Aussie Life
Aussie life
The Banksy retrospective which has been drawing modest crowds to the basement of Sydney Town Hall in recent weeks is…
Language
Adam, a Speccie reader, asks about the familiar expression ‘face the music’ – meaning to face up to the consequences…
Aussie life
In a provincial Victorian city a vast brooding monolith has recently obtruded itself into the ‘built environment’, usurping the church…
Language
As if the sheer horrors of the Hamas attacks on Israel weren’t bad enough, now someone has coined the expression…
Aussie life
Surprisingly, perhaps, it was only 20 years after the Union flag was first raised in Sydney Cove that white Australians…
Language
Is the great old Aussie word ‘bloke’ an offensive word? The army thinks it is. Writing in the Daily Telegraph…
Aussie life
At time of writing, we do not know whether there is any truth to the allegations which have been made…
Language
The expression ‘culture wars’ is having a flush of popularity just now, but it is surprisingly old. Recorded in English…
Aussie life
It’s no wonder the cost of living is rocketing when the politicians who run our country have little or no…
Language
A headline worth sharing. When King Charles went into hospital to have repair work done on his prostate, Associated Press…
Aussie life
Move over, Errol Flynn. It took long enough, but as of last Tuesday you are no longer Tasmania’s most popular…
Language
A teacher in America has raised a minor storm in a teacup by banning from the classroom current hip and…
Kiwi life
Ah, summer. The sap is rising, and so are anxiety levels on either side of the Tasman as editors cast…
Language
They keep inventing new, so-called ‘phobias’, don’t they? The latest is ‘fatphobia’. A new book has been published called Unshrinking:…
Language
Raymond, a Speccie reader, has coined a new (and possibly very useful) word: ‘twistory’. This neologism is another portmanteau word,…
Aussie life
Australia is becoming a secular society. Religion of the boring old traditional type our grandparents followed is on the way…
Language
A Speccie reader in Canberra (what has he done to deserve capital punishment?) asks the origin of the latest label…
Language
They keep doing this to us. Those kids keep inventing new words of obscure origin, and of even obscurer meaning.…
Aussie life
‘Oh sweetheart,’ I smiled lovingly at my four-week-old, Teddy, one night at 3am, while changing his nappy, ‘would you please…
Aussie life
While the donning of keffiyehs by actors at the end of a performance of the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of…
Language
When Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press he was asked if Israel was breaking international…
Aussie life
Who can honestly say they’ve never contemplated murder? What red-blooded Australian can put their hand on their heart and swear…
Language
We are unlikely to forget the look on Anthony Blinken’s face when the word ‘dictator’ slipped out of Joe Biden’s…
Language
My Australian Word of the Year for 2023 is ‘No’. I made the announcement this week on Peta Credlin’s show…
Aussie life
I’ve never been a fan of Gordon Ramsay. More prudie than foodie, perhaps, I’ve always believed that what comes out…
