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…
Language
Because of the alarming level of antisemitism that has grown like a poisonous fungus in Australia, a Speccie reader (Sandra)…
Language
‘Said Hanrahan’ is a phrase from a bush ballad, usually uttered to identify a prophet of doom, gloom and utter…
Language
A Speccie reader (Noel) wants to know if the media is using ‘decimated’ correctly, when a commenter calls on Hamas…
Language
Our esteemed editor asks about the word ‘irits’. Is it, he asks, British or American or authentically Aussie. The good…
Language
The online world breeds some very strange bits of language, and none are stranger than the word ‘catfishing’. This names…
Language
From time to time there are journalists who like to aggrandise their humble trade by claiming they are ‘speaking truth…
Language
When the President of the United States in Donald Trump, and there is an old English word ‘trumpery’ – clearly…
Language
The recent severe weather events on the east coast were labelled (by our official Weather Bureau) as a ‘bomb cyclone’…
Language
Social psychologist Irving Janis coined the term ‘groupthink’ in 1971. So, let’s see if I can break that down, and…
Language
Is ‘de-escalate’ in the running to be the Word of the Year for 2025? Or (as seems more likely) the…
Language
A short time ago I was chatting with the former deputy prime minister of Australia John Anderson about the sort…
Language
Is ‘de-escalate’ in the running to be the Word of the Year for 2025? Or (as seems more likely) the…
Language
When a letter to the editor called a political talking head a ‘dingbat’ I searched for the origin of the…
