‘a long streak of pelican shit’: meaning and origin
a tall person—Australia, 1968, in the stage play Norm and Ahmed, by Alexander Buzo—gained currency from occurring in the film Gallipoli (1981), scripted by David Williamson
Read More“ad fontes!”
a tall person—Australia, 1968, in the stage play Norm and Ahmed, by Alexander Buzo—gained currency from occurring in the film Gallipoli (1981), scripted by David Williamson
Read Morea parliamentary question which the respondent knows will be asked, intended to prompt a prepared reply—1934—refers to the question-and-answer column by Dorothy Dix, pseudonym of U.S. journalist Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer
Read Morean assumed name under which a person records a disc—UK, 1931—coined on the pattern of phrases such as ‘nom de théâtre’ and ‘nom de plume’
Read Morea person whose job is to collect domestic refuse—also, an expert in the treatment of refuse—USA, 1946—from ‘garb-’ in ‘garbage’, and the combining form ‘-ologist’
Read MoreAustralia, 1834—used in various phrases, in particular as a type of someone or something in a very bad state or condition—also in the phrase ‘all behind like Barney’s bull’, meaning ‘very delayed’ or ‘backward’—origin unknown
Read MoreAustralia—also ‘to bang like a shithouse door’—used of an exceptional sexual partner—plays on two meanings of the verb ‘bang’: ‘to make a loud noise’ and ‘to have sexual intercourse’
Read MoreAustralia, 1972—a jocular curse—the Australian National Dictionary Centre explains that this phrase “recalls an earlier time when many Australians kept chooks (domestic chickens) in the backyard and the dunny was a separate outhouse”
Read MoreThe noun ‘dunny’ denotes a toilet, especially an outside toilet. This noun has been used in various phrases expressing notions such as conspicuousness, loneliness, ill luck, etc.
Read MoreThe proverbial phrase ‘if it should rain pottage, he would want his dish’, and its many variants, are used of a person who is characterised by bad luck or by an inability to be organised or prepared.
Read More(plural) the Australian men’s national soccer team; (singular) a member of this team—originated in 1972 as the name of the mascot of the Australian men’s national soccer team, created for the 1974 FIFA World Cup
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