Aussie Life

Aussie life

2 September 2023 9:00 am

Six years ago the ABC posted an article online about William Crowther, a prominent 19th-century Tasmanian politician, a statue of…

Language

2 September 2023 9:00 am

A national survey has found 64 per cent of Jewish students say they’ve experienced anti-Semitism at university. At Sydney University…

Aussie life

26 August 2023 9:00 am

Holding dual Australian and UK citizenship is only problematic when both countries reach the final rounds of a major sporting…

Language

26 August 2023 9:00 am

The power (and the usefulness) of language is that it gives us names for ideas. And a name is like…

Aussie life

19 August 2023 9:00 am

At the end of the second world war, socialists around the world still believed in the inevitable overthrow of capitalism…

Language

19 August 2023 9:00 am

We all know J.R.R. Tolkien from his epic The Lord of the Rings, voted best novel of the 20th century.…

Aussie life

12 August 2023 9:00 am

‘Senior moment’, being an affectionate descriptor for the kind of harmless temporary memory failure which presages more serious cognitive decline,…

Language

12 August 2023 9:00 am

The Albanese government has established a ‘Makarrata Commission’ with a budget of $5.8 million dollars. So, what is this word…

Aussie life

5 August 2023 9:00 am

The tide seems to be turning. It is looking increasingly likely that what is the daftest referendum ever dreamt up…

Language

5 August 2023 9:00 am

‘They’ is not a singular pronoun. It’s a fairly simple concept, but some people are struggling to grasp it. The…

Aussie life

29 July 2023 9:00 am

Wellbeing is complicated. Like junk food and cigarettes, we need professionals to explain it to us, maybe with an expensive…

Language

29 July 2023 9:00 am

The compound noun ‘rage apply’ is (I am told) the name being given to a new trend in workplaces around…

Aussie life

22 July 2023 9:00 am

Standing on the banks of the Swan River the skyline tells you how Perth retains observable links with its regional…

Language

22 July 2023 9:00 am

Some trendy new expressions will probably have the lifespan of a fruit fly (for the scientifically minded, that’s between 30…

Aussie life

15 July 2023 9:00 am

If British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen goes ahead with the defamation suit she is reportedly considering taking out against…

Language

15 July 2023 9:00 am

Is the word ‘bonzer’ no longer part of the living Australian language? Bernard Salt thinks not, writing in the Weekend…

Aussie life

8 July 2023 9:00 am

It used to be joked that Australia risked becoming the fifty-first state of America. But having enjoyed a family holiday…

Language

8 July 2023 9:00 am

We all know what ‘dictation’ means –  speaking words aloud for someone to write down. Once every office had its…

Aussie life

1 July 2023 9:00 am

Amanda Stoker’s willingness to talk about her bottom has given David Van the distinction of becoming Australia’s first real subject…

Language

1 July 2023 9:00 am

I have written here in the past about the expression ‘weaponised words.’ There are many examples: ‘fascist’, ‘Nazi’ and ‘hard-right’…

Aussie life

17 June 2023 9:00 am

With the exception of two or three of our tastier fish species, I doubt if anything in Australia has taken…

Language

17 June 2023 9:00 am

For a number of years British journalist Philip Howard wrote a weekly language column for the Times in London (he…

Aussie life

10 June 2023 9:00 am

Recently, a demonstration was held outside Perth Library, which is noteworthy because libraries are one of the few spaces that…

Language

10 June 2023 9:00 am

It is an exciting moment when I discover a new word – and this time it’s a word that focuses…

Aussie life

3 June 2023 9:00 am

Imagine waking from a 50-year coma to find that the TV in your recovery room was permanently tuned to a…