“ad fontes!”
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 Morehas been used with reference to feebleness and ineffectualness since the late 19th century
Read Moreextremely drunk—Australia, 1892, as ‘drunk as an ant’—USA, 1925, as ‘drunk as a pissant’ in Manhattan Transfer, by John Dos Passos
Read Morealso ‘game as an ant’, ‘game as a bulldog ant’, etc.—Australia, 1874—plucky, courageous, willing to put up a fight against considerable odds
Read MoreAustralia, 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)
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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
Read Moreis used to comment contemptuously on an instance of unthinking imitation, or of learning or performing by rote—USA, 1889—apparently first used by Californian retailers
Read Moreto reach, or to be in, a state of extreme privation; to suffer hardship; to die, especially of thirst—New Zealand (miners, 1871) & Australia (1881)
Read MoreAustralia, 1947—used of any ineffectual Australian-Rules-Football player, and, by extension, of any ineffectual person
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UK—a trifling, whimsical news item, especially one that is used as a light-note ending to a television or radio news broadcast—from a short film about a pet duck, first broadcast on the BBC on 24 May 1978
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word histories 