Aussie Life
Language
When the President of the United States in Donald Trump, and there is an old English word ‘trumpery’ – clearly…
Aussie life
Nobody in the current federal government worked harder than Penny Wong to thaw the freeze in Sino-Australian relations caused by…
Language
The recent severe weather events on the east coast were labelled (by our official Weather Bureau) as a ‘bomb cyclone’…
Aussie life
To much leftist adulation, the eagerly awaited findings of Victoria’s Yoorrook Commission into ‘historic and ongoing systemic injustices’ against Aborigines…
Language
Social psychologist Irving Janis coined the term ‘groupthink’ in 1971. So, let’s see if I can break that down, and…
Aussie life
If you want to get a rough idea of where Australians stand on a particular issue, commission a report by…
Language
Is ‘de-escalate’ in the running to be the Word of the Year for 2025? Or (as seems more likely) the…
Aussie life
Tony Abbott has written Australia, a personal take on our history, focused on the positives. But this is a mug’s…
Language
A short time ago I was chatting with the former deputy prime minister of Australia John Anderson about the sort…
Aussie life
The past sometimes intrudes upon the present in curious and unexpected ways. Last week, on SBS, the irresistible and irrepressible…
Language
Is ‘de-escalate’ in the running to be the Word of the Year for 2025? Or (as seems more likely) the…
Aussie life
It used to be believed that treaties could be agreed only between sovereign nations. No longer. The Victorian government, forward-looking…
Language
When a letter to the editor called a political talking head a ‘dingbat’ I searched for the origin of the…
Aussie life
Last week my contacts at Latrobe Valley Law Courts sent me a digital scan of one page of the Leongatha…
Language
Speccie reader (Joshua) asks about the expression ‘unrealised capital gains’ and in particular that worrying adjective. Well, ‘unrealised’ has been…
Aussie life
US eyes Darwin Port prise. That, in case you missed it, was the hedline on the frunt page of last…
Language
Calling all lovers of our language – the semicolon is at risk of becoming extinct! Forget about the bilby or…
Aussie life
They call America the Land of the Free; it’s right there in the New York Times small print. But the…
Language
Speccie reader Alan writes to say he was having a conversation about Liberal party factions, and (strangely enough!) two expressions…
Aussie life
In the 1980s there was a popular watering hole on Sydney’s Lower North Shore called The Plum. Its popularity with…
Language
I have wanted to write a column on ‘common sense’ for a long time – but it is a surprisingly…
Aussie life
In 1968 the anthropologist Bill Stanner gave the Boyer Lectures on ABC Radio and coined the phrase ‘the great Australian…
Language
Joe Hildebrand excitedly told me about a new word he had come across while doing a Times cryptic crossword puzzle…
Aussie life
Of all the Gospel parables, I’ve always thought the one that would be hardest to pitch to Hollywood would be…
Language
The New York Times has coined the expression ‘dark Woke’ to describe the current strategy being used by the Democratic…
