Australian slang unites the true blue and the dinky-di and separates the cheeky little possums from the happy little Vegemites. When we use slang, we’re connecting with the diggers in the villages of France ordering a vin blanc (‘plonk’) and the Indigenous Dharug-speakers of Sydney locating one another with a familiar cry (‘within cooee’). In this attractive and educational new pictorial guide, readers will be ably led through the world of Aussie slang by the great H.G. ‘battered sav’ Nelson.

Australian slang unites the true blue and the dinky-di and separates the cheeky little possums from the happy little Vegemites. In this attractive new pictorial guide, readers will learn to distinguish their drongos from their dropkicks and discover where our unique vernacular comes from. Discover the connection between bludgers and pimps, drongos and a winless horse. Aussie slang tells us much about our history; in this book are words that have evolved from Indigenous languages, the dialects of the British Isles and the names, catchphrases and peccadillos of Australian celebrities. Alongside the fascinating etymological information are striking images from the National Library's vast Pictures Collection -- used to great humorous effect in illustrating the slang words and phrases--and commentaries by H.G. Nelson, the man who, together with Rampaging Roy Slaven, brought the world the 'battered sav', the 'hullo boys' and the 'spinning date', all gymnastics moves that need little further explanation. A mix of traditional and modern slang, in a fresh design, this guide will educate and entertain readers, and tickle their funny bones.

Aussie Slang is a richly-textured, often ribald world of understatement and laconic humour. This guide aims to do three things; (a) to help the traveller decipher what they hear around them in everyday Australian life, (b) give the causal reader some insight into informal Australian culture, and (c) make a record of some old Australian expressions that are slipping into disuse now that English has become a global language. Readers will recognize both British and American terms in this list. Australian English has absorbed much from these two great languages. For depth of knowledge of their own language, no-body beats the British. Its their language after all. A thousand years in the making, the English language is embedded deep in the DNA of the British. No-one uses their language more skilfully than they do. On the other hand, American English has a creative power that recognizes no boundaries. Americans have taken a very good all-purpose language and extended it in all kinds of directions with new words describing the world as it is today. They do not generally cling to old forms out of respect for tradition. As Winston Churchill observed, Britain and America … two great nations divided by the same language. Australian English sits comfortably in the space between the two. Australian English began in the early days of settlement as English English with a healthy dash of Celtic influence from the many Scots, Irish and Welsh settlers who came to Australia. Large numbers of German settlers also came in the 1800's,and their influence on the language is also clearly evident. For over a hundred years, Australia developed in splendid isolation its unique blend of English, tempered by the hardships of heat and cold, deluge and drought, bushfires and cyclones. The harsh environment united people in a common struggle to survive. People helped each other. Strong communitarian loyalties were engendered. It is from this that the egalitarian character of Australia evolved. There is a strong emphasis on building a feeling of solidarity with others. Strangers will call each other "mate" or "luv" in a tone of voice ordinarily reserved for close friends and family in other parts of the world. Everyone was from somewhere else, and no-one was better than anyone else. A strong anti-authoritarian attitude became deeply embedded in Australian English. This was mainly directed towards their British overlords who still ran the country as a profitable colony. The Australian sense of humour is generally understated, delivered with a straight-face, and is often self-deprecating in nature. No-one wants to appear to be “up themselves”. Harsh or otherwise adverse conditions had to be met without complaint, so when discussing such conditions, it was necessary to do so with laconic, understated humour. Anyone not doing so was deemed a “whinger” (win-jer).Following World War II the American influence came increasingly to influence Australian culture and therefore the language. No-one is better at selling their popular culture to the world than the United States of America. Their pop culture is a beguiling instrument of foreign policy, so pervasive and persuasive it is. Young Australians enthusiastically embraced American culture, and since the 1940's the old established British language and customs have become blended with the American. If Australian English has a remarkable quality, it is the absence of regional dialects. It is spoken with relative uniformity across the entire nation. Brisbane on the East coast is a 4,300 kilometre (2,700 mile) drive from Perth on the West coast, yet there is little discernible linguistic difference between the two places compared with the difference, for example between Boston and San Francisco in the US. Nowhere else in the world do we see such linguistic uniformity across large distances.

Slang permeates Australian society–it can be found in pubs and RSLs, at footy matches and on TV soapies, in the hallowed halls of parliament, in schoolyards (often behind the dunnies), and up the backyard round the barbie no less. From the racy and rude, to the lighthearted and charming, from the hip and happening language of city-dwellers to the dry wit of the true laconic bushy–it's all here in the new Macquarie Australian Slang Dictionary.An entirely new dictionary covering slang from its earliest convict utterances right up to the very latest word. Editor James Lambert is one of Australia's foremost experts having made the study of Australian slang his lifetime occupation.Some features of this edition:- completely up-to-date - definitions written in accessible colloquial English–simple and easy to understand- historical treatment of important items of Aussie slang: fair dinkum, swaggies, Anzacs, humping the bluey, bonzer, Pommy, bludger, etc.- extensive coverage of rhyming slang- special attention given to slang phrases - lists of slang synonyms- regional slang gathered from contributors from all over the country, including hundreds of dinky-di terms never before recorded.

"A lighthearted and delightful tour de force" (The Washington Times). A romantic and suspenseful epistolary novel about a group of people trying to make a movie about Moses in the present day, The Lawgiver is a story that emerges from letters, memos, e-mails, journals, news articles, Skype transcripts, and text messages. At the center of The Lawgiver is Margo Solovei, a brilliant young writer-director who has rejected her rabbinical father’s strict Jewish upbringing to pursue a career in the arts. When an Australian multibillionaire promises to finance a movie about Moses, Margo does everything she can to land the job, including reunite with her estranged first love, an influential lawyer with whom she still has unfinished business. Two other key characters in the novel are Herman Wouk himself and his wife of more than sixty years, Betty Sarah, who, almost against their will, find themselves entangled in the movie. As Wouk and his characters contend with Moses and marriage, the force of tradition, rebellion and reunion, The Lawgiver reflects the wisdom of a lifetime. Inspired by the great nineteenth-century novelists, one of America’s most beloved twentieth-century authors has now written a remarkable twenty-first-century work of fiction.