Our drinking culture has brought some colourful phrases into the Australian vernacular.
A new exhibition gives us an insight into the daily life – and language – of Australian soldiers in World War One.
Courtesy of University of Melbourne Archives, University of Melbourne.
When Australians went to the Western Front, language failed them. So they invented slanguage: a mix of slang, French words and creative swearing that, among other things, gave us the word “Aussie”.
Australian slang is alive and well, but where does it come from?
Shutterstock
I recently read an article bemoaning the “decline” of Australian slang, pointing out that the latest edition of Tony Thorne’s Dictionary of Contemporary Slang has but a handful of new Australian entries…