Aussie Life
Language
The Merriam-Webster dictionary people tell me that one of the most looked-up words on their website recently has been ‘archnemesis’…
Aussie life
If the Albanese regime is handing out ‘voices’ this year, it might start by giving one to the silent majority…
Language
When we speak English is it fair to say that some accents are better (or better in certain contexts) than…
Aussie life
Anyone reading this magazine for the first time, unaware of its dual citizenship, might easily form the impression that it…
Language
For some time, the universities of the world have been at the forefront of cancel culture—trying to put woke blinkers…
Aussie life
There has been some high-brow analysis of Australian boganhood recently. The 2022 compilation of essays, Class in Australia, where writers…
Language
The latest edition of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (published by Merriam-Webster) has now appeared – and it contains 500…
Aussie life
It might not be a very net-zero-friendly activity, but driving around to view the Christmas light show is part of…
Language
It’s Word of the Year time again, when all the dictionaries announce their chosen winner. The Australian National Dictionary Centre…
Aussie life
‘Where’s the sausage?’ I asked my wife as we lined up at the local primary school to exercise our democratic…
Language
We are being constantly warned that economic doom, gloom and disaster are about to hit – because of the impact…
Aussie life
When I wrote on this page recently about Alan Bond’s America’s Cup boxing kangaroo mascot being repurposed by the Australian…
Language
There is an obsession today with something called ‘diversity and inclusion’. But what do those words really mean? And are…
Aussie life
It has become the standard practice of Australian property developers to decorate the hoardings around inner-city construction sites with photographs…
Language
When I was chatting to Peta Credlin on Sky News the question came up of the word ‘normalcy’. It has…
Aussie life
We are constantly being told that the Uluru Statement is an invitation from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people…
Language
Is ‘wellness’ really a word? It was coined in America (where else?) in the late 1950s to mean: ‘the state…
Aussie life
That alcohol-related death rates rose during the pandemic might be the least surprising announcement ever made by the Australian Bureau…
Language
During the height of the Aids epidemic a body was established called the ‘Aids Council of NSW’. I’m sure in…
Aussie life
My wife gave me a rude but loving shove in bed this morning. ‘Well,’ she asked, ‘are you going to…
Language
Have you ever come across the ‘Oxford comma’? If you haven’t, here’s a short explanation. When you have a list…
Aussie life
Australian manufacturers have long been obliged to alert consumers to health hazards. As soon as we found out that peanuts…
Language
Richard Littlejohn wrote recently in Britain’s Daily Mail about an 18-page Inclusive Language Guide which has been sent out to…
Aussie life
I have barracked for the Essendon football team since I was a youngster. Amongst the mementos of my childhood days…
Language
Now we tiptoe carefully into the area of the derogatory and offensive – those being the words used by the…
