Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. This week we look at boomer. There are a lot of very different meanings for the word boomer in colloquial Australian English. The most common is as something large, like a crashing wave. But it is also popularly known to mean something successful or popular, as a party or song. A newer reference, unrelated to these two, is simply as the shortened version of baby boomer.

There are many names for this stalwart feature of an Australian childhood. Running barefoot across the grass is almost guaranteed to result in a bindi-eye in the sole of your foot. The bindi-eye is originally native to South America and was introduced to Australia in the early 20th century. Now known all over the country as a common lawn weed, it flowers in spring and produces small, flat, brown, seeds with sharp spines which stick painfully into bare feet. The name bindi-eye comes from the Australian Aboriginal languages of Gamilaraay and Yuwaalaraay. However, a bindayaa originally referred to any of a number of plants of the genus Calotis which have small burrs with fine barbed awns. It has since been applied to a wider variety of plants. It also has a number of different colloquial references. In the Newcastle region, it is known as a joey. And in parts of Western Australia, it is known as a jo-jo. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Anyone who lives near a beach might have seen a group of junior lifesavers, also known as nippers. There are a number of meanings for this word, but no clear etymology listed. An interesting and very likely now very much illegal meaning was a 'young lad on a construction site or in a mine who did small odd jobs, such as making tea and buying lunch.' We would love to hear from any nippers of any kind out there. Is this a common term where you come from? Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. This week we look at spud. Perhaps the most versatile and popular vegetable on the planet, the spud (or potato, for those not in the know) is a staple of classic Aussie food. From chips to chips, it is part of almost every meal.

While the goon of today is generally understood to be cheap cask wine, this meaning didn't appear until the 1990s. For at least a decade before this, goon meant a flagon of wine. It is possible that this word came from a jocular pronunciation of flagoon. An offshoot of this word is the classic Aussie drinking game known as goon of fortune. This is a drinking game in which bladders of wine casks are hung from a rotating clothes hoist under which players are situated at intervals, the spinning of the hoist determining who drinks next. Here at the dictionary, we do not condone excessive drinking or dangerous activities like this, but are reporting on it as a matter of fact. If you do drink, please do so responsibly. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

The humble RSL (Returned Services League of Australia) club can be a mouthful, so in the Aussie tradition, it has been colloquially shortened to 'rissole'. You may have heard the question "Want to go up the rissole?", or, for entertainers, to "do the rissoles" is to make a tour of RSL clubs. Rissole has a number of other meanings unrelated to this one, but we'll leave those to you to discover.  Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

This is an interesting piece of Sydney history. This turn of phrase means 'to depart in haste', and was originally Sydney slang dating back to the 1940s. It referred to the now-defunct trams along the Bondi line which were notoriously fast. It also dates from World War II services slang, when it also meant to go AWOL. Sydney's trams were discontinued in 1961, but the term remained for years after the fact. Not as well known or used now, perhaps this is poised for a comeback with Sydney trams making a triumphant return. We're looking forward to seeing what new words and colloquialisms crop up from the everchanging city. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. This week we look at youse. A stalwart and consistently divisive member of the Australian English language, youse appears to be here to stay. This unusual word was first recorded back in the 1890s

Crypto languages are something of a passion of ours. You have arpie-darpie, aygo-paygo, obo language, pig Latin and rechtub kelat (a secret language of butchers!) to name a few. But today, we're going to talk about one used by schoolchildren called alibi. In this particular language, normal words are modified by adding into each syllable the sounds 'ullab'; thus hug becomes hullabug and 'You are a pig' becomes 'Yullaboo ullabar ullaba pullabig'. Is this the language you favoured as a child? Or was it something more unusual like one of our editors who speaks bollagosh? We'd love to know in the comments below. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

While it is now more commonly known as a pie floater, a floater is a meat pie served in pea soup. It originated in one of our most prolific states for unusual colloquialisms for food, South Australia. It has been recorded since 1915. Like most Aussie food, this has some controversy attached. Do you have your pie floater with tomato sauce or without? And is it still a pie floater if the peas are on top? We'd love not only your thoughts, but your best recipes for this culinary treat! Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

A bush telly is a campfire, or the stars – in other words, what you watch for entertainment at night in the bush. It's rather a beautiful term and one that continues to this very day. Instead of being relegated to the past like some Australian colloquialisms, bush telly can even be found on Instagram. This is a little at odds with the meaning, but heartwarming to see nonetheless. Aside from the telly, there are a number of other bush compounds in Australian English. Most people would be familiar with bush tucker, and bush-bashing, but there are some lesser known gems that we might leave up to you to investigate, such as the bush banana and the bush oyster. Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.

Greenie is a term for a conservationist that is now used worldwide, but it was originally an Australian coinage back in the 1970s.  Although the association of the colour green with environmentalism was first made in German politics of the early 1970s, and first appeared in English in the name Greenpeace, the addition of -ie to form a noun was an Australian contribution (and one we are very fond of doing to many different words). Of course, being Australia, there are various other meanings that greenie holds, including a variety of yabby, a variety of frog and a variety of bird. And it has a meaning in surfing culture of a large green unbroken wave. What was your first encounter with the word greenie? Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.