Language
A reader (Rosie) has drawn my attention to a new(ish) word: ‘coddiwomple’. Rosie wrote to say that she has been…
Language
Have you noticed the trend to refer to some Australians as ‘First Nations’ people? Those Australians were once called ‘Aboriginal’…
Language
According to news reports Vladimir Putin expected his invasion and conquest of Ukraine to be a ‘cakewalk’. This is originally…
Aussie Language
We are used to words being banned – but now it seems the word police are coming for the word…
Aussie Language
A small award should be presented to the Australian’s Alice Workman for her new coinage. She has given us a…
Aussie Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow referred to something called a preference cascade which he said was a term…
Aussie Language
I have coined a potentially useful new expression: comatose bias. We are told that one of the great problems in…
Aussie Language
As we approach a federal election, for the next few weeks I’ll look at some ‘election lingo’. ballot: Why do…
Aussie Language
Here’s a delightful expression I have just encountered: ‘offence archaeology’. This is the practice of going through the social media…
Aussie Language
A letter writer to the Australian has pointed out that Anthony Albanese appears to have coined a brand-new oxymoron to…
Aussie Language
In his column in the Weekend Australian just before Christmas demographer Bernard Salt expressed his fear that the Australian language…
Aussie Language
This appears to be a case of ‘What were they thinking?’ The good folk at the Macquarie Dictionary have announced…
Aussie Language
Nick Cater has coined what I think is a brilliant new expression the ‘laptop class’. This is his vivid and…
Aussie Language
In a recent piece in the Australian newspaper paper Terry McCrann (the doyen of economics writers — he of the…
Aussie Language
The hot political word of the moment has to be faction. In Victoria the anti-corruption body, IBAC, is currently investigating…
Aussie Language
It’s that time of the year again—when dictionaries around the world start announcing their chosen ‘Word of the Year’. First…
Aussie Language
The short-priced favourite that ran second in this year’s Melbourne Cup was a horse called ‘incentivise’. But is that a…
Aussie Language
When New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet announced the re-opening of the state he said: ‘We can’t remain a hermit…
Aussie Language
Andrew Bolt, among others, has been scrupulous in drawing our attention to what he calls ‘race baiting’. For example, Greens…
Aussie Language
A Speccie reader has emailed asking me for an explanation of the word ‘climatarian’. We know what Presbyterians are, she…
Aussie Language
A new study by researchers at the University of Western Australia shows that the most trusted accent in Australia is…
Kiwi Language
A tech company claims that anti-vax and anti-lockdown rallies have been ‘astroturfed’. Which means? Well, ‘AstroTurf’ was the world’s first…
Aussie Language
Just published is Testosterone: The Story of the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us by Harvard biologist Carole Hooven. She…
Aussie Language
When Extinction Rebellion vandalised Parliament House they were engaging in ‘stuntism’— a word that was coined by Mark Latham. When…
Aussie Language
The New York Times has chosen a word to describe what happens to people under Covid restrictions: ‘languishing’. Under lockdown…
