WOWSERS!

Look this up in your Funk & Wagnel's!

wowser (WOU-zuhr) noun

A person regarded as excessively puritanical; a killjoy.

adjective

Being or relating to a wowser.

[Of obscure origin. One theory attributes the term to dialectal wow (to howl). Also, according to a popular unsubstantiated story, the term is an acronym of We Only Want Social Evils Remedied, a slogan invented by John Norton, eccentric owner of Truth newspaper.]

"Forget that relaxing glass of wine, unless you want the neo-wowsers screaming 'bad role model.' There is a certain type of person ever present in Australian life, devising ways to deny pleasure to the rest of the population. In Norman Lindsay's day wowsers were churchgoers purse-lipped about nudity. But now that the churches are empty and their moral restraints cast aside, today's wowsers have had to find fresh fun to eradicate, like alcohol, cigarettes, Big Macs, vanilla Coke, cars and air-conditioning." Miranda Devine; Served Along With Any Fun: A Dose of Guilt; Sydney Morning Herald; Aug 21, 2003.

This week's theme: words originating in Australia.

Vegimite:
Nasty brown yeast sludge australians put on bread, no Australians are unable to consume this product due to it's horrible taste.

fossick (FOS-sik) verb intr.

To search for mineral deposits, usually over ground previously worked by others; to search for small items.

verb tr.

To search; ferret out.

[British (Cornish) dialect: fossick, troublesome person; fussick bustle about, from fuss + -ick.]

"But you need not fossick through old documents for examples." Apostrophically Your's; The Economist; May 11, 1996.

This week's theme: words originating in Australia.

furphy (FUR-fee) noun

A rumor; false story.

[From John Furphy, an Australian blacksmith and engineer, who designed a galvanised iron water-cart on wheels, displaying the name FURPHY in large letters. In World War I the Army bought many Furphy water and sanitation carts for camps in Palestine, Egypt. and Australia. When soldiers gathered around them, the carts became centers of gossip. The word scuttlebutt originated in a similar way.]

"If it is proved that the bugs originated from space, then the damage to the ozone layer may also have originated from space. This will render the ozone theory a furphy." Rob Horne; Bugs in Space?; The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia); Aug 3, 2001.

Vegimite: Nasty brown yeast sludge

You best be careful what you say… I'm half Australian and I love Vegemite. In fact, I have a 455g jar sitting on my desk here at work. And furthermore, I love Vegemite so much I actually eat it plain without toast sometimes.

So, from now on, all users bad mouthing Vegemite will be punished. :)

As a side note, even if you hate the taste of Vegemite the Vegemite website linked above is quite interesting and full of neat facts and history…

1939 War was imminent in 1939 and it wasn't long before Vegemite saddled up for action along with our troops. Vegemite for the boys came in three sizes: seven pound tins for the platoon, eight ounce tins for the soldiers on the go, and half ounce sizes for behind enemy lines. In short, wherever Australian troops went, Vegemite was there to provide a taste of home. In the spirit of the times, demand for the troops often meant that the folks back home had their morning toast without Vegemite.

-dr

yabber (YAB-uhr) verb tr. intr.

To talk; converse.

noun (also yabberer)

Talk; conversation.

[Australian pidgin, probably from aboriginal yaba.]

"Floating between Australia and England as the Centre does, 'yabber' seems to suit our positioning. We invite any contributions to this column devoted to conversing and sharing news about things Australian." Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King's College, University of London, Newsletter, Dec 1999.

dinkum (DING-kuhm), also dinky-di, fair dinkum, adjective

True; honest; genuine.

[Probably derived, like many other Australian words, from English dialect. The counties of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire had a word dinkum or dincum meaning "work; a fair share of work." The word was first recorded in Australia in Rolf Boldrewood's Robbery Under Arms (1888): "It took us an hour's hard dinkum to get near the peak."]

"A fair dinkum dictionary. Cobbers everywhere are saying send her down Hughie - but people outside of Australia have no idea what it means. A new book released by the National Museum of Australia today hopes to give overseas visitors an insight into the national lingo. Words such as cobber, and terms such as send her down Hughie and put the moz on are explained in the book." A Fair Dinkum Dictionary; AAP Report in The Age, Melbourne, Australia; Jan 24, 2003.