Tag: Linguistics
Is Australian rhyming slang in a bit of froth and bubble? Let’s take a Captain Cook (spoiler: the billy lids may hold the key)
Image: Wes Mountain/The Conversation
Have you heard? Barry Crocker’s having a … well, Barry Crocker (“shocker”) of a time with those Reg Grundies (“undies”) people.
Karens everywhere can relate – they know it’s Jeffed up...
Codecracking, community and competition: why the word puzzle Wordle has become a new online obsession
Image: Shutterstock
Wordle is a quick English-language word game developed by software engineer Josh Wardle, as a unique gift for his partner, released in October 2021. It’s...
Kris Kringles and yuletide jingles: unboxing the wonders of Christmas lingo
Image: Shutterstock
“Kondo-ing” (de-cluttering) has become all the rage. But languages are hoarders that hang onto every used bit of clothing, threadbare cushion or musty old piece...
Yeah, nah: Aussie slang hasn’t carked it, but we do want to know more about it
Wes Mountain/The Conversation
Writer C.R Read cautioned in 1853 “that Englishmen going to the Australian digging should search their souls and ask themselves ‘if they can...
Sunday essay: my belly is angry, my throat is in love — how body parts express emotions in Indigenous languages
Picture: Nikki Short/AAP
Many languages in the world allude to body parts to describe emotions and feelings, as in “broken-heart”, for instance. While some...
From ‘arse-ropes’ to ‘flying venom’, a history of how we have come to talk about viruses and medicine
Wes Mountain/The Conversation, CC BY-ND
Symptom, virus, epidemic, quarantine.
We’ve become used to these terms in 2020. But the “COVID-19 vocabulary” might have been very different had it not...