This phrase has been part of the jargon of finance and business for a while now but I think it is emerging into broader contexts.
ZG: 5
Still a jargon word for the knowledgeable with overtones of business and marketing expertise.
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People have been commenting on amusingly ambiguous headlines for many a decade so I am not sure why one particular example has given the class of such ambiguities a name.
ZG: 5
This is probably one for the wordlovers and language commentators.
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This is of course the slime which a snail secretes to smooth its path over rough terrain, but if you walk into a chemist’s shop and ask for snail mucin you will be shown a bottle of a beauty treatment from South Korea.
ZG: 5
I’m not sure that snail mucin is everyone’s cup of tea but for those devoted to beauty treatments it is a must.
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A step change is a sudden positive change in outcomes for a business or organisation, or a sudden improvement in the way an individual behaves. In business it is a radical change in strategy or operations and it is probably in business and marketing and planning that this term is mostly used.
ZG: 6
Trendy for those who want to sound professional.
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This is a dismissive phrase roughly equivalent to ‘not my problem’. The speaker says that the situation, whatever it is, is not their responsibility.
ZG: 6
I think this amusing expression is picking up in frequency.
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Sometimes in the online world there are sites which will ban any texts that use the words kill or suicide. If you want to discuss topics that relate to killing or suicide you need to avoid the actual words and substitute a euphemism. Unalive has come to fill this role.
ZG: 6
It is in the expanding chat on social media that this code becomes relevant. See algospeak.
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Bazball was on show for most Australians this year in the Ashes test series. It was not what people were used to in test cricket where the rule was to play conservatively and protect your wicket. Test cricket was very different from one-day cricket and T20 where the batter aggressively attempted to score from every ball if possible.
ZG: 10 for cricket enthusiasts
And probably zero for the rest of the community. Who knows how long Bazball will be around?
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As an editor for Macquarie Dictionary, I see myself as an unusual example of the people who do need to deal with subjects online and in social media that the rest of the world would regard as taboo or offensive.
ZG: 5
An editor’s needs are niche but this affects many discussions on social media.
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In 1996 Paul Kelly wrote a ballad which he called How to Make Gravy. The song is about a man in prison writing to his brother and thinking about Xmas coming up.
ZG: 7
For many people Paul Kelly’s songs have been the background to our lives for some time now, so this one is probably well known.
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Have you tried to find a place to sit down in a public space and noticed that the benches are all curved, have arm rests at regular interval, the seat dips in a peculiar way that is rather uncomfortable?
ZG: 3
This is a jargon word of architects and bureaucrats and local councils.
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There have been so many cases of food poisoning from fried rice that the dish has given its name to the botulism acquired from incorrect storage of cooked rice.
ZG: 4
Most of us have other ways of describing this condition.
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This is a term used as a put-down for someone who fulfils a technical requirement to claim Aboriginality without any authentic engagement with Aboriginal culture. Other terms are JCL (Johnny Come Lately) and DNA Aboriginal.
ZG: 2
Even in the Indigenous community I think this expression is confined to those who are more politically engaged.
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Thank goodness for acronyms. The long name is forensic investigative genetic genealogy, a huge mouthful. This is a comparatively new tool (developed in 2018) for solving crimes such as homicide or sexual assault, or for finding missing persons.
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Women seeking senior positions in organisations, government and private, lead dangerous lives. First they have to break through the glass ceiling, that barrier which is invisible but very effective in preventing women from being selected for the top jobs, despite their having the necessary qualifications. Having shattered that ceiling they may find themselves confronted by the glass cliff.
ZG: 7
Both these words are markers of the observation that the workplace is structured to favour men.
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This is the practice of living in someone’s house without their knowledge. Usually it involves finding a hidey-hole — in the roof, under the floorboards, in the attic or basement, etc. — and emerging when the residents of the house are out.
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This is a shonky tradie operating in regional Australia where there is a demand for bitumen on roads near houses that would otherwise raise a lot of dust. The bitumen bandit arrives offering what seems to be a price that is too good to be true for putting down bitumen.
ZG: 4
The alliteration in bitumen bandit makes it appealing. Our only other bandit appears to be the one-armed bandit.
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This is a TikTok trend which has attracted a number of enthusiastic followers. The idea is that you go for a walk but first you unplug yourself from whatever devices are occupying your time and attention. Remove the earbuds and headphones so that you can observe your surroundings and listen to the sounds made in the environment.
ZG: 5
It is a thing of the moment. Whether it will last is another matter.
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Sometimes white people think that black people are better at expressing their feelings in ways that are confident and cool. So they borrow these expressions in social media to fill the gap in their own communicative abilities. But this is considered most inappropriate.
ZG: 6
This has emerged as part of an ongoing debate about the appropriateness of this style of expression in social media.
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The experience of wearing the hijab is one that is steeped in religious and cultural significance. Similarly the decision to dejab, to cease to wear the hijab, is accompanied by fear that your family and community may reject you as a consequence.
ZG: 6
The wearing or not wearing of the hijab is an issue for a minority of women in Australia but for them it has enormous significance.
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