You’d be forgiven for mishearing this and thinking the conversation was going to be about another Aussie classic, the yabby, but however similar this word is, it has a very different meaning. To yabber is to talk or chat; to chatter or rabbit on. It is Aussie slang thought to have originated in the language of the Wuywurrung, an … Read more
Hooroo as a farewell has been in use in Australia since at least 1916. It comes from the term hooray which was recorded in the Bulletin way back in 1898. It has been used on Australian TV in the past as a sign off from big shows including those of Molly Meldrum. Read some more tidbits on … Read more
Things have been crook in Tallarook since at least the 1960s in Australia. It comes from Tallarook, a town in central northern Victoria; one of a number of humorous rhyming expressions based on placenames dating from the early 1930s and widespread among soldiers during World War II. Other examples of rhyming expressions such as this are there’s no … Read more
The Sydney Language is the name given to the Australian Aboriginal language that was spoken in the greater Sydney area, comprising Dharug and Eora. The names Dharug and Eora were given by linguists to refer to the inland and coastal dialects of the language. Read more…
Read more about what our Committee thought of this word and view the whole the shortlist.
In 2015, the word was captain’s call. In 2016, it was fake news. In 2017, the controversial milkshake duck took out the top spot. And in 2018, we selected me too as the overall winner.
Every year at Macquarie Dictionary, we gather a few key people together to review all the new words from the previous 12 months.
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 week, our word is mallee.
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 week, our word is ropeable. I’m sure we’ve all heard this one before. It is a piece of classic Aussie slang from the 1870s that is still going … Read more
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 week, our word is widgie. This is slang from the 1950s and 1960s in Australia. A widgie is a teenage female delinquent; the counterpart of the male, bodgie. Widgies were … Read more
