The Australian National University’s (ANU) Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) is looking for new contributions from the public to add Aussie slang to its Australian National Dictionary.
According to Senior Researcher and Editor at ANDC, Mark Gwynn Australian rhyming slang was high on the list, substituted as it does words rhyming with other words, names or phrases.
“‘Shocker’ becomes ‘Barry Crocker’,” Mr Gwynn said, “ as ‘undies’ becomes ‘Reg Grundies’ and ‘goal’ becomes ‘sausage roll’.”
“It likely emerged in east London toward the middle of the 1800s and found its way to Australia very soon afterwards,” he said.
“By the end of the 20th century a distinct form of Australian rhyming slang had emerged, giving Cockney slang a unique Aussie twist, like ‘Dad ‘n Dave’ for shave, ‘Noah’s Ark’ for shark and ‘Merv Hughes’ for shoes.”
Mr Gwynn said ANDC knew this form of slang was still used in Australia from its occurrence on internet chat sites and sports commentary, but rhyming slang did not often appear in print.
The Senior Researcher said he hoped the appeal would help ANDC identify the extent to which the rhyming slang was still used, as well as alert the Centre to new rhyming slang terms to add to its database for possible inclusion in the dictionary.
He said the ANDC ran an appeal each year for contributions from the public for the Australian National Dictionary to build on the publication’s collection of Australian words and their origins.
Mr Gwynn said people could share their rhyming slang terms through ANDC’s Word Box.
ANDC’s Word Box can be accessed at this PS News link.
