![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia")
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 asparagus a punter who is a fountain of ideas about which horses are going to win, and who offers hot tips to all and sundry — in other words, a person who ‘has more tips than a tin of asparagus.’.at asparagus, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 asparagus a punter who is a fountain of ideas about which horses are going to win, and who offers hot tips to all and sundry — in other words, a person who ‘has more tips than a tin of asparagus.’. Ozwords Oct. 🌐 boilover the unexpected defeat of a hot favourite; a surprise result. Our earliest evidence for this use is from 1871. The term was later used in contexts outside horseracing ? for an unexpected result in any context.at boilover (n.) under boil, v.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 In the twentieth century the phrase a bolter’s chance appears, meaning ‘only a remote chance of succeeding; no chance at all’.at bolter’s chance, n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 Bert Bryant is credited with the phrase he couldn’t pull the skin off a bread and butter custard to describe a no-hoper.at couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding under couldn’t..., phr.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 dead bird (often shortened to bird): an absolute certainty to win. This term was established in Australian horseracing circles by the 1880s, a transferred use from pigeon shooting where a pigeon about to be released and shot by a marksman was regarded as being as good as dead.at dead bird (n.) under dead, adj.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 not to run a drum In the early twentieth century the term drum in Australian English came to mean ‘a reliable piece of information’, probably deriving from the signal given out by the percussion instrument. It often appears in the phrases to get the drum or to give the drum, and usually in racing contexts.at drum, n.6
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 emu a racegoer who picks up discarded betting tickets in the hope of finding one which has not been cashed.at emu, n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 A monkey is $500 (formerly £500) and a gorilla $1000 (formerly £1000).at gorilla, n.3
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 A horse which is described as being home and hosed during a race is a certain winner — it will be back in its box before the rest of the field has finished.at home and hosed (adj.) under home, n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 hoop a jockey. Some commentators argue that this meaning derives from the way jockeys use a whip, wielding it in a circular motion, but it is more likely that it derives from the standard English racing meaning of hoop, ‘a band in contrasting colour on a jockey’s blouse, sleeve, or cap.’.at hoop, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 A monkey is $500 (formerly £500).at monkey, n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 monty (also monte): a certainty, a sure winner, especially a horse considered certain to win a race [...] Earlier, the term (sometimes in the form monte man) was used for a racehorse tipster.at monte, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 monty (also monte): a certainty, a sure winner, especially a horse considered certain to win a race.at monte, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 mudlark a horse that runs well on wet tracks.at mudlark, n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 If you haven’t got an Oxford left, this means you haven’t got a dollar.at Oxford (scholar), n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 pea a favourite; a likely winner, especially as chosen by a stable which has a number of runners in a race.at pea, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 pea [...] has developed an extended sense: someone in a favoured or favourable position; a person expected to win a job etc. over other applicants.at pea, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 A pony is $50 (formerly £25).at pony, n.
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 roughie a horse that is a rank outsider, or an outsider with some chance of winning.at roughie, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 skinner a horse that wins at very long odds; any betting coup. This sense appears in Australian English in the 1890s, and probable derives from British slang skinner ‘a person who strips another of money’.at skinner, n.1
Ozwords Oct. 🌐 A spot is $100 (formerly £100).at spot, n.2
Ozwords June 3: And, on the topic of dunnies, does the flaming fury (‘an outdoor toilet, so called because the contents were periodically doused with a flammable liquid and ignited’) still exist? One reader reports that in the Northern Territory it was essential ‘to keep friendly with your neighbours as one will have to use their toilet—the flaming fury—one day each week’.at flaming fury (n.) under flaming, adj.1
Ozwords June 🌐 Another reader writes: ‘I’d be grateful if you could tell me something of the history of the word quailer, which S.J. Baker’s Dictionary of Australian Slang (1959) defines simply as “a stone”’. The problem here is that apart from Baker we do not have the evidence. Can readers help?at quailer, n.
Ozwords 🌐 As noted in the last issue of Ozwords, babe has come to mean ‘a sexually attractive young person of either sex’, and especially in teenage magazines (primarily aimed at teenage girls) the babes are almost invariably male. A boyfriend is a babester. A babefest is an event, especially a party, attended by many sexily good-looking young people. Thus in a teenage context, the second sentence may well mean ‘I saw the most sexy young guy’.at babe, n.
Ozwords Apr. 2: It is also in First World War Australian military contexts that many Australian idioms are first recorded: his blood’s worth bottling, give it a burl, hop in for one’s chop, come a gutser, rough as bags.at ...a bag under rough as..., adj.
Ozwords Apr. 1: It was the First World War that produced the term Aussie for ‘Australia’ [...] and for ‘Australian soldier’ [...] and more generally for ‘an Australian’ or ‘Australian’ (1927: ‘Our much prized Aussie hats’).at Aussie, n.
Ozwords Apr. 2: It is also in First World War Australian military contexts that many Australian idioms are first recorded: his blood’s worth bottling, give it a burl, hop in for one’s chop, come a gutser, rough as bags.at bottling, adj.
Ozwords Apr. 3: Do you know the phrase doing a broggy? It means producing a skid mark on a dirt road when riding a bicycle, broggy being the mark produced.at broggy, n.
Ozwords Apr. 2: It is also in First World War Australian military contexts that many Australian idioms are first recorded: his blood’s worth bottling, give it a burl, hop in for one’s chop, come a gutser, rough as bags.at give it a burl (v.) under burl, n.
Ozwords Apr. 2: It is also in First World War Australian military contexts that many Australian idioms are first recorded: his blood’s worth bottling, give it a burl, hop in for one’s chop, come a gutser, rough as bags.at hop in for one’s chop (v.) under chop, n.1
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