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Tag: Frank Hardy

‘wouldn’t work in an iron lung’: meaning and origin

19th Feb 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

Australia, 1953—used of an extremely lazy person—refers to the artificial respirator that kept polio patients alive by “breathing” for them

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notes on the phrase ‘a bastard on Father’s Day’

27th Sep 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia—used to express unluckiness or unhappiness—first recorded in The Four-legged Lottery (1958), by Australian novelist Frank Hardy, who later often reused it

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‘the man outside Hoyt’s’: meaning and origin

13th Sep 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Australia, 1935—a person with extensive knowledge—originally the announcer outside Hoyt’s Theatre in Melbourne, Victoria, who wore a most elaborate uniform

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