Australian-born art critic, writer.Ī DINGO TOOK MY BABY - A cry by Lindy Chamberlain in 1980 when she found her baby missingĪDVANCE AUSTRALIA - Portrait of Caroline Chisholm painted by A.C. In their place come new words eg., sus = suspicious blind = drunk.Īdded to the slang words below are unique Australian phrases and memorable quotes.ĪBSENTEE - a runaway convict, usually one who had gone missing from assigned service rather than a convict who escaped from confinement to take up criminal life as a bushrangerĪBSO-BLOODY-LUTELY - beyond doubt you better believe itĪ BUM - Any boss who sacks anyone for not turning up today is a bum - said by Prime Minister Bob Hawke following Australia's victory in the 1983 America's CupĪCE - WW1 pilot who had shot down 5 or more enemy aircraftĪCE IT UP - be asked to improve performanceĪCROSS THE DITCH - to cross the Ditch means crossing the Tasman Sea to Australia from New Zealand, or vice versaĪCT - Australian Capitol Territory - CanberraĪ CUP OF TEA, A BEX AND A GOOD LIE DOWN - marketing phrase for APC powders in 1960'sĪDD INSULT TO INJURY - to make things worse than they already areĪ DEAD CERT - horse race that is sure to winĪ DETERMINED SOUL WILL DO MORE WITH A RUSTY MONKEY WRENCH THAN A LOAFER WILL ACCOMPLISH WITH ALL THE TOOLS IN A MACHINE SHOP - Quote - Robert Hughes 1938-2012. Just as words from the flash language have disappeared, so too are some slang words disappearing from our language e.g., cobber = mate blow = to boast. Others have long fallen into disuse e.g., chant = dwelling place cly-faker = pickpocket. Vaux' Vocabulary of the Flash Language lays down many words that can still be found in our language today, e.g.croak = to die bolt = to run. James Hardy Vaux author of Vocabulary of the Flash Language, Australia's first dictionary, penned at Newcastle in 1812, wrote that to speak good flash is to be well versed in cant terms. And my observations on these people have constantly instructed me that indulgence in this infatuating cant is more deeply associated with depravity and continuance in vice than is generally supposed. I have ever been of opinion that an abolition of this unnatural jargon would open the path to reformation.
In some of our early courts of justice an interpreter was frequently necessary to translate the deposition of the witness and the defence of the prisoner. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y ZĪccording to Watkin Tench who who arrived on the Charlotte with the First Fleet in 1788.Ī leading distinction, which marked the convicts on their outset in the colony, was a use of what is called the Flash or kiddy language.
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