It would be ‘aggressively Australian’, holding a mirror up to contemporary society. The creation of the first Macquarie Dictionary, while not without controversies, was a cultural milestone.
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If you’re hungry for information on how we talk about food, this will put a damper on it.
A 1984 magazine produced by students at Xavier College contains the earliest known reference to the word ‘bogan’ as we now understand it.
Senator Pauline Hanson raised concerns about immigration and social cohesion, saying ‘more than a million people’ in Australia ‘cannot speak English well or at all’. Let’s look at the numbers.
While a lot of slang words come and go (‘good riddance’, ‘amazeballs’), others endure. And exactly why that happens is something of a mystery.
Top contributors
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Professor of Linguistics, Monash University
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Associate professor, Flinders University
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Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics, Macquarie University
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Honorary Associate Professor in Writing, The University of Queensland
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Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, Monash University
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Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Literature, Languages, and Linguistics, Australian National University