My top 5 favourite words that were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2021:

5. Antical (engaging in antics)
4. Boomeranger (one who throws a boomerang)
3. Fingle (to handle, but with the fingers)
2. Zom-com (a comedy, but with zombies)
1. Haggis-headed (a foolish person)

My least favourite word added to the Oxford English Dictionary this year, by a country mile, was bants (urghhh!). My second least favourite was bantery. I fear it’s now only a matter of time until banter bus, bantersaurus etc. make it into the dictionary (please don’t do it @OED)

This is a thread of my favourite Aussie slang. It’s a mixed bag of widely known vs regional, brand-new vs outdated etc. I had a neighbour in Melbourne for 5 years who spoke almost entirely in slang from the ’60s (so shout out to Frances from Mentone for teaching me lots of them!)

A list of Australian slang:

5. As popular as a rattle snake in a lucky dip (not popular)
4. To stir the possum (to create a disturbance)
3. A Will Smith biff (a slap)
2. To put on the wobbly boot (to get drunk)
1. I’ll be there in two shakes of a crying baby (I’ll be there soon)

If someone is behaving foolishly, an old Australian phrase to describe them is “they’re carrying on like a pork chop.” Also popular is “playing silly buggers,” which I once misread as “playing silly badgers” (and I’ve used that version ever since)

Another list of Aussie slang:

5. A bachelor’s handbag (a supermarket roast chicken in a small bag)
4. Concreter’s caviar (tuna in a tin)
3. A face like a dropped pie (unattractive)
2. Going off like a frog in a sock (to flip out)
1. I’m not here to lick stamps (I mean business)

The most famous version of “I’m not here to lick stamps” is of course “I’m not here to fuck spiders.” But I’m a hipster at heart and prefer the stamps version as you hardly ever hear it these days (probably because younger generations don’t even know what stamps are, the drongos)