Green’s Dictionary of Slang

drongo n.

[Baker links the term to ‘Drongo [...] the name of a horse [...] which won a certain claim to fame by consistently finishing last or near last’; see also Seal, The Lingo (1999): ‘drongo, a very Australian insult, was the name of a racehorse of the mid-1920s. Named after an Australian bird (Chibea bracteatus), commonly known as the drongo, the four-legged version was totally unable to win a race. This prolonged ineptitude was so spectacular that punters began to refer to any horses that failed to win (rather a lot) as a drongo. The term spread very quickly from this racegoers’ little lingo into the Great Australian Lingo’; Bruce Moore (ed. AND), in Ozwords Oct. 1996, maintains the centrality of the horse; however see cite 1948]

(orig. Aus.) a simpleton, a stupid person.

Show quotations
[[Aus]Age (Melbourne) 2 June 18/1: A report has been in circulation of the death of Drongo, which in incorrect. It is understood that that unlucky horse has been suffering from blood poisoning, but is making a good recovery].
[Aus]Record (Emerald Hill, Vic) 18 Aug. 4/3: After that, we visited Hepburn Springs, and right royally did the party sample the famous spa water. Just as well for the team there was no match for a week, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to pace it with a team of ‘Drongos’ .
[Aus]Williamstown Chron. (Vic.) 8 Apr. 7/2: Well, I’ll say you can not make jam tarts out of horse manure, and you certainly cannot make footballers out of ‘drongoes.’.
[Aus]Williamstown Chron. (Vic.) 30 Mar. 8/4: It is surprising the ‘front’ of some young fellows who submitted themselves for selection in a premiership side. Some of the ‘drongoes’ who pranced around the oval would not get a kick in a free fight. [...] If all the coaches in both Association and League met on common ground and tried to instill the technique of the game into a mob of drongoes, do you think they would be a success?
[Aus]Williamstown Chron. (Vic.) 3 May 6/2: Someone in the crowd sez, ‘Hullo, drongues about again?’.
‘Drongo’s Serenade’ in A.J. McIntyre Putting Over Burst n.p.: I’m just a flamin’ drongo, / Just a lowdown useless wart / ... The Sergeant told me so.
[Aus]Smith’s Wkly (Sydney) 15 May 16/3: [D]rongo is Air Force slang and did not originate in trainer Scobie’s stable. It is the native name in Madagascar for an ungainly type of bird found in Asia, Africa and Australia. Drongo was applied to awkward young fliers.
[Aus]T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 143: ‘Drips?’ ‘Drongos – oh hell, forget it!’.
[Aus]D. Martin Hero of Too 339: Home to your rabbit holes, you drongos!
[Aus]D. Ireland Burn 21: All you’d know’d be what dogs know about timber, you drongo.
[Aus]P. Barton Bastards I Have Known 1: Where’s that bleedin’ drongo got to with the grog?
[UK]G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 151: Bikers, druggies, drongos, pseuds, freaks and students.
[UK]Guardian G2 5 June 3: And best of all we’ve dropped Uz, Buz and all those drongos.
[UK]Independent 2 June 24/4: You blinkin’ drongo.
[Aus]G. Gilmore Base Nature [ebook] ‘I’m the drongo who spent two hundred grand on a car’.