Aussie Life
Aussie life
The Melbourne Comedy Festival’s continuing refusal to apologise for not closing this year’s festival with a tribute to its co-founder…
Language
The word ‘gender’ has been part of the English language since at least 1390. It appears to have started at…
Aussie life
One of the few survivors of Gough Whitlam’s Camelot, that legendary cultural icon and eminent Australian diplomat, Sir Les Patterson,…
Language
The word ‘mulligan’ is new to me – but golfers everywhere will find it familiar. In golf a ‘mulligan’ is…
Aussie life
‘Where did all the poof readers go?’ is not a question which would make it into many Australian publications. I…
Language
‘White guilt’ is one of the concepts lying behind the proposed Indigenous Voice. When Prime Minister Albanese announced he had…
Aussie life
After that tweet by Mark Latham, thousands of column words, outraged tweets and statements by MPs quickly followed. I can’t…
Language
This year is the centenary of Vegemite. The classic Australian spread first hit the shelves of local grocery stores in…
Aussie life
Australia’s greatest footy rivalries used to be strictly intra-code affairs – obvious examples being league’s State of Origin, union’s Bledisloe,…
Language
Our esteemed editor has drawn my attention to the word ‘ecocide’. It was employed by the Greens Party’s treasury spokesman…
Language
The charity Oxfam has come under fire for issuing a bizarre ‘inclusive’ language guide to staff. The 92-page report warns…
Aussie life
Two weeks after our Prime Minister told us he will be attending the coronation of Charles III we still don’t…
Aussie life
A new Arts policy has been released to help raise the creative standard just as a balding redhead called Ed…
Language
The word ‘manifestation’ has been part of the English language since the 1400s. It comes from the verb ‘to manifest’…
Aussie life
The now universally acknowledged failure of vaccines and masks to reduce your chances of spreading, contracting or dying from Covid…
Language
The Church of England is considering scrapping centuries of Christian teaching to give God gender-neutral pronouns. The church has confirmed…
Aussie life
I was visiting my son in California when I first heard about ChatGPT, the real-time writing app which has gotten…
Language
Here are two words that I would like to see become the watchwords of where Australia is going in the…
Aussie life
Of the five Australians who have won the Booker Prize, which one is on the NSW HSC English set text…
Language
I’ve been tracking the way the word ‘racism’ has changed in recent times. Both the word and the concept of…
Aussie life
The return of the Mardi Gras Parade to Oxford Street after a two-year absence will be welcomed by the majority…
Language
Lake Superior State University in the US publishes a list of ‘banished words’– terms that have been so misused or…
Aussie life
Apparently, Melbourne will soon overtake Sydney as Australia’s largest city. I’m not saying this is a good or bad thing,…
Language
Jeremy Butterfield (the former editor-in-chief of Collins dictionaries) has written recently about nursey rhymes, and how they teach the basics…
Aussie life
What white Anglo male over the age of 50 can honestly say they’ve never worn a Nazi uniform? When I…
