‘dole bludger’: meaning and origin

24th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia & New Zealand—a person who exploits the system of unemployment benefits by avoiding gainful employment—first used in 1974 by the Australian Minister for Labor and Immigration Clyde Cameron in reference to young people who migrated to the Gold Coast

‘to throw a wobbly’: meaning and origin

23rd Oct 2023.Reading time 21 minutes.

also ‘to throw a wobbler’—New Zealand, 1964—to lose one’s self-control in a fit of nerves, temper, panic, etc.—‘wobbly’, also ‘wobbler’, denotes a fit of temper or panic

‘a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle’: meaning and origin

20th Oct 2023.Reading time 12 minutes.

also ‘a wigwam for a goose’s bridle’—UK, 1836—denotes something absurd or preposterous; now typically used evasively in response to an unwanted or annoying question

an Australian use of ‘bottom of the harbour’

18th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

1980—a tax evasion scheme in which a company and its records vanish completely (figuratively to the bottom of the harbour, originally Sydney Harbour) with an unpaid tax bill

‘checkout chick’: meaning and origin

17th Oct 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males

‘little Aussie battler’: meaning and origin

15th Oct 2023.Reading time 8 minutes.

a person who struggles for a livelihood, and who displays great determination in so doing—Australia, 1974—originally applied to the Australian television host, radio presenter and singer Ernie Sigley

‘off one’s pannikin’: meaning and origin

14th Oct 2023.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia, 1879—the noun ‘pannikin’ has been used figuratively in the sense of ‘the head’ in the dated slang phrase ‘off one’s pannikin’, meaning: ‘off one’s head’, ‘out of one’s wits’, ‘crazy’

‘glitterati’: meaning and origin

13th Oct 2023.Reading time 14 minutes.

the celebrities of the fashionable literary and show-business world—USA, 1944—blend of ‘glitter’ ((to make) a brilliant appearance or display) and of ‘literati’ (intellectuals)

‘to come down on someone like a ton of bricks’: meanings and early occurrences

11th Oct 2023.Reading time 11 minutes.

to attack or punish someone with great vigour; to reprimand someone severely—USA, 1862; New Zealand, 1863

‘to have a shot in the locker’: meanings and origin

10th Oct 2023.Reading time 13 minutes.

to have something in reserve but ready for use; to have a chance or opportunity remaining—nautical, USA, 1789—‘shot’: a projectile designed for discharge from a firearm—‘locker’: the compartment for keeping ammunition on a ship

word histories

Author: Pascal Tréguer