Aussie Life
Aussie life
In interesting news from the fickle world of celebrities, American-Albanian singer Dua Lipa, whose repertoire includes but is not limited…
Language
Writing in the Daily Telegraph James Morrow pointed out that the Albanese government suffers from ‘tall poppy syndrome’– dividing the…
Aussie life
One of the least neglected protocols of elite sport is the obligation of the national coach to answer the question…
Language
One classic bit of the Aussie verbal culture (with us for many years) is the expression ‘beyond the black stump’.…
Language
A radio talkback caller described many of the activities of the bureaucrats living in the Canberra bubble as being nothing…
Aussie life
In London, where I am writing this, three topics dominate pub conversation; the demise of Sir Keir Starmer, the historically…
Language
Sometimes I worry about what is happening to higher education – not just here, but around the English-speaking world. My…
Aussie life
Measuring tobacco consumption is dirty work, but somebody has to do it. The antiseptic image of the government statistician has…
Language
The word of the moment is undoubtedly ‘monocultural’. In her take-no-prisoners speech at the National Press Club Pauline Hanson said…
Aussie life
The international popularity of the gladioli-waving, board-wobbling, knife-wielding caricatures of Barry Humphries, Rolf Harris and Paul Hogan was so great…
Language
I ran into James Morrow in the corridor the other day – and he told me that he thought he…
Aussie life
‘Chloe’, Young and Jackson’s famously elongated dining room nude is a Rorschach test for people who say they know a…
Language
‘Codswallop’ means ‘Nonsense, rubbish, drivel’. The experts at the Oxford think they have nailed it down. They write, ‘Popularised in…
Aussie life
In pre-internet 1980s Australia, maintaining long-distance relationships in real time was so expensive that for expats like me the decade’s…
Language
A report in Perspectives on Psychological Science last April said that people are each speaking about 120,000 fewer words every…
Aussie life
The deeper you look at how our civilisation has evolved since the Enlightenment, the brighter the deception shines. The first…
Language
When ‘lie’ was banned by the Speaker of the House as unparliamentary language, I wondered if it was time to…
Aussie life
Visitors have a licence to offend, and some visitors offend more than others, and it was reasonable to assume that…
Language
Speccie reader Tim writes: ‘I’m interested to know when (and why) “partner” took on its new meanings. Years ago, I…
Aussie life
There are statistics and damn statistics, and the truth may lie somewhere between the two. The Economist recently touted that…
Language
When Donald Trump says he is ready for military action he often says he (or, rather the US military) is…
Aussie life
Advertising which gives a brand topical relevance gets extra traction with its target audience. So if I was creating the…
Language
My rage against the journalistic abuse of ‘populist/populism’ continues. As I have pointed out in the past, the meaning of…
Aussie life
How do you write satire when you are up against a literary festival? It writes itself. I have been leafing…
Language
There are some silly people (in the US more than here) who like to claim that President Trump is suffering…
