Today’s words – crims and hoons

There is a truncating of words or should I say shortening of words to make up the slangs.

Crims is short form of criminals. The word is used widely even on TV news and programs. However there is also an online game now called The Crims.

‘The Crims is a Free Online RPG which takes place in CrimCity - a metropolis for gangsters, scumbags, and criminals. You have limited time to earn as much respect as you can. The one with the most respect at the end of the game wins!’

Hoons are hooligans, generally young persons who are loutish and anti social. However the anti social behaviour is linked mainly to car and boat driving. Wikipedia has a webpage devoted to explaining this term hoon.

Today’s words – Shaggers, Gum boots and thongs

Well I got carried away with applications for a job and forgot to write out about the new words I have learnt. Not only that I had a trip out to Box Hill to buy veggies. This place has a big Asian community and a market place with fresh veggies and fruit that is cheaper than in the supermarket.

Well let’s start with the word ‘shaggers’. I first heard it on TV. There was an ad break in one of the programs I was watching and got distracted and just caught the phrase ‘shaggers on sale’! I thought now my ears are playing tricks .... is this a new symptom of my illness? But then I paid attention to the ads in the next break and found that shaggers were being sold at discount at Rivers shop. The picture put up made me giggle as these are Hiking Boots for women. The picture should a mid calf length pair of boots with a fur lining. Oh mybe I should go get a pair of shaggers for $25.

Well, when I got to UK I had to learn all about Wellies or Wellingtons. In Australia wellies are gum boots and saw gum boots written on the small kids willies displayed in a shop. This word, kind of, make sense as the idea of gum being water proof is probably the root of this term.

Oh Yeah now for thongs. I know the word to denote extremely flimsy knickers. Also that, thongs while being very popular can be extremely uncomfortable to wear. Here one wears thongs to walk about on the beach or out for a stroll on a warm evening. I wondered why does one need to wear a thong for this? Have a guess what this word represents……….. the rubber slippers which in UK is known as flipflops or indeed in India as bathroom slippers. But thongs represent slippers with 2 straps emerging from the top that sits between the big and first toe. They can be rubber or leather and are very popular in hot weather.

Today’s Word – ‘manchester’ and ‘doonas’

That’s right this is Manchester with a small ‘m’. I first heard about manchester on sale in ads on TV. Wondered what it was and how can there be a sale…. Surely manchester is the city in UK. Asked a few people we know about what was manchester? Got a vague answer that it was sheets and duvet covers and things like that.

Tried Googleling it and found to have stores of manchester. It seems to be a loose term that can cover items of household like bedding, sheets, duvet covers, pillows and covers even. However this still is not clear as some ads have manchester and bedding mentioned separately while other ads have manchester and sheets mentioned separately.

So even after a bit of research I am still none wiser about manchester which is in some shops up to 70% less. Major shops selling manchester are found along the high street in Nunawading which has a row of shops selling beds and accessories. Now that brings another new word ‘doona’. This was pretty straight forward as this is a term for duvet. So maybe doona cover is a manchester…..

Learning English… or should I say Australian?

I was telling my friend about the strangeness of Australian colloquialism and she laughed saying maybe that's why people ask if one knows English as many words are only in the Australian English.

I have been watching the Australian version of 'Countdown' called 'Letters and Numbers'. The definitive dictionary that is referred to by David Astle is the Macquarie Fifth Edition dictionary. I must say there are many words that are very new to us. Some make sense while others are surprising. While I am not all new words from this program I will try and put up short notes about the words that I have come across often and they intrigue and / or amuse me.