I heard a new term recently. In the TV movie Page Eight, Bill Nighy insisted he was not going to “throw a wobbly.”
I sounds so much better to “throw a wobbly” than to “pitch a fit” or “have a cow”.
And it seems our friends in the Southern Hemisphere have improved in that phrase, because they prefer to “chuck a wobbly” more than “throw a wobbly”. And it is preferable.
I need to see if I can get this to catch on in my area.
8 responses to “A New Term For Me”
I do prefer “chuck a wobbly.” Aussie/NZ slang is sometimes the best. (“sometimes” because other times, you get “budgie smugglers” and… please no.)
That’s Aussie, not Kiwi – we’re more refined than them. But they are definitely heaps more colourful and inventive. ‘Dry as a dead dingo’s donger’…
Thanks for the clarification! I mainly know things via the Aussie branch of the family (but also know that friends from NZ have gotten *really* annoyed when the things that are also theirs and not *just* Aussie get exclusively attributed to Australia in media or when other people mention them, so I try to avoid doing that) – and for any given phrase that is distinctly not within my prior ken (such as “popping a sprog”), there is uncertainty for me as to whether it is 1. an in-family joke, 2. a local thing, 3. Aussie, 4. Aussie & NZ, 5. British and adopted, or 6. nah, it’s also American, but I’d just missed it until then…
And “dry as a dead dingo’s donger” is one I hadn’t heard before, but which is immediately identifiable as Not Generic British. (dingo; alliteration; and that specific, bizarre mix of crass and lightly euphemistic)
Out of curiosity, are there any phrases you can think of off-hand that are shared (but that are not more widespread than NZ/OZ)?
KC – I think maybe “it’s all swings and roundabouts”
I first ran into “what you lose on the swings, you make up on the roundabouts” in England, although it may have originated outside England (for behold, cultural assimilation works both ways sometimes…). Even so, “it’s all swings and roundabouts” may indeed be specifically only-that-area…
Here are some as noted by one of you: http://bit.ly/2Kk5umu
Fabulous! Togs are also in Aussie vocabulary, I think (maybe swiped from NZ, though). Not sure on the scope of the rest; that’s fascinating! Thank you!
Big Dot – ha! In the third episode of the Page 8 trilogy they mention dags, but not “rattle your dags.” I believe the American term for the same on dogs is dingleberry.KC – language is fascinating. Big Dot is an excellent source of NZ and travel knowledge.