‘to rattle one’s dags’: meaning and origin
New Zealand, 1968—to hurry up—‘dags’: clumps of matted wool and dung which hang around a sheep’s rear end—the allusion is to the rattling sound of a sheep’s dags when it runs
Read MoreCategory: Australia & New Zealand
‘couldn’t train a choko vine over a country dunny’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1969—is used of an ineffectual person—‘choko’ (i.e., ‘chayote’): the cucumber-like fruit of a cucurbitaceous vine (‘Sechium edule’)
Read More‘drop bear’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1967—a mythical creature, similar in appearance to a koala, that drops from trees to kill and eat prey, including humans
Read More‘not to be able to head a duck’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1890, & New Zealand, 1891—is used, in sports, of slowness, in particular as a disparaging comment on a racehorse
Read More‘never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear’: meaning and origin
The phrase never put anything smaller than your elbow in your ear was explained as follows in Guidelines: Put nothing smaller than your elbow in your ear, published by Industrial Safety & Hygiene News (Birmingham, Michigan, USA) on 10th January 2017: Updated clinical guidelines published the journal Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery say cotton swabs are […]
Read More‘galah session’: meanings and origin
Australia, 1948—a period allocated for private conversation, especially between women on isolated stations, over an outback radio network—by extension (1967): any long chat—‘galah’: a very common Australian cockatoo
Read More‘flat stick’: meaning and origin
New Zealand, 1970—at full speed—perhaps after ‘flat out’ (i.e., with the maximum speed or effort) and after ‘quicksticks’ (i.e., quickly, without delay)
Read Morean Australian use of the expression ‘sick canary’
has been used with reference to feebleness and ineffectualness since the late 19th century
Read More‘wouldn’t give you a fright if he/she was a ghost’: meaning and early occurrences
is used of a miserly person—Australia, 1929—UK, 1934
Read More‘couldn’t pick a seat at the pictures’: meaning and origin
is used of an ineffectual person—Australia, 1984—originally used in sports of team selectors
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