Aussie Life
Language
We live in a world that seems to have largely abandoned punctuation – those small marks between words that help…
Aussie life
When the Minister for Blackouts, Bankruptcy and Bull finally announces that, in order to save the planet, we need to…
Language
The word ‘emergency’ has been part of the English language since around 1630. Its most common political use today is…
Aussie life
I have a confession to make. Despite voting for an Australian Republic in 1999, and despite making an ad arguing…
Aussie life
In last Saturday’s Weekend Australian, Professor Peter Sutton, an internationally recognised anthropologist and linguist, wrote ‘Indigenous identity has become such…
Language
‘Bike shedding’ was coined by British historian and author C. Northcote Parkinson, famous for his book Parkinson’s Law (1957), but…
Aussie life
I’m starting this column on the eve of the election, so you have me at a disadvantage. But not much…
Language
News reports tell us there has been a small furore over a list of ‘derogatory and offensive terms’ included in…
Aussie life
The education of the young is an essential component for the transmission of culture from one generation to the next.…
Language
We all know ‘adult’ the noun, and we know what an ‘adult’ is (‘because,’ as a friend said to me,…
Aussie life
Are conservative journalists more endangered than polar bears? Unlike the habitat of the world’s largest land carnivore, the landscape across…
(Pro-) Aussie life
‘We are not changing any of the settings and I don’t believe we need to change any of the settings’…
Aussie life
In The Australian Ugliness, published in 1960, the architect Robin Boyd remembered a meal in a hotel dining room in…
Language
Now a new and (I think) much needed expression: ‘disagreement consent’. It’s a play on a more familiar expression I…
Aussie life
The failure of Russian forces to achieve their Ukrainian objectives is said to have surprised nobody more than their commander-in-chief.…
Language
The current prominence of the word ‘gaffe’ is due to the Gaffe Meister himself – Joe Biden. But on investigation…
Aussie life
Of the 101 Australian military personnel who have been awarded the Victoria Cross, our highest honour for bravery, most lie…
Language
Here it is! I have finally found one word that will describe the Liberal party in its present state— ‘agathokakological’.…
Aussie life
Is the woke tide finally starting to turn? One aspect of the mainstream media’s coverage of the Ukraine crisis might…
Language
The word ‘fatigue’ has been part of the English language since at least 1693. It comes from a French source…
Aussie life
April is the cruellest month for anybody who despairs at the state of contemporary humour. Where are the Ealing comedies…
Language
The expression ‘to walk back’ has exploded over the news recently. We have been told by the news media that…
Aussie life
According to our National Archives, the aim of the Immigration Restriction Act, aka the White Australia Policy, was ‘to limit…
Language
A reader (Rosie) has drawn my attention to a new(ish) word: ‘coddiwomple’. Rosie wrote to say that she has been…
Aussie life
Indulge yourself with a fascinating read of Admiral Sir Reginald Henderson’s 1911 recommendation for the protection of Australia’s coast. This…
