We hope you’ve not met a widgie lately. 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 especially noted for wild behaviour and free sexuality, and for dressing in tight, revealing skirts and sweaters, and having short, duck-tailed haircuts.
The origin of the term is a bit of a mystery. One theory is that it is a blend of the words women and bodgie, but this doesn’t have the ring of truth about it. Another more charming solution is that it referred to the hairstyle which had a vee or wedge at the back; it is but a small step from wedgie to widgie.
