When’s the last time you made a barry, that is, a blunder or terrible mistake? The shortened form of Barry Crocker, barry is rhyming slang for shocker,

This week we shine a spotlight on a quintessential piece of Aussie slang, a word famous the world over: sheila. A sheila is a woman.

Australia is a nation of gardeners. One of our favourite gardening pastimes is cutting down tall poppies.  A tall poppy is a person who is pre-eminent

This week’s Aussie Word of the Week floated up the Bass Strait into Sydney Harbour where we scooped it up. A sort of reverse Sydney

New month, new words. As we head towards the end of the year, our editors are keeping a close eye on our new words. The

Forty years ago, on 21 September 1981, the first edition of Australia’s national dictionary, the Macquarie Dictionary, was launched. A green and gold cocktail was

We love a good swim, or flail, in the life-affirming waters that wash upon our fine Australian beaches. There are so many beaches to visist

This week’s Aussie Word of the Week is jumbuck. A jumbuck is a name for a sheep. Formerly quite common, now virtually obsolete except for

It’s October and that means that footballs of various codes are being kicked into touch as sports enthusiasts across the country fetch their cricket bats

The origin of the word Easter is quite straightforward: Middle English ester, Old English ēastre, originally, name of goddess associated with the vernal equinox; distantly

The calendar used around the world these days, for most purposes, is the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII. It ironed out

What could be more fun than combining two words to create a brand new word? Almost nothing. That’s why the Macquarie Dictionary employs a dedicated

This week’s blog features a quintessential piece of Aussie slang. Mate is renowned the world over for its place in the Aussie lexicon, so much so

As the weather heats up and spring storms leave our balconies flooded, you might hear the buzz of the notorious Hexham grey, a large and voracious

Every now and then we jump in our time machine and kidnap a famous (or infamous) figure from Australian history so we can trot them

This week we’re talking about the tin lid, that’s rhyming slang for kid. Join us as we regale you with other kid related slang.  You may

How do you peruse this blog? Do you read over it carefully and with great focus? Or do you skim it leisurely? Meaning is a