The new edition of the Australian National Dictionary has been published. The first edition, published in 1988, was a one-volume work of 814 pages. The second edition is a two-volume work of 1864 pages. The first edition included 10 000 Australian words and meanings illustrated by 60 000 quotations; the second edition includes 16 000 Australian words and meanings illustrated by 123 000 quotations.
No one will be surprised that such obvious and recent Australian colloquialisms as bogan, budgie smugglers and trackie daks have been added. Many of the added terms, however, while they certainly existed in the pre-1988 period, were not included in the 1988 edition because of insufficient evidence, or because of uncertainty about whether or not they were Australian. The Internet and electronic databases have changed all that.
Some of these ‘older’ additions include: I don’t know if I’m Arthur or Martha; your blood’s worth bottling; to carry on like a pork chop; a cup of tea, a Bex, and a good lie down; full up to dolly’s wax; happy as a bastard on father’s day; it would kill a brown dog; stacks on the mill; he wouldn’t know if a tram was up him unless the conductor rang the bell; he wouldn’t work in an iron lung.
New food terms include …
Read more HERE
Bruce Moore, Honest History
