Aussie Life
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…
Aussie life
If you’d told a first-generation white Australian in 1788 Sydney Town he was lucky to live where he lived, he…
Language
John writes: ‘Here’s a curly one for you, Kel: what about the word Islam? It seems a strange word. Can…
Language
‘Hypocorism’ is another strange and wonderful word (hip-OCK-ah-riz-um.) The Oxford’s definition is: ‘pet name’. But there is a bit more…
Aussie life
St Arnaud is a tiny speck on the map of Australia. The western Victorian town is surrounded by farmland and…
Aussie life
‘You’ve come a long way, baby,’ said the slogan which positioned Virginia Slims as the cigarette for the emancipated American…
Language
It was one hundred years ago this year that the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova toured Australia and New Zealand…
Aussie life
The middle-class leftist activism that you now encounter every day in Australia and the West has a major flaw. It…
Language
There is a bit of water in the Persian Gulf that is in the news almost every day now –…
Aussie life
History doesn’t repeat itself, said Mark Twain, but it often rhymes. And a century and a half after he said…
Language
There I was, relaxing one evening, when my phone burbled with a text. It was our distinguished editor with a…
Aussie life
As any arborist with a swimming pool will tell you, money really does grow on trees. And if I had…
Language
When I discover a new word I am delighted. ‘Autochthonous’ is one I have seen occasionally, but which I have…
Aussie life
I’ve probably enjoyed as many long lunches as any old adman, and in the 1980s and ’90s may well have…
Language
Are our governments guilty of ‘menticide’? This uncommon word is recorded from 1951, in which year it first appeared in…
Aussie life
In a recent speech, artist Tim Storrier made a powerful attack on the current state of arts administrators in Australia,…
