shark ʃɑ:k noun
Large marine fish with streamlined body and prominent dorsal fin, a voracious carnivore.
Lexinote: Sharks have a special place in the hearts of Australians. They consider it a challenge to tempt sharks to attack, by swimming wherever sharks are known to feed. Shark attacks are the fodder of legend around the entire coastline of this island continent, home to a quarter of the world's shark species.
First Nations Australians consider sharks a totem, a spiritual entity - and delicious. Modern cultural affectations of the larrikin tendency see sharks as the great arbiter - the jaws of destiny for the stupid or plain unlucky. Beer-drinking patrons in pubs will erupt in celebratory cheers at reports of a shark attack that day.
Lexicographers routinely include, under the entry for shark, the term "shark bait: Aust. a person who swims alone or far from shore."
Sleep sli:p noun
A nocturnal exercise whereby we practice dying.
Strine strIn noun, adjective Etym: Australian in strine
Strine is the word ‘Australian’ divinely corrupted. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary cautiously adds to its entry: "Repr. an alleged Australian pronunc. of ‘Australian’." The reader should have no such qualm. There is nothing alleged about it.
Strine is considered by phoneticists as the ugly duckling of spoken languages.
A note discordant in the symphony of Earthly tongues.
The didgeridoo in
the philharmonic.
A cracked wheel on the train of civilisation.
A
perished tyre on the cultural highway.
Cavitation in the propeller of
progress.
A most famous training exercise to learn Strine is saying the name of a lass. First name: Emma. Family name: Chissitt. Say her name, but with teeth clenched - a technique overlooked by too many instructors in the art. Perfected, you will have asked the shopkeeper "How much is it?"
Foreign visitors are often unnerved by the traditional local greeting: "Gidday, 'ow are yer goin' to die?"
Usage note: Strine is pronounced stroin, as in groin, or strine, as in iron, depending on the required degree of bogan (and, yes, see Bogan).