constable Waldon said: 'A widgie, as she is known to me, is generally dressed in a very tight blouse, mostly without sleeves, and generally with a deep, plunging front. Judge Curlewis said the detective's description of a widgie was the best he had heard in a Court. The blacks said the white men (the missionaries) were always talking, a gabbling race, and so they called them 'jackeroo', equivalent to our word 'gabblers'. The political sense emerged in Australian English in 2013. The word can also be used as a verb, meaning 'to work as a jackeroo'. Furphy is first recorded in 1915. The word galahcomes from Yuwaalaraay and related Aboriginal languages of northern New South Wales. Things are crook in Tallarook is one of several similar phrases based on rhyming reduplication, including theres no work at Bourke, got the arse at Bulli Pass, no lucre at Echuca, and everythings wrong at Wollongong. Information or news. When cold jam together and ice. Overwhelmingly the later evidence is for the Oz spelling, with the final sound pronounced as z. It is a long, wooden, tubular instrument that produces a low-pitched, resonant sound with complex, rhythmic patterns but little tonal variation. The sterling British-born immigrants used the word currency to belittle the native-born Australians, but the Australians soon used it of themselves with pride. Hanrahan, a farmer, is a lugubrious and pessimistic doomsayer. A wave that forms over a submerged offshore reef or rock, sometimes (in very calm weather or at high tide) merely swelling but in other conditions breaking heavily and producing a dangerous stretch of broken water. To swim or bathe. From the 1970s onwards the rough end takes over from the wrong end as the more common form of the expression. It may be from British dialect wow to howl or bark as a dog; to wail and to whine; to grumble, make complaint, but it is possibly a coinage of John Norton, who was the editor of the Sydney newspaper Truth from 18911916. In traditional Aboriginal culture, of or relating to death and mourning.

This idiom is derived from acid test which is a test for gold or other precious metal, usually using nitric acid. For an earlier discussion of the possibility that the form brass razoo is a euphemism for arse razoo (from arse raspberry a fart) see the article Brass Razoo: is it but a breath of wind? on page 6 of our Ozwords newsletter. Otherwise the word will spread that you are a "bludger", and there is no worse thing to be'.

Word of the Month article from August 2007.

Leaving immediately; making a hasty departure; at full speed.

We groom talented players with the right technical, tactical and mental skills to enable them to compete as professional players at the highest level in football anywhere. Jack states he got a 'bonza on the napper', at one time when thrown. Incapacitated, exhausted, broken (as in 'the tellys bung').

They are sometimes thought to be associated with the Great Depression of the 1930s, when massive unemployment meant that many people travelled long distances looking for work.

During the last few weeks, I have scores of times heard the Prince of Wales affectionately described as a dear little pommy. Cook says: The Islands discover'd by Quiros call'd by him Astralia del Espiritu Santo lays in this parallel but how far to the East is hard to say. The earliest evidence for Aussie occurs in the context of the First World War. The brass of brass razoo is likely influenced by the standard English brass farthing, which is also used in negative contexts with a similar meaning (she hasnt got a brass farthing). From this sense arise a number of colloquial idioms. 1894 Oakleigh Leader (Melbourne) 29 December: He would avert direct taxation on wealth by retrenching all the low paid civil servants, while carefully protecting the tall poppies who have very little to do. 1999 Australian Gold, Gem &Treasure Magazine December: About a kilometre from our camp was a dam brimming over with large yabbies so each night Imy would set a couple of yabby nets he happened to have, baited with some Meaty Bites, and the next morning we would feast on toasted yabby sandwiches. 2. Nurse (1933): A farewell dance for the boys going home to 'Aussie' tomorrow. Canberra, the capital of Australia, has been used allusively to refer to the Australian Government and its bureaucracy since the 1920s. Sign up to make the most of YourDictionary. 2014 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 26 January: There is no trace of a fair go in a king hit or coward punch, as it should be known. It is a significant feature of rural Australia, of politicians (especially urban-based politicians) travelling in the outback, and of expatriates who wish to emphasis their Australianness. He wasn't a an absolute no-hoper of a racehorse: he ran second in a VRC Derby and St Leger, third in the AJC St Leger, and fifth in the 1924 Sydney Cup. 'I've got a heap riding on the head and you put the mozz on me'. 2003 Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 9 April: Back at least 20 years - to a land where women glow and men chunder. The equivalent American saying is to get the fuzzy end of the lollypop. From the 1860s into the early 20th century a larrikin was 'a young urban rough, especially a member of a street gang; a hooligan'.The term comes from British dialect larrikin'a mischievous or frolicsome youth', ultimately a form of larking (about)'indulging in mischievous fun', also attested in British dialect as larack about. For a more detailed discussion of rhyming slang in Australian English see the article 'Does Australian Slang still Rhyme?' In other countries it is called a hope chest or bottom drawer. Yowie is first recorded in the 1970s. 1905 Sydney Morning Herald 27 May: Many a swagman adds a dog to his outfit, and the animal ranks much higher in his affections than 'Matilda', which, it might be explained, is swagmanese for swag. 2008 A. Pung Growing up Asian in Australia: My bikini top is crammed so full of rubbery 'chicken fillets' I'd probably bounce if you threw me.

Bondi tram: shoot through like a Bondi tram. The best-known type of boomerang, used primarily for recreation, can be made to circle in flight and return to the thrower.

1945 Australian Week-End Book: The only one whod backed it had been his wife whod had a zac each way. Both senses of the word are first recorded in the 1920s. Soldiers may have pronounced this as van blonk, further transforming it into plonk. The early evidence also reveals that there have been various recipes for this tart over the years. 2014 Age (Melbourne) 14 November: The ideals of higher education are being compromised by economic rationalism. 2015 Daily Telegraph (Sydney) 23 April: For those who think we should follow the Kiwis in taxation, feel free to move there.

The phrase originally implied the notion that people from the country are easily fooled by the more sophisticated city slickers. Everywhere you look, there are ugh boots, thongs and mullet haircuts. The term is a specific use of ambit meaning 'extent, compass'. 1897 Worker (Sydney) 18 September: Reports from the sheds are cheering, both reps. and men being of the sort called true blue. By 1950, it could be used of animals which didn't perform up to standard. It is also a name for a person who underwent National Service under the Act. The good oil means reliable, and therefore welcome, information. In 1895 he penned the lyrics to the song about a swagman that became Australias famous national song, Waltzing Matilda. 2011 Shepparton News 27 June: The talented Norman-trained trotter Tsonga, also driven by Jack, speared across the face of the field at barrier rise from outside the front row in the mobile - and from then was never headed. 1961 R. Lawler Piccadilly Bushman: Hell know what I mean when I talk of getting the wrong end of the pineapple. The term pokies is first recorded in 1964. Slices of bread cut into triangles, buttered and sprinkled with tiny, coloured sugar balls called hundreds and thousands. 'Well, most of them are dags', Julie laughs, 'but at least they're easier to talk to'.

It was a place of punishment, a labour and marriage agency for the colony, and a profit-making textiles factory where women made convict clothing and blankets. As a symbol, the hills hoist has both positive and negative connotations in Australian culture. Yabbies are good to eat (a number of species can now be found on restaurant menus) and are also used as fishing bait.

2006 Herald Sun (Melbourne) 13 May: In the never-ending search for justice and a fair suck of the sauce bottle, the Payneful Truth asks this week why Peter Costello's Federal Budget again ignored footy fans and let the price of a beer at the MCG stay at a ridiculous $5.20 for 425ml. The phrase is first recorded in the 1940s. 1968 Sydney Morning Herald 6 November: Banks and Blaxland electorates adjoin each other and what the people lodging the appeals are saying is that extensive branch 'stacking' has been going on. Comprehensively outwitted or defeated - Collingwood was done like a dinner in the grand final. Albany, Geraldton, Esperance, Eucla and Perth all have their doctor. King-hit is also used as a verb.

In the 21st century the term has been used in various political contests as this quotation in the Australian from 1 July 2006 demonstrates: 'The Prime Minister, who has built his success on an appeal to Australia's battlers, is about to meet thousands more of them in his northern Sydney seat of Bennelong'. 2000 S. MaloneyBig Ask:He put his plate down, as if the subject had ruined his appetite, parked his elbows on the table and gave me the oil. Billy Hughes, prime minister during the First World War, was known as the Little Digger. This is one of the many Australianisms, along with terms such as digger, Anzac and Aussie, that arose during or immediately following the First World War. 2015 Centralian Advocate (Alice Springs) 10 April: Mining activity can also cause direct and indirect disturbance to sites inhabited by bilbies.

Usually this activity is surreptitious. Beat it, you two!'. 2015 T. Parsons Return to Moondilla: 'Liz is busting to see you', Pat said. A person employed by a government authority; a member of a State or Territory public service, or the Australian Public Service. No tube, no jack, no spare, no car, no bike, no phone, no hearse and no bloody undertaker! Inclusive. He is improving with every run'. Ambo was first recorded in the 1980s. In International English geek means 'a person who is socially inept or boringly conventional or studious'. They were the privileged class of learner, who ate at the homestead with the manager, not with us ringers. 1998 Manly Daily 16 October: It turned out someone, who also lives around the Warringah Mall area, had called the firies after thinking a shop was alight. A fool; also used as a general term of abuse. Some claim that Kellys last words were in fact Ah well, I suppose it has come to this not quite as memorable. Also known as a female factory. (adjective) 1904Argus (Melbourne) 23 July: The python is shedding his skin 'I say, Bill, ain't his noo skin bonza?'. For further discussion of this term see our Word of the Month article from June 2008. iron lung: wouldnt work in an iron lung. A toilet. 1917 Forbes Advocate 25 September: 'Hold on Eliza, where did you get that favor?' To pull down or remove the trousers from (a person) as a joke or punishment. For more information about dinkum oil and other words from the Gallipoli campaign, see our blogAnzac: Words from Gallipoli. Quokka was first recorded in 1855, and comes from Noongar, an Aboriginal language of this area. Soon after this, the word was used as a derisive nickname for a person who exploits an exaggerated Australian nationalism. A domestic fowl; a chicken. She is the loveliest girl within a thousand miles of Burracoppin.

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