Aussie Word of The Day - Spider

Here is today's word, continuing on the theme of food.  Confused?  Read on.

spider n. Aust. carbonated soft drink to which ice cream has been added.

This is the equivalent to the American "ice cream soda",  or sometimes it is called a "float" - which has never sounded too appetising, in my opinion.

We, of course, also use the word in reference to those lovely 8-legged arachnids that are very common in Australia.  However, as the above definition is unique to Australia, I thought it a good one to share.  

So if you hear someone making reference to "having spiders" for a birthday party etc, they are talking about the drink and not the poisonous creature.  Just FYI.

Aussie Word of the Day - Tucker

Good evening, and welcome to another edition of AWOTD, brought to you by yours truly, and the Australian Oxford Mini Dictionary (4th Edition, 2011).

And tonight's word is:

tucker n. Aust. food; means of subsistence.

And now a bonus (yet essential) word, by special request of my friend Colin.  The following definition came from the Collins English Dictionary (online):

bush tucker n. Aust. any wild animal, insect, plant or plant extract, etc. traditionally used as food by native Australians; cooking based around ingredients taken from the Australian wilderness.

And now some additional input from yours truly:

Buck Tucker Man - this was a great Aussie tv series that aired when I was growing up, about 20 years ago, where a man known as Bush Tucker Man (Les Hiddens) went out to the outback and showed us the various kinds of bush tucker available, as well as explaining many other aspects of Aboriginal culture and traditions, and even Australian history.  Here's a little clip below from one episode, for your educational viewing pleasure.  I think they should totally bring back this series!

Aussie Word of the Day

Welcome to today's edition of AWOTD.  I have decided to include a few related words in this one post.

bush n. Aust. 1 natural vegetation; tract of land covered in this; uncultivated land. 2 rural as opposed to urban life; the country as opposed to town or city.  

bushfire n. fire burning (often extensive) areas of natural vegetation.

bushman n. Aust. person skilled in travelling and surviving in bush; person who lives in the bush.

And finally:

bushranger n. Aust. hist. person engaging in armed robbery, esp. living in bush as outlaw.

The most famous bushranger in history was, no doubt, Ned Kelly who was known particularly for the iron mask he wore.  He was captured and executed in 1880 at the Old Melbourne Gaol at about age 25.

All definitions taken from the Australian Oxford Mini Dictionary (4th Edition, 2011).

Aussie Word Of The Day

Welcome to a new sub-series of my blog.  It is called "Aussie Word Of The Day"!  Today I was reminded of the many great Australian words in the English language that are unique to our culture and country, and felt that since the rest of the world is so deprived of such amazingness, that I would be kind and share our jewels of lingual greatness for all to enjoy.  

So I shall be posting an Australian English word with it's uniquely Australian meaning as a regular segment from now on.  All definitions will be from the Australian Oxford Mini Dictionary (4th Edition, 2011).

And so here it is: the first Australian Word Of The Day (or AWOTD for short):

Aussie colloq. n. Australia, Australian person.  adj. Australian.  

Don't worry, they will get much more wild and exciting than that ;)