Language
When I discover a new word I am delighted. ‘Autochthonous’ is one I have seen occasionally, but which I have…
Language
Are our governments guilty of ‘menticide’? This uncommon word is recorded from 1951, in which year it first appeared in…
language
Albanese has spent the whole of his political life a member of Labor’s socialist left. As a result we get…
Language
Speccie reader Reona writes to ask where the expression ‘peppercorn rent’ comes from. Well, there once was a time when…
Language
I have finally snapped! I have become so annoyed by lying halfwits misusing the word ‘genocide’ that I am going…
Language
Sometimes words are invented just because people wish there were such words – and (I suppose) wish that what they…
Language
Recently on Mammamia.com Emily Vernem and Holly Wainwright complained about the rise of what they call ‘dawn culture’. They complain…
Language
As Australia continues to suffer from the evil of antisemitism a phrase (or three phrases if you count the different…
Language
In a column in the Daily Telegraph Andrew Bolt used the word ‘pretendian’. I conducted a careful search, and so…
Language
When something is partly good and partly bad, we used to say it was ‘a curate’s egg’. Odd expression. Why…
Language
Antisemitism is a word I have written about more than once, but clearly, it’s a word we need to look…
Language
Let’s begin the year by summarising the ‘Words of the Year’ chosen by the world’s great dictionaries to represent last…
Language
I heard ‘begging the question’ being misused (again!) on talkback radio. But let’s not blame the poor old broadcasters –…
Language
In the NSW parliament Premier Minns referred to another member as ‘mate’. Then an opposition member got up and took…
Language
There is an expression that is now quite common in America, although I don’t think I’ve heard it used in…
Language
It is probably time to unpack the word ‘communism’. Zohran Mamdani has been elected Mayor of New York, and he…
Language
Over the past few weeks I have been collecting media clichés – those empty, meaningless, padding words that have turned…
Language
I’m sure I can’t be the only person irritated by the word ‘wellness’. It is the most fashionable of all…
Language
John writes to ask about the word ‘noisome’? Does it (he asks) have anything to do with noise? The answer…
Politics
Will the Liberal party take a stand on net zero or not? (I am using net zero as a shorthand…
Language
Cheryl asks me to explain why we call someone who is off their rocker ‘dotty’. Well, ‘dotty’ has had that…
Language
Do you know Banjo Paterson’s ‘Clancy of the Overflow’ I asked? Yes, was the answer, I have it off by…
Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow has coined the expression ‘pulling an Albo’, meaning ‘looking busy while doing nothing’.…
Language
Harvey writes from West Australia about the Native Title Act and asks for the meaning of this word ‘native’. Well,…
Politics
Conservative politics in Australia looks to be in the worst shape it has ever been in. How many policies does…
