‘whingeing Pommy’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1962—an immigrant from Britain who complains about Australia—‘Pommy’: apparently a shortening of ‘pomegranate’, used to designate an immigrant from Britain
Read MoreTag: Australia
‘like a robber’s dog’: meanings and origin
Australia & UK—denotes physical ugliness; also used of temporary states such as tiredness, hangover, anger, etc. (Australia, 1946)—also denotes rapidity (Australia, 1947)
Read More‘like a beaten favourite’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1982—denotes physical ugliness
Read More‘a hatful of arseholes’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1957, as ‘a hatful of bronzas’—used in similes expressing notions such as ugliness and silliness
Read More‘silly as a wheel’: meaning and origin
Australia, 1931—extremely silly—the underlying notion is probably that anything is silly that does all the hard work
Read More‘dole bludger’: meaning and origin
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
Read More‘to throw a wobbly’: meaning and origin
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
Read More‘a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle’: meaning and origin
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
Read Morean Australian use of ‘bottom of the harbour’
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
Read More‘checkout chick’: meaning and origin
colloquial—USA, 1949—a female employee who works at a supermarket checkout counter—is also occasionally applied to males
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