‘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
Read More‘drunk as a pissant’: meaning and origin
extremely drunk—Australia, 1892, as ‘drunk as an ant’—USA, 1925, as ‘drunk as a pissant’ in Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Passos
Read More‘game as a pissant’: meaning and origin
also ‘game as an ant’, ‘game as a bulldog ant’, etc.—Australia, 1874—plucky, courageous, willing to put up a fight against considerable odds
Read More‘brown Windsor soup’: meaning and early occurrences
UK, 1919—a thick brown meat-based soup of a type now often depreciatively depicted as emblematic of traditional British cookery
Read More‘spud-cocky’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1911—a potato farmer—composed of ‘spud’ (a potato) and ‘cocky’ (a farmer working a small-scale farm)—‘cocky’: shortened form of ‘cockatoo’ (a farmer working a small-scale farm)
Read More‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: meaning and early occurrences
British slang, 1960s—‘to disappear up one’s own arse’: to become self-involved, pretentious or conceited—‘to be up one’s own arse’: to be self-involved, pretentious or conceited
Read More‘old boiler’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1950—UK, 1962—derogatory and offensive: a middle-aged or elderly woman, especially one who is unattractive or unfeminine—refers to ‘boiler’, i.e., a tough old chicken for cooking by boiling
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word histories 