AUSTRALIA'S LANGUAGE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11809, 19 December 1912, Page 1

AUSTRALIA'S LANGUAGE.

SPECIAL DICTIONARY REQUIRED

(Sydney Sun..Cprrespondent.)

■": '.:', London, November ■ ?>'.'■ ;• i We.i are. -getting on. >We: r have.'aj laiiftuagei/of - onr own.- At; any , xate.j Messrs Macririllah" have issued' a hew dictionary, "and liave considered it necessary to : add after the customary classici'l and mythological appendix aii Australasian "section, of 30-pages, which is devoted "To words, phrases, locutions, aiid usages peculiar' to EngHsh-sijeakirig people in Australia, Tasmania, and New: Zealand-'!; • : r- "■ .;.'.. : " . , . ~, :Som?i.ofcthem .-.will'Tie "as..'interesting' •tovAustrauansi as they'may' T?e to Eti 2lish readers: ;•'.' For ''' example, "back slanging" means. _"askjng,: ; and. obtaining food and. lodgings "at- the houses of settlers'in. the •back-blocks?' • "Barrack" is "to jeer an.opjponent, to internipt noisily,; to-make a. disturbance." ''Cadet/' wbo \vorks; on a sheep farm,;to learn "Chyak", is to. chaff. "CockTeyed Bob" is a thunderstorm. "Hatter," the miner who works alone. "L'arrikan" is "a. street urchin full, "of fun'arid .mischief." or "a blackguard," or "a hooligan'.' A, "magpie" is "a'large crow, the black and white plumage of which suggests "thfr English'. imagpic"; while ' 'Perished" is -"a ri- adjective, applied!, to wool .which.has;been too much exposed to : wind aiid ;rain v " and "Wowser", is "one who pretends to be a great deal better than he really is." . . . : \As> L.said, this modern dictionary. :'s not'; only., instructive/.'"but lias; a humor all its own".. •!-'• -f'- r ,f-