What’s a “barbecue stopper,” and how does it differ from a “marmalade dropper”? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Australian Political Slang”
Grant, I was nosing around your website, Doubletongue.org, the other day, and I was looking for some examples of political slang.
And, you know, I saw an expression there that’s been around for a few years, but it seems more useful than ever these days, and that’s barbecue stopper.
Oh, yeah, that’s an Australian term.
It means a serious issue that causes people to stop what they’re doing so they can talk about it.
So if you bring something up, say, about the war or about some political scandal where people tend to be very polarized, and sometimes it’s used to mean a faux pas.
It’s when you bring up a subject that is verboten, especially in the company that you’re keeping.
Sort of like dropping a tray in a cafeteria and everybody just stops and turns around.
Yeah, it’s kind of like being at Nixon’s funeral and talking about Watergate.
Wow. So a barbecue stopper. I love that. And not to be confused with a marmalade dropper.
What’s a marmalade dropper?
That’s something that you read in the morning paper that just causes you to drop your toast.
Oh, right, because it hasn’t passed what news people call the breakfast test or the Wheaties test.
What do you mean?
They try to make sure that the stuff in the morning papers or in the morning television shows isn’t going to gross you out or make you upchuck.
Oh, yeah. I don’t think it’s so much a matter of upchucking. It’s a matter of, holy cow, did you see that, Ethel?
All right. It’s like Chuck Shepard’s news of the weird.
Yeah, exactly, I guess.
Anyway, if you’ve got a question about words from near and far, you know, I’d love to talk to somebody about Australian English again.
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