Aussie Life
Language
There is an obsession today with something called ‘diversity and inclusion’. But what do those words really mean? And are…
Aussie life
It has become the standard practice of Australian property developers to decorate the hoardings around inner-city construction sites with photographs…
Language
When I was chatting to Peta Credlin on Sky News the question came up of the word ‘normalcy’. It has…
Aussie life
We are constantly being told that the Uluru Statement is an invitation from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people…
Language
Is ‘wellness’ really a word? It was coined in America (where else?) in the late 1950s to mean: ‘the state…
Aussie life
That alcohol-related death rates rose during the pandemic might be the least surprising announcement ever made by the Australian Bureau…
Language
During the height of the Aids epidemic a body was established called the ‘Aids Council of NSW’. I’m sure in…
Aussie life
My wife gave me a rude but loving shove in bed this morning. ‘Well,’ she asked, ‘are you going to…
Language
Have you ever come across the ‘Oxford comma’? If you haven’t, here’s a short explanation. When you have a list…
Aussie life
Australian manufacturers have long been obliged to alert consumers to health hazards. As soon as we found out that peanuts…
Language
Richard Littlejohn wrote recently in Britain’s Daily Mail about an 18-page Inclusive Language Guide which has been sent out to…
Aussie life
I have barracked for the Essendon football team since I was a youngster. Amongst the mementos of my childhood days…
Language
Now we tiptoe carefully into the area of the derogatory and offensive – those being the words used by the…
Aussie life
Recent reports of a WA man being killed by a kangaroo have been syndicated by foreign news agencies for much…
Language
The word ‘they’ has two legitimate uses and one illegitimate use. The first proper and legitimate use is as the…
Aussie life
Prior to the threatened rewriting of the Australian constitution can we stop re-writing the English dictionary and the meanings of…
Language
According to American journalist Kaylee McGhee White (writing in the Washington Examiner) it is now officially okay to use the…
Aussie life
As I sit in my study at the end of the day listening to the heavy rain and wondering when…
Language
European and Indian languages seem to be related in the very distant past. Linguists are able, for example, to trace…
Aussie life
‘I’d rather see a church burn,’ is my usual response to a glass of wine getting knocked over. So if…
Language
The word ‘map’ no longer means just a bit of cartography – it now also means ‘minor attracted person’. In…
Aussie life
What is it about Daniel Andrews, quasi-dictator of Victoria? He runs what Tony Abbott last week called ‘the worst government…
Language
The word ‘sovereignty’ is recorded as part of the English language since at least 1340 – a very old word…
Aussie life
Anthony Albanese’s republican sympathies were a matter of public record when a Voice to Parliament wasn’t even a whisper in…
Woke language
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) once said: ‘The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.’ And if the woke…
