Bizarre English Definitions in Australian Speak
Welcome back!
Considering getting inked with a tattoo in the latest ‘hot spot’ above the butt? In Australian terms you will be sporting “arse antlers.” Working on a deep tan to complement it? You could be suffering from “tanorexia.” These are a sampling of the words that Australia’s largest online dictionary, Macquarie, is asking people to vote for as Word of the Year 2007 for its latest annual update.
Photo Animatrixx
To earn a place in the dictionary, a word has to prove that it has some acceptance by turning up a number of times in various contexts over a period of time.
A “butt bra” is jargon for a garment worn as a support for the buttocks, raising your rear end’s profile to enhance those arse antlers, while “manscaping” refers to removal of body hair for men from the back, legs, chest, and genitals, at times tied to the obsession with the “lady garden” — a woman’s pubic zone.
Do you wear your cossie, swimmers or togs when you go to the beach? And when you’re there, do you eat an icy pole, an iceblock or a by jingo? Do you say peanut butter or peanut paste? More lexicon nominations for the Macquarie Dictionary Online include:
Infomania — those who are constantly distracted at work and otherwise giving their immediate attention to incoming messages such as email and text messages, which classifies them as an infomaniac, or being infomaniacal.
Password fatigue — frustration from having too many passwords to remember.
Floordrobe — a floor littered with clothes tossed around the room, treating the floor as a clothing storage system.
Credit card tart — perhaps feeling the credit card crunch, a card holder who moves from provider to provider, transferring a loan from one account to another — put in Western words, borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Also referred to as a card tart or rate tart.
Photo K9ine
Glass cliff — refers to people placed in jobs with high risk of failure because they belong to a group not well represented in leadership positions, such as women.
Chindia — China and India, considered as a unit in terms as their economic power and strategic importance relates to the rest of the world.
Great Firewall of China — referring to the internet blocking system which prevents access for Chinese internet users to sites deemed undesirable by the Chinese government. To work past it may require the skills of a “cyberathlete” — a professional computer game player.
Cyber cheating — one who’s unfaithful to a spouse or lover by engaging in an online romance, or one guilty of plagiarism of material sourced on the net.
Toad juice — a liquid fertilizer produced in Australia from pulverized cane toads, an introduced environmental pest spreading across the continent.
Salad dodger — a derogatory term for an overweight person.
Tart fuel — wine coolers and carbonated alcoholic beverages, considered by men as deceptively alcoholic drinks that lower a woman’s resistance to sexual advances.
Advergaming — the marketing strategy of using video games in which products, brands and logos are placed in the game context to build their branding familiarity.
Astrovertisement — an advertisement created on the earth’s surface of such magnitude in size that it can be picked up by satellite imaging.
Couply — suited for couples as in a couply movie, or indicative of an established couple, as in “matching clothes are so couply.”
Man flu — a minor cold for which a man enormously exaggerates his symptoms. *cough, cough*
Photo Mypapercrane
Climate sceptic — a person who is doubtful that global warming is taking place or believes if it is, it’s part of a natural cycle (opposed to climate realist).
Orthorexia nervosa — an eating disorder with an obsessive desire to eat only healthy foods, resulting in a dietary imbalance.
Read dating — a form of speed dating in which people display a list of their favorite books beneath their name tag.
Boomeritis — sports-related injuries suffered by baby boomers engaged in health and physical fitness programs, such as bursitis, tendonitis and sprains.
Globesity — the phenomenon of obesity in Western countries, seen as a worldwide health problem.
Living bandage — skin grown from the person’s own skin cells in a culture and applied as a patch to a burn area, triggering new layers of skin growth.
Fauxtography — the manipulation of photographic or video images to convey a false representation of events.
Lamestream — the traditional media providing news and entertainment, viewed as lacking the originality and daring of the blogosphere.
Nerdcore — a subgenre of hip-hop music typified by subject matter of interest to nerds, such as technology, politics and science fiction — also known as geeksta rap.
Photo Wiseacre
Silent disco — a disco where people listen to the music using wireless headphones to eliminate noise pollution.
Kipper — an adult child still living in their parents’ home, often as a result of pressure in the housing market — from the acronym KIPPERS (K(ids) I(n) P(arents’) P(ockets) E(roding) R(etirement) S(avings)
Slummy mummy — a mother of young kids who has completely abandoned her personal appearance.
Traffic light party — a party where people bear an appropriate color for their ‘availability,’ typically displayed on a wrist band — green for singles, red for couples, and amber for those undecided if they wish to hook up with the opposite sex or not.
Microgrom — a young surfer, particularly under the age of 10.
Exergaming — playing video games that require the gamers to do physical exercise, such as an interactive virtual bicycle race on screen by pedaling on a bicycle simulator which drives the visualization. Wii would like to play.
Bloatware — software that takes up a large amount of memory but has minimal functionality in proportion to the space it takes up.
Pod slurping — downloading large quantities of data to an MP3 player or memory stick from a computer.
Love mile — one of a number of miles travelled by air to visit distant friends and relatives.
Susan Butler, the dictionary’s publisher, said environmental themes were hot this year in a time of global warming, with “climate canary” referring to a geographical feature, plant or animal species pointing to climate change.
The Macquarie Dictionary Online is updated annually, with currently more than 300,000 words and definitions, first published in 1981.
To vote for your favorite word, Susan Butler said people should visit macquariedictionary.com.au, where you’ll find even more funky terms than those which appear here. Voting closes on January 31st.
Sources: Yahoo News and Macquarie Dictionary
Tags:Australia Australian bizarre definition definitions dictionary jargon lexicon lingo Macquarie Dictionary meaning meanings odd unusual
I like the butts better than the tattoos! LOL! I have one in that very region myself. It’s a political tattoo taken from former US President Harry S. Truman, It says:
THE BUTT STOPS HERE! lol!
–Durano, done!
Haha, good one Durano. As for the photo, it is a little racy, but still SFW
lol Tart fuel that’s pretty funny
As a proud Aussie, our bastardisation of the English language is legendary.
Although I must admit, some of those listerf, I’d never heard of
Nice work on that post though, that must have taken a lot of work.
Stu
This is very interesting dictionary.
I just want to know what “CRIKEY” means?
Quite strange and interesting list of words and definitions you’ve assembled here. Thanks for sharing Deborah. Javier.-
Hehe, I liked the tart fuel term myself, Divas
Hahaha, thanks Australia. I have a few Australian friends, and rarely a conversation goes by when I have to ask what they meant by one term or another
Indeed, George.
Webrunner, the word Crikey is used to express surprise, fear etc.
Thanks Javier
I’m from Melbourne and most of them are new to me! I must be getting old and falling behind with contemporary lingo!
Haha, it doesn’t take long for me to fall behind on the current jargon here in Canada myself, Cuban
lol, man flu, I seem to get a flu/cold all year round and get branded as having man flu by the wife.
Im going to be dragged to the doctors this year to get the flu jab, no more sympathy, not that I got any anyhow!
Too funny, Lee. Don’t feel bad, I don’t receive any sypmathy either, you’re not alone
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