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bobby pin


noun a small metal device with two slender prongs which press together to grip the hair and hold it in position. Compare hairclip, hair slide.
Contributor's comments: I lived in Melbourne all my life and my parents also Victorian also called them bobby pins including my father who ran a ladies and gents hairdresser.

Contributor's comments: Born and bred in Melbourne, my experience is that 'Bobby pin' is the usual word for hairclip, especially amongst school children.

Contributor's comments: I was born and brought up in outback W.A and 'bobby pin' was always used in preference to hair slide or hair clip.

Contributor's comments: Bobby pin is a particular type of hair clip. Hair clip or hair slide are also used in NSW for other types of devices for holding the hair.

Contributor's comments: Most definitely used in Melbourne - my Mother (born 1915) called them bobby pins.

Contributor's comments: Yup. 'Bobby pin' is certainly used in Tassie too.

Contributor's comments: My mother used to call them them bobby pins when I was a child in Tasmania (1950s) but then she was from Victoria so it may not have been in common usage in Hobart.

Contributor's comments: I grew up in Sydney NSW and we also referred to these as bobby pins, not hair clips.

Contributor's comments: I think you may find it is Australia wide. I live in Perth and have always called them Bobbie pins.

Contributor's comments: I've lived in Victoria all my life and booby pin has always been used to describe a hairclip not only in Melb but northern Vic as well. My grandmother used the word a lot as does my mum.

Contributor's comments: Bobby pin is used in Melbourne to refer to hair slides too - I have used the term all my life.

Contributor's comments: [Tasmanian informant] Both my wife and I agree that our mothers used this term to denote a hair slide.

Contributor's comments: I am from Adelaide and have always known these clips as "bobby pins".

Contributor's comments: I grew up in South Australia where the term bobby pin was used in both the mid-north as well as Adelaide.

Contributor's comments: Interestingly, here in the United States, at least in Virginia (middle Atlantic state, east coast), we too use the term "bobby pin" to denote a dual pronged metal pin that holds hair in place. I was introduced to this site by an online friend from Perth. What a wonderfully informative website!

Contributor's comments: I grew up in SA and we always called them bobby pins, too. I think it's probably the same across all of Australia.

Contributor's comments: I have never heard anyone in Australia refer to a bobby pin as a hairclip (though it is of course one type of hairclip).

Contributor's comments: [Brisbane informant] To me bobby pin is synonymous with hairpin, and is different from a hairclip or hairslide. Both the latter are larger and more decorative.

Contributor's comments: When the fashion for short cropped, or 'bobbed' haircame in, the finer, more open hair pins previously used to 'skewer' long thick hair were of little use to hold short hair off the face.

Contributor's comments: Also known in South Africa.

Contributor's comments: In North Queensland we called the thin metal hair slides bobby pins. I've found that it is also quite prevalent in the Northern Territory as well.

Contributor's comments: Where I grew up on NSW Central Tablelands "bobby pin" was used for a slender two prong metal device to hold hair back.

Contributor's comments: Bobby pins have been around as long as I can remember and as well as holding the hair back, were good for cleaning wax from the ears before cotton buds were invented.