I don’t have a beef against America but still bemoan the loss of some of our ‘grouse’ words and phrases.

In 1829 Edward Gibbon Wakefield wrote, “Bearing in mind that our lowest class brought with it a peculiar language... you will understand why pure English is not, and is not likely to become the language of the colony”.

Australians became known world-wide for their colourful turn of phrase. I think that now our ‘colourful phrases’ are all becoming old hat and the young don’t use them any more – nor do they invent many new ones, which is a great pity. 

I love ‘Up there Cazaly’, which is the only recent one I can think of and that is 50 years old now.

Let’s look at some of the old phrases while avoiding the many vulgar terms used in the olden days, and many still in use in the bar – you can no doubt think of many of these, but it would not be proper to print them here.

Where are those un-named objects called ‘doovalackies’, ‘thingos’ or ‘wigwams for a goose’s bridle’ and what about those dreadful ‘bodgy’ items – they all seem to have disappeared? Or are they ‘cactus’?

Who now says ‘Hooroo’ or ‘dinki-di’? And no-one goes to the ‘Back of Bourke’ or ‘Woop Woop’ anymore or even ‘lives within cooee’ of them.

No female wants to be called a ‘sheila’, nor does anyone want it said that they have ‘kangaroos loose in the top- paddock’ or are ‘not the full quid’.

One of my all-time favourite slang terms is ‘as useless as an ashtray on a motorbike’.                                             

I am ridgy-didge when I say I miss some of these vivid words in our language and it’s ‘London to a brick on’ that you know a lot more of them.

This is not good enough – ‘fair suck of the sav’, ‘give it a burl’, and let’s invent some more - then ‘she’ll be apples’ and I’ll be ‘stoked’. And don’t ‘come the raw prawn with me, mate’, I know you can do it!

Fair dinkum though, Australian slang is a dynamic process and I really don’t think that we have much control over it but we can enjoy its richness and descriptiveness.

Contributed.