Q is for Quokka - a small Australian wallaby for which Rottnest Island is famous. (Rottnest is a small island off the coast of Fremantle, near Perth, in Western Australia) Rottnest Island was named by Dutch explorers and means "rats' nest" as they mistook the tiny quokkas for rats.
Q is also for quandong - an Australian tree with an edible berry used as "bush tucker". Bush tucker is food gathered from native Australian flora and fauna as eaten by the Aboriginal people. Some bush tucker has become popular with more adventurous chefs - I have seen wattle seed ice-cream, quandong jam (as made by our son), pepper berry seasoning, lilli-pilli jelly to name a few. The Macquarie Dictionary, Australia's national dictionary, notes that the word quandong is a colloquialism for a "person who exploits or cadges off another", with another obsolete colloquial meaning of a " a stupid person, a country bumpkin". Apparently another obsolete colloquialism is to "have the quandongs" or, in modern speak, "to be stupid". Now, I may be a quandong, but I've NEVER, EVER heard the word quandong used for a person of an exploitative, or cadging nature - although The Macquarie Dictionay may feel that I'm a living example (albeit obsolete!) for using their definitions when I could make up my own!!!! In my view, "quandong" would be perfect for those days when you're all at sixes and sevens - "I've got the quandongs" - without any of the perjorative meaning of stupid attached. In fact, henceforth this blog will use its own definition of "quandong" when appropriate!
Roxie was very taken with " don't come the raw prawn with me" - so now I expect to see her "having the quandongs" occasionally and we shall all know that she is using "flea speak" (two invented concepts in one day - I'm firing!)
Q is also for Queen - I am a staunch republican and believe that in this day and age it is ridiculous for Australia to remain a colonial outpost, with a head of state across the sea, in a country that bears little resemblance to our own, despite our shared history. Bring on the Republic of Oz is what I say!!!
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Sunday, 19 August 2007
Friday, 17 August 2007
P is for ... Pedro
Word(s) of the Day: Those things that some people call "shrimps" are called "prawns" in Australia. "Don't come the raw prawn with me" has nothing to do with food - it means don't try to hoodwink me with whatever was being spoken of. It's not a saying I use myself!
P is for Pedro, my son, six foot five, 38 years old, No. 1s over the head, widow's peak and goatee - I hate goatees. I think he looks like a bikie! He is a gentle, caring man and father of Ms 11 and Master 7. Speaking of whom - Ms 11 applied for, and has been accepted into, one of the schools of creative and performing arts for her high schooling. She starts next year. I am delighted for her - she applied for two different places and I was worried that her self-esteem would be badly damaged if she wasn't accepted into one - but she gained entry to both - so much for Grandma's anxiety.
P is for plague - that flea plague is not getting any better - again, many, many hits looking for information on, and photos of - "f*l*e*a*b*i*t*e*s" - my sitemeter page comes up with all these advertisements for flea control products too. Most of the searches seem to be from the USA.
P is for Pedro, my son, six foot five, 38 years old, No. 1s over the head, widow's peak and goatee - I hate goatees. I think he looks like a bikie! He is a gentle, caring man and father of Ms 11 and Master 7. Speaking of whom - Ms 11 applied for, and has been accepted into, one of the schools of creative and performing arts for her high schooling. She starts next year. I am delighted for her - she applied for two different places and I was worried that her self-esteem would be badly damaged if she wasn't accepted into one - but she gained entry to both - so much for Grandma's anxiety.
P is for plague - that flea plague is not getting any better - again, many, many hits looking for information on, and photos of - "f*l*e*a*b*i*t*e*s" - my sitemeter page comes up with all these advertisements for flea control products too. Most of the searches seem to be from the USA.
Encycopedia of Me Meme .. O is for ....
O is for oranges - I love juicy navel oranges, but don't like Valencia oranges which are widely grown in Australia. When our own navels finish, I buy California navels - but I'm beginning to think about the carbon footprint now .... O is for Ohhhhhhh!
O is for the colour orange - I love it - the burnt orange kind, or the apricot kind, but not bright orange. Orange is not a colour I can wear, but I still love it.
O is for - ordinary people - like you and me - ordinary people who have extraordinary lives and talents if we bother to scratch the surface and get to know them and - if they will let us.
O is for opportunity - it's not always to recognise an opportunity when it comes along, especially when we're bogged down in "just living". I don't know whether there really is a Chinese proverb that says " in every crisis are the seeds of opportunity" - but it is true - mostly. Crisis can make us strong if we can learn from the experience; crisis can cause us to take paths and follow directions that we may not ever have considered. I say mostly, because my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of war, famine, persecution/abuse, or suffering from a severe mental illness. Sometimes crisis is just crisis with no up side.
Carson and Roxie have both commented on some of the Australian/American language comparisons that I have been making. So each post I'll give an idiomatic Australian word or expression for your delight (or horror!). By the way, I am spelling "Encyclopedia" that way only for the purposes of the "Encycopedia of Me Meme" We all know that the correct spelling is "encyclopaedia" don't we? - it's just those people from that large northen land mass who can't spell!
O is for the colour orange - I love it - the burnt orange kind, or the apricot kind, but not bright orange. Orange is not a colour I can wear, but I still love it.
O is for - ordinary people - like you and me - ordinary people who have extraordinary lives and talents if we bother to scratch the surface and get to know them and - if they will let us.
O is for opportunity - it's not always to recognise an opportunity when it comes along, especially when we're bogged down in "just living". I don't know whether there really is a Chinese proverb that says " in every crisis are the seeds of opportunity" - but it is true - mostly. Crisis can make us strong if we can learn from the experience; crisis can cause us to take paths and follow directions that we may not ever have considered. I say mostly, because my heart goes out to those who are in the middle of war, famine, persecution/abuse, or suffering from a severe mental illness. Sometimes crisis is just crisis with no up side.
Carson and Roxie have both commented on some of the Australian/American language comparisons that I have been making. So each post I'll give an idiomatic Australian word or expression for your delight (or horror!). By the way, I am spelling "Encyclopedia" that way only for the purposes of the "Encycopedia of Me Meme" We all know that the correct spelling is "encyclopaedia" don't we? - it's just those people from that large northen land mass who can't spell!
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