Alas, Yorick

A blog about things.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Australian Vocabulary Lessons (III)

Once again, Australian language lessons for those in the Northern Hemisphere. I've heard all of these words in daily conversation and/or on TV and radio. Hit the links for the real answers, and try them on your friends and neighbors.

King-hit (verb and noun): a) regicide, to commit regicide (a favorite term among Australians who want to fire the Queen and establish a republic); b) sucker punch; c) a complicated surfing maneuver invented on Bondi Beach that involves a surf board, a sheep, and Crown Lager

Jumbuck (noun): a) a complicated surfing maneuver invented on Bondi Beach that involves a surf board, a sheep, and Crown Lager; b) sheep; c) a nickname for Australia's Parliament

Bowser (noun): a) gas (petrol) pump; b) a complicated surfing maneuver invented on Bondi Beach that involves a surf board, a sheep, and Crown Lager; c) a rude nickname for a politician who is not quick on the uptake

Wowser (noun): a) a complicated surfing maneuver invented on Bondi Beach that involves a surf board, a sheep, and Crown Lager; b) a prude, an ineffably pious person who mistakes this world for a penitentiary and himself for a warder; c) the noise, repeated several times, that groups of Australian men (often construction workers) will make as a particularly attractive young woman passes by. Reputedly the chant that started the Cronulla Beach riots in December 2005.

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