While the goon of today is generally understood to be cheap cask wine, this meaning didn’t appear until the 1990s. For at least a decade

The humble RSL (Returned Services League of Australia) club can be a mouthful, so in the Aussie tradition, it has been colloquially shortened to ‘rissole’.

This is an interesting piece of Sydney history. This turn of phrase means ‘to depart in haste’, and was originally Sydney slang dating back to

As editors of the Macquarie Dictionary, we wear many hats. One of the tasks that comes to us regularly is to create lists of words

The Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi) people are the Indigenous people of north-eastern NSW and south-western Queensland. They are one of the four largest Indigenous groups in Australia,

Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. This week we look at youse. A stalwart and consistently divisive member of the Australian English language, youse appears to be here to stay. This unusual word was first recorded back in the 1890s

Crypto languages are something of a passion of ours. You have arpie-darpie, aygo-paygo, obo language, pig Latin and rechtub kelat (a secret language of butchers!) to name

While it is now more commonly known as a pie floater, a floater is a meat pie served in pea soup. It originated in one

A bush telly is a campfire, or the stars – in other words, what you watch for entertainment at night in the bush. It’s rather a

Once a month, we pick out a few words submitted by you for consideration in the Macquarie Dictionary. There is no real criteria; we’re looking for anything specific

In a nation divided over sausage sandwiches and sausage sizzles, potato scallops and potato cakes, and parmie and parma, it is refreshing to come across a new undiscovered Aussie food icon.

Greenie is a term for a conservationist that is now used worldwide, but it was originally an Australian coinage back in the 1970s.  Although the

Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. This week we look at No flies on you a complimentary phrase roughly translating to ‘you are clever’. This has been Aussie slang since the 1840s and is one 

If you cast your minds back, you may remember calling the humble banana a nana as a child. Originally an Australian toddler’s word, dating back to

Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. This week we look at puggle. Nowadays, a puggle refers to the young of an echidna until it leaves the pouch. However, a puggle was originally a trademark name for a fictitious Australian bush

Once a month, we pick out a few words submitted by you for consideration in the Macquarie Dictionary. We’re looking for anything new, quirky, out of

One of the most difficult questions to answer, particularly when working for the Macquarie Dictionary, is “What is your favourite word?”. The answer can change depending on your mood, on the time of day, on the event or upcoming events, on any little thing, but there are usually one or two ‘go-to’ words that will always please.