“ad fontes!”
the State of New South Wales—Australia, 1905—alludes to New South Wales as the ‘mother’ colony, i.e., the first colony that Britain founded in Australia—hence (1908) ‘Ma Stater’, a native or inhabitant of New South Wales
Read MoreAustralian slang, 1960s—the unpalatable and unnutritious evening stew that used to be served to prison inmates—by extension: any unpalatable item of food
Read Morecolloquially used as a contemptuous appellation for a newspaper that the speaker regards as downmarket—Australia, 1880—but had occurred once (USA, 1874) as ‘bologna sausage wrapper’
Read MoreAustralia, 1929—mistaken, astray, following the wrong tactics
Read Morethe imaginary vehicle supposed to take people to the mental asylum—Australia (1869), New Zealand (1884)—the reason the colour green was chosen is unknown
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 More
Australia, 1881—to adopt an affected speech or manner, to display self-importance—also, in early use: to embellish the truth, to depict flatteringly
Read Moreyou cannot improve something which is inherently or unalterably unpleasant, or of poor quality—USA, 1977—originally in reference to rock music
Read MoreAustralia, 1947—used of any ineffectual Australian-Rules-Football player, and, by extension, of any ineffectual person
Read More
rhyming slang for ‘drunk’—Australia, 1952—may have originally alluded to ‘Molly the Monk’, the name given in Australia to various primates kept in captivity or used for entertainment
Read More
word histories 