Daily Kennebec journal., 1898-06-16
AUSTRALIAN ENGLISH WORDS.
Some Old Words Used With New and Stranqe
Meanings in the Antipodes.

Australian history is little more than
| 30 years long, burt the developments Of
language have been so rapid that il
| has been possible to complete die
tionary of more than 500 pages of Aus
! tralian words, phrases, and usages
which, for the most part, are peculiar
to the Antipodes and entirely different
from the English spoken anywhere
| else.
The early settlers in Australasia had
a very strange experience, for they had
to name an entirely new flora and
fauna. In Australia the settlers found
no oak tree. but seeing tree that
much resembled it, they called the new
tree by the old name. From resem-
blance and also from associations, old
words are used to describe new things
for instance a jackass is a braying
olrd, marsh is a meadow, a melon is
small kangaroo, and lobster, robin,
cherry, maSpie, and many other names
are applied to animals and plants other
than those that bear the names in
ether speaking countries.
There is class of words in which
without apparent rhyme or reason, the
name of the instrument is transferred
to the object. Thus. in Australia, a
'lease" is not the deed whereby the
property is rented, but the property it.
self so obtained, and dam is not a
barrier to keep back water, but the
water so kept back. BY a similar pro-
cess push" has become a gathering
of persons instead of the usual action
Of crowd. just as crush" describes a
closely packed assembly The Aus
tralians talk of a push" at Govern
ment House. when we should say an
at home.' "Nobbler," in Australia. is
a glass of spirits; in England mob
bier is blow on the mob" that fin
lshes the fight. or else confederate Of
thlmble rigs or a sWindling attorney
Nut also is an interesting word. 1t
means "a long, lank, lantern jawed.
Whlskerless colonial youth. generally II
years of age" Now. nut in English is
associated with profit. Grose. in the
first edition of his classical dictionary,
dated ltS5, defines cit was nuts for
Them as 'it was very agreeable TO
them" Nut also is slang for the head.
Dulief" in Australia is a cattle thief
An old dictionary refers the Word to
the German "durfen." and defines It
as ha7Nker of sham jewelry. then a
sham, and finally a fool. Crosse eX-
PLAINS buffers as persons who ply
about town, pretending to deal in
smug@led goods, thereby deceiving
country people.
t!d man is n curious Australian
phrase AS name it means a full
grown male kangaroo. but it is also
employed as an adjective in the sense
OF big, and an old man allotment"
means larger plot of land \ tbrum-
by is wild horse. and the only asso-
cation which can in any way connect
the word With the new meaning is that
some years ago Il "brumby" was known
III certain parts of England as a cab
plying at a reduced rate and drawn by
one horse. Kit in Australia is from
the Maori kete, and means a basket.
and has nothing to do with the f,nglish
Kit Of outfit. Gin is Il woman and is
sometimes written gun but is not
related to the Greek gune ii is not
suggestive that gin is used either
from association with Sairy Camp. or
because gin is good English for a
snare; hut the use of the word is traced
from an aboriginal source. The die
tionaTY under tine title of "AuStral
English has been complied hy Prof
Morris of Melbourne University. ana is
fun uf interesting matter