It's time again for a newsletter from A Way with Words, public radio's program about words, language, and how we use them. This past weekend we plundered the Australian National Dictionary, which is now available in full online, by sharing...
How about the phrase “saddle my nag”? No, this phrase isn’t some obscure bit of jargon from world of finance. It’s an expression familiar to Aussie schoolchildren. Martha explains what it means. This is part of a complete...
Great news for language fans: The Australian National Dictionary is now available online for free. It’s full of fascinating words from Down Under. Contrary to what you might think, for example, kangaroosters are pouchless and feather-free, and...
packing for Perth n.— «The onslaught of unsettling news has proved too much for some with the means to flee. No reliable numbers are kept on emigration, but “packing for Perth”—a phrase used to describe white flight, not necessarily to...
hot stain n.— «Because there are what scientists call “hot stains’”…the parts of the Earth now running out of potable water. Hot stains include northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia...
burpless adj.— «Researchers in Australia have received funding to develop more digestible feeds for cattle—“burpless” grass, in industry parlance—that result in less methane being produced as they are broken down in cows’ stomach(s)...