AUSTRALIAN WORDS & PHRASES – MEANINGS & ORIGINS

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ACID, PUT THE ACID ON:

Meaning:

To exert pressure on someone, especially for a favour.

Origin:

Derived from acid test, being a test for gold or other precious metal, usually using nitric acid. The above phrase emerged in the early 20th century and is still heard today.

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AKUBRA:

Meaning:

Akubra is an Australian hat manufacturer, especially associated with bush hats made of rabbit fur felt with wide brims that are worn in rural Australia. It is beloved of politicians (including particularly urban-based politicians) travelling in the outback, and of expatriates who wish to emphasis their Australianness.

Etymology:

The word 'Akubra' is derived from an Aboriginal word for 'head covering'. Alfred George and Winifred Adele Fletcher registered Akubra as a trademark in Tasmania in the 1910s.

BTW:

The Akubra company has been owned by Andrew Forrest’s Tattarang since 2023.

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AMBIT CLAIM:

Meaning:

In negotiation, an ambit claim is an extravagant initial demand made in expectation of an eventual counter-offer and compromise. In labour union negotiations, this is called a Blue Sky demand. First recorded in the 1920s.

Etymology:

The word ‘ambit’ comes from the late Middle English ‘ambyte’, borrowed from the Latin ‘ambitus’ meaning ‘circuit; circumference, perimeter; area within a perimeter; ground around a building; cycle, orbit, revolution’.

First record in connection with a claim is in the 1920s –

1923 Mercury (Hobart) 21 March: 

In the Commonwealth Arbitration Court .. Mr Justice Powers to-day delivered judgment on the point. He said that the ambit of the dispute before the Court was confined to constructional work, but that the Court could and would deal with claims for maintenance work.

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AMBO:

Meaning:

An ambulance officer.

Etymology:

This is an abbreviation that follows a very common Australian pattern of word formation, with –o added to the abbreviated form. Other examples include:

arvo (afternoon),

Salvo (Salvation army officer),

gyno (gynaecologist).

The -o form is often found at the ending of Australian nicknames, as in Johnno, Jacko, and Robbo.

Ambo was first recorded in the 1980s:

1986 Sydney Morning Herald 1 February: 

Even though I was a nurse before I became an ambo, at first I thought, can I handle this?

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ANT'S PANTS:

Meaning:

Something extremely impressive; the best of its kind.

Etymology:

Ant's pants is an Australian variant of the originally US forms bee's knees and cat's whiskers with the same meaning.

The term is first recorded in the 1930s.

1933 Brisbane Courier 12 May: 

These Men's Pull-overs of ours. They're the Ant's Pants for Value.

BTW:

A variation:

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ANZAC:

Meaning:

ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps, the soldiers deployed to Galipolli in 1915 during WW1. Today ANZAC Day on April 25th each year honours those who have died, served and are serving militarily.

Etymology:

There are various versions as to how the name came about:

#1:

In the introduction ‘The Anzac Book’, a collection of drawings, poems, and stories written and created by the men on Gallipoli in 1915, General Sir William R. Birdwood wrote the introduction (dated 19 December 1915) in which he stated:

When I took command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in Egypt a year ago, I was asked to select a telegraphic code address for my Army Corps, and then adopted the word “Anzac”. Later on, when we had effected our landing here in April last, I was asked by General Headquarters to suggest a name for the beach where we had made good our first precarious footing, and then asked that this might be recorded as “Anzac Cove­”—a name which the bravery of our men has now made historical, while it remains a geographical landmark for all time.

#2:

In his book ‘The story of Anzac’, Australian war historian C.E.W. Bean attributed the acronym to Lieutenant A.T. White, RASC, of the British Army:

One day early in 1915 Major C.M. Wagstaff, then junior member of the “operations” section of Birdwood's staff, walked into the General Staff office and mentioned to the clerks that a convenient word was wanted as a code name for the Corps. The clerks had noticed the big initials on the cases outside their room—A. & N. Z. A. C.; and a rubber stamp for registering correspondence had also been cut with the same initials. When Wagstaff mentioned the need of a code word, one of the clerks (according to most accounts Lieutenant A.T. White …) suggested: “How about ANZAC?” Major Wagstaff proposed the word to the general, who approved of it, and “Anzac” thereupon became the code name of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It was, however, some time before the code word came into general use, and at the Landing many men in the divisions had not yet heard of it.

In a footnote, Bean added that “the word had already been used amongst the clerks. Possibly the first occasion was when Sgt G.C. Little asked Sgt H.V. Milligan to throw him the ANZAC stamp.”

#3:

In his book ‘Gallipoli’ Robert Rhodes James told a similar story to Bean:

Two Australian sergeants, Little and Millington, had cut a rubber stamp, with the initials A. & N. Z. A. C. at Corps headquarters, situated in Shepheard's Hotel, Cairo … When a code name was required for the Corps, a British officer, a Lt. White, suggested “Anzac”. Little later claimed that he made the original suggestion to White. It was in general use by January 1915.

BTW:

I have posted the following anecdote previously but it is worth another airing.

When he wasn't saluted by an Australian soldier, Lieutenant General William Riddel Birdwood (above), British commander of the Gallipoli forces, asked the soldier if he knew who he was.

Soldier: "Not a bloody clue." 

General: "I'm General Birdwood."

Soldier: "Then why don't you wear feathers in your arse like any other bird would?"

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ANZAC BISCUITS:

Meaning:

Anzac biscuits are a sweet biscuit, popular in Australia and New Zealand, made using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter (or margarine), golden syrup, baking soda and boiling water.

Etymology:

Anzac biscuits have become synonymous with honouring Australia's wartime legacy because they were often included in food parcels sent to Aussie troops fighting in Gallipoli and France during WW1. These parcels supplemented the soldiers' plain diet of tinned 'bully' beef and hardtack, also known as the 'Anzac wafer' or 'Anzac tile'. Anzac biscuits made from rolled oats, golden syrup and flour had high nutritional value and kept well while being transported overseas.

The earliest known recipe combining the words 'Anzac' and 'biscuit' is a recipe from 1916 for "ANZAC GINGER BISCUITS".

BTW:

Anzac biscuits are an explicit exemption to an Australian ban on commercial goods that use the term "Anzac", so long as they are sold as "biscuits" and not "cookies".

BTW #2:

Approved Anzac biscuit recipe

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 tablespoons golden syrup

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup desiccated coconut

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup plain flour

Method

Heat oven to 160°C.

Melt butter (or margarine) and syrup.

Add dissolved bicarbonate of soda and water.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, add the liquid mixture and stir.

Place small balls of the mixture (about 1 teaspoon) onto a greased tray.

Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown.

Lift biscuits onto a cake cooling rack and wait for them to cool.

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