Vulgar words in Austral English - A dictionary of Australasian words, phrases and usages with those aboriginal-Australian and Maori words which have become incorporated in the language, and the commoner scientific words that have had their origin in Australasia (Page 1)

This book at a glance

arse x 1
bastard x 39
cocky x 1
jackass x 58
knock up x 1
            
snag x 1
            

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~   ~   ~   Sentence 113   ~   ~   ~

The settler heard a bird laugh in what he thought an extremely ridiculous manner, its opening notes suggesting a donkey's bray--he called it the "laughing jackass."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 114   ~   ~   ~

His descendants have dropped the adjective, and it has come to pass that the word "jackass" denotes to an Australian something quite different from its meaning to other speakers of our English tongue.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 190   ~   ~   ~

(2) English names of objects applied in Australia to others quite different-as Wattle , a hurdle, applied as the name of the tree Wattle , from whose twigs the hurdle was most readily made; Jackass , an animal, used as the name for the bird Jackass ; Cockatoo , a birdname, applied to a small farmer.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,450   ~   ~   ~

Bastard Dory and John Dory (q.v.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,452   ~   ~   ~

an Australian fish, Cyttus australis , family Cyttidae ; the Australian representative of Zeus faber , the European "John Dory," and its close relative, is called Bastard Dorey in New Zealand, and also Boar-fish (q.v.).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,455   ~   ~   ~

It is known at Melbourne by the names of 'Boar-fish' or 'Bastard Dorey' (fig.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,457   ~   ~   ~

Bastard Trumpeter , n .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,462   ~   ~   ~

'Royal Commission on the Fisheries of Tasmania,' p. 35: "The bastard trumpeter ( Latris Forsteri )...Scarcely inferior to the real trumpeter, and superior to it in abundance all the year round, comes the bastard trumpeter...

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,465   ~   ~   ~

They must be referred to the Latris Forsteri of Count Castelnau, which appears to be the bastard trumpeter of Victorian waters."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 1,625   ~   ~   ~

Fl., called also Bastard Sycamore.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,441   ~   ~   ~

This name is sometimes applied to it, and it is also called Bastard Dory (q.v.).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,694   ~   ~   ~

It is sometimes called bastard gidgee in Western New South Wales.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,882   ~   ~   ~

The following table is compiled from Maiden:-- Bastard Box-- Eucalyptus goniocalyx , F. v. M.; E. largiflorens , F. v. M. (called also Cooburn ); E. longifolia , Link.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 2,917   ~   ~   ~

John Oxley, 'Two Expeditions,' p. 126: "The country continued open forest land for about three miles, the cypress and the bastard-box being the prevailing timber; of the former many were useful trees."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 3,900   ~   ~   ~

Frank Cowan: 'Australia; a Charcoal Sketch': "The bushman... Gunyah , his bark hovel; Damper , his unleavened bread baked in the ashes; Billy , his tea-kettle, universal pot and pan and bucket; Sugar-bag , his source of saccharine, a bee-tree; Pheasant , his facetious metaphoric euphism for Liar, quasi Lyre-bird; Fit for Woogooroo , for Daft or Idiotic; Brumby , his peculiar term for wild horse; Scrubber , wild ox; Nuggeting , calf-stealing; Jumbuck , sheep, in general; an Old-man , grizzled wallaroo or kangaroo; Station, Run , a sheep- or cattle-ranch; and Kabonboodgery --an echo of the sound diablery for ever in his ears, from dawn to dusk of Laughing Jackass and from dusk to dawn of Dingo--his half-bird -and-beast-like vocal substitute for Very Good..." 1896.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 4,026   ~   ~   ~

(Derwent Jackass)-- C. cinereus , Gould (see Jackass ).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 4,557   ~   ~   ~

The following are the trees to which the name is applied in Australia:-- Bastard Pencil Cedar-- Dysoxylon rfum , Benth., N.O.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 4,853   ~   ~   ~

See Jackass .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 5,043   ~   ~   ~

Cocky is a common abbreviation.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 6,011   ~   ~   ~

Scientific name for the Jackass (q.v.).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 6,569   ~   ~   ~

Rhamnaceae , which are called respectively Yellow and Bastard Dogwood .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 6,572   ~   ~   ~

Rhamn/ac?/eae , is also called Dogwood , or Bastard Dogwood .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 7,784   ~   ~   ~

Pied Fly-catcher-- Arses kaupi , Gould.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 8,076   ~   ~   ~

i. p. 64: "The Tropidorhynchus corniculatus is well known to the colonists by the names 'poor soldier,' 'leather-headed jackass,' 'friar-bird,' etc.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 9,471   ~   ~   ~

Gum ) The names of the various Australian Gum-trees are as follows-- Apple Gum, or Apple-scented Gum-- Eucalyptus stuartiana , F. v. M. Bastard G.-- Eucalyptus gunnii , Hook.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 9,472   ~   ~   ~

Bastard Blue G.-- E. leucoxylon , F. v. M. (South Australia).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 9,473   ~   ~   ~

Bastard White G.-- E. gunnii , Hook.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 10,787   ~   ~   ~

'The Australasian,' April 9, p. 707, col. 4: "When the hoarse-voiced jackass mocked us, and the white-winged ibis flew Past lagoons and through the rushes, far away into the blue."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,039   ~   ~   ~

Jackass-fish , n .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,041   ~   ~   ~

Jackass, Laughing , n .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,049   ~   ~   ~

The quotation from Collins (1798) seems to dispose of this suggested French origin, by proving the early use of the name Laughing Jackass .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,058   ~   ~   ~

If from their short intercourse, the English had accepted the word Jackass , would not mention of the fact have been made by Governor Phillip, or Surgeon White, who mention the bird but by a different name (see quotations 1789, 1790), or by Captain Watkin Tench, or Judge Advocate Collins, who both mention the incident of the French ships?

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,059   ~   ~   ~

The epithet "laughing" is now often omitted; the bird is generally called only a Jackass , and this is becoming contracted into the simple abbreviation of Jack.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,064   ~   ~   ~

There is another bird called a Laughing Jackass in New Zealand which is not a Kingfisher, but an Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies , Kaup.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,067   ~   ~   ~

The so-called Derwent Jackass of Tasmania is a Shrike (Cracticus cinereus , Gould), and is more properly called the Grey Butcher-bird .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,083   ~   ~   ~

Bird named by us the Laughing Jackass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,087   ~   ~   ~

i. p. 232: "The loud and discordant noise of the laughing jackass (or settler's-clock, as he is called), as he takes up his roost on the withered bough of one of our tallest trees, acquaints us that the sun has just dipped behind the hills."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,091   ~   ~   ~

p. 204: "The settlers call this bird the Laughing Jackass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,094   ~   ~   ~

G. H. Haydon, 'Five Years in Australia Felix,' p. 71: "The laughing jackass, or settler's-clock is an uncouth looking creature of an ashen brown colour...

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,097   ~   ~   ~

L. Leichhardt, 'Overland Expedition,' p. 234: "I usually rise when I hear the merry laugh of the laughing- jackass ( Dacelo gigantea ), which, from its regularity, has not been unaptly named the settlers'-clock."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,102   ~   ~   ~

18: " Dacelo Gigantea , Leach, Great Brown King Fisher; Laughing Jackass of the Colonists."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,109   ~   ~   ~

of the laughing jackass ( Dacelo gigantea ) a species of jay."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,113   ~   ~   ~

p. 145: "The odd medley of cackling, bray, and chuckle notes from the 'Laughing Jackass.'"

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,115   ~   ~   ~

C. H. Eden, 'My Wife and I in Queensland,' p. 18: "At daylight came a hideous chorus of fiendish laughter, as if the infernal regions had been broken loose--this was the song of another feathered innocent, the laughing jackass--not half a bad sort of fellow when you come to know him, for he kills snakes, and is an infallible sign of the vicinity of fresh-water."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,118   ~   ~   ~

[Footnote] "The familiar laughing jackass."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,120   ~   ~   ~

Garnet Walch, 'Victoria in 1880,' p. 13: "Dense forests, where the prolonged cacchinations of that cynic of the woods, as A. P. Martin calls the laughing jackass, seemed to mock us for our pains."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,123   ~   ~   ~

i. p. 37: "The harsh-voiced, big-headed, laughing jackass."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,129   ~   ~   ~

'Australasian Printers' Keepsake,' p. 76: "Magpies chatter, and the jackass Laughs Good-morrow like a Bacchus."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,133   ~   ~   ~

'Your grace, we call that the laughing jackass in this country, but I don't know the botanical [sic] name of the bird."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,135   ~   ~   ~

C. Lumholtz, 'Among Cannibals, p. 27: "Few of the birds of Australia have pleased me as much as this curious laughing jackass, though it is both clumsy and unattractive in colour.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,136   ~   ~   ~

Far from deserving its name jackass, it is on the contrary very wise and also very courageous.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,139   ~   ~   ~

Tasma, 'In her Earliest Youth,' p. 265: "'There's a jackass--a real laughing jackass on that dead branch.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,143   ~   ~   ~

Great Kingfisher or Laughing Jackass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,145   ~   ~   ~

all Kingfishers other than the Laughing Jackass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,149   ~   ~   ~

T. H. Potts, 'Out in the Open,' p. 122: " Athene Albifacies , wekau of the Maoris, is known by some up-country settlers as the big owl or laughing jackass ."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,150   ~   ~   ~

"The cry of the laughing jackass... Why it should share with one of our petrels and the great Dacelo of Australia the trivial name of laughing jackass, we know not; if its cry resembles laughter at all, it is the uncontrollable outburst, the convulsive shout of insanity; we have never been able to trace the faintest approach to mirthful sound in the unearthly yells of this once mysterious night-bird."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,153   ~   ~   ~

i. p. 198: " Sceloglaux albifacies , Kaup., Laughing Owl; Laughing Jackass of the Colonists."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,154   ~   ~   ~

[The following quotation refers to the Derwent Jackass .]

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,156   ~   ~   ~

Mrs. Meredith, 'Tasmanian Friends and Foes,' p. 110: "You have heard of... the laughing jackass.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,157   ~   ~   ~

We, too, have a 'jackass,' a smaller bird, and not in any way remarkable, except for its merry gabbling sort of song, which when several pipe up together, always gives one the idea of a party of very talkative people all chattering against time, and all at once."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,184   ~   ~   ~

The name Bastard-Jarrah is given to E. botryoides , Smith, which bears many other names.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,185   ~   ~   ~

It is the Blue-Gum of New South Wales coast-districts, the Bastard-Mahogany of Gippsland and New South Wales, and also Swamp Mahogany in Victoria and New South Wales, and occasionally Woolly-Butt .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 11,381   ~   ~   ~

Others call C. australis the Bastard Dorey (q.v.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 12,538   ~   ~   ~

Laughing jackass (q.v.)

~   ~   ~   Sentence 12,735   ~   ~   ~

(also Gogobera and Goburra ), the aboriginal name for the bird called the Laughing Jackass (q.v.).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 12,743   ~   ~   ~

It is noticeable in some localities that burra is the common equivalent of people or tribe , and that the Pegulloburra... the Owanburra, and many other tribes, called the laughing- jackass--kakooburra, kakaburra, kakoburra, and so on; literally the Kakoo people ."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 13,204   ~   ~   ~

Laughing Jackass , n .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 13,205   ~   ~   ~

See Jackass .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 13,523   ~   ~   ~

Called also 'Brown Box,' 'Grey Box,' and 'Bastard Box.'

~   ~   ~   Sentence 14,020   ~   ~   ~

Myrtaceae ; called also White Box, Red Box, Brush Box, Bastard Box, Brisbane Box.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 14,022   ~   ~   ~

Bastard Mahogany, or Gippsland Mahogany, or Swamp Mahogany, Eucalyptus botryoides , Smith, N.O.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 14,025   ~   ~   ~

Bastard Mahogany of Gippsland and New South Wales; called also Swamp Mahogany in Victoria and New South Wales.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 14,026   ~   ~   ~

It also bears the names of Bastard Jarrah, and occasionally Woolly Butt.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 14,030   ~   ~   ~

Mahogany, or Bastard Mahogany, Eucalyptus marginata , Smith, N.O.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 14,033   ~   ~   ~

In Western Australia it also bears the name of Mahogany, or Bastard Mahogany.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 15,067   ~   ~   ~

the Maori name for the Bastard Trumpeter (q.v.)

~   ~   ~   Sentence 15,221   ~   ~   ~

It would seem as if the poet confused the Laughing Jackass with the Mopoke , q.v.]

~   ~   ~   Sentence 15,291   ~   ~   ~

and Jackass-fish , and in New Zealand by the Maori name of Tarakihi .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 15,292   ~   ~   ~

The Melbourne fishermen, according to Count Castelnau, call this fish the Bastard Trumpeter (q.v.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 15,641   ~   ~   ~

Various species have special epithets: Bastard, Dalby, True , Weeping , etc.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 15,662   ~   ~   ~

i. p. 46: " Lignum-vitae and bastard-myall bushes were very common."

~   ~   ~   Sentence 16,935   ~   ~   ~

In New Zealand, the species are--Laughing Jackass, or L. Owl, Sceloglaux albifacies , Kaup (Maori name, Whekau , q.v.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 17,219   ~   ~   ~

See Bastard Trumpeter and Morwong .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 17,221   ~   ~   ~

'Royal Commission on Fisheries of Tasmania,' p. xxxvi: "The young [of the bastard trumpeter] are always coloured, more or less, like the red, and are known by some as 'paper-fish.'

~   ~   ~   Sentence 17,222   ~   ~   ~

The mature form of the silver bastard is alone caught.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 17,577   ~   ~   ~

Other vernacular names of different species are Bastard-Peppermint , Peppermint-Box , Peppermint-Gum .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 20,421   ~   ~   ~

; called also Rosewood and Bastard-Sandalwood .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 20,575   ~   ~   ~

(2) A trunk embedded in the mud so as to move with the current--hence the name: a snag is fixed.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 20,582   ~   ~   ~

the scientific name of the genus containing the New Zealand bird called the Laughing Owl (see under Jackass ).

~   ~   ~   Sentence 20,885   ~   ~   ~

another name for the bird called the Laughing-Jackass .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 20,886   ~   ~   ~

See Jackass .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 22,011   ~   ~   ~

Or sometimes they choose spots of waste land near a high road... there the squatters knock up what is called a 'hut.'

~   ~   ~   Sentence 24,463   ~   ~   ~

See also Bastard-Trumpeter , Morwong , and Paper-fish .

~   ~   ~   Sentence 24,700   ~   ~   ~

Myrtaceae , called also Leather- Jacket , Hickory , Red -, and Yellow-Gun , and Bastard-Box ; and to E. stuartiana , F. v. M., N.O.

~   ~   ~   Sentence 25,874   ~   ~   ~

Maori name for the bird Sceloglaux albifacies , Gray, a New Zealand owl, which is there called the Laughing-Jackass .

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