<div dir="ltr"><h1 itemprop="headline" id="headline" class="">An Australian Dictionary Makes ‘Shirt-front’ and ‘Budgie Smuggler’ Official</h1>
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<p class=""><span class="" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">By <span class="" itemprop="name">MIKE IVES</span></span><time class="" datetime="2016-08-23T19:52:07-04:00" itemprop="dateModified" content="2016-08-23T19:52:07-04:00">AUG. 23, 2016</time>
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<span class="">Swimmers wearing “budgie smugglers” at Maroubra Beach in Sydney, Australia.</span>
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<span class="">Credit</span>
David Gray/Reuters </span>
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<p class="">HONG KONG — In October 2014, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/australia/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Australia." class="">Australia</a>’s
prime minister produced blank stares around the globe when he vowed to
“shirt-front” President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia over the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/18/world/europe/malaysia-airlines-flight-mh17-q-a.html">downing of a Malaysia Airlines plane</a> in Ukraine, in which 28 Australian citizens had been killed.</p><p class="">Back
home, many Australians knew exactly what Tony Abbott, who was then
prime minister, was talking about: “Shirt-front” describes charging an
opponent in Australian football. But those who didn’t understand had few
authoritative sources to consult.</p><p class="">Until now.</p><p class="">“Shirt-front”
is among the more than 6,000 new entries in an updated version of the
Australian National Dictionary, released Tuesday at a ceremony at the
country’s Parliament in Canberra, the capital. It was the first update
since the dictionary’s <a href="http://australiannationaldictionary.com.au/index.php">inaugural edition</a> was printed in 1988.</p><p class="">The
new edition, which lists 16,000 idioms, was compiled by the Australian
National Dictionary Center at the Australian National University. New
entries include popular terms like bogan (“an uncultured and
unsophisticated person”) and budgie smugglers (“a pair of closefitting
male swimming briefs made of stretch fabric”).</p><p class="">The
dictionary also includes terms from more than 100 indigenous languages
that have been incorporated into Australian English in recent decades.
For example, rakali, a word for water rat, is commonly used outside of
indigenous communities.</p> <figure id="slang-words-quiz" class="">
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Do you speak Australian? Take our quiz. </h2>
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<p class="">The
dictionary, published by Oxford University Press Australia and New
Zealand, is not the only Australian-centric one in print. But Amanda
Laugesen, its managing editor, said it was unique because it paid
particular attention to how words and phrases had evolved.</p><p class="">Some
of the additions to the new edition are obsolete in everyday speech but
were included for their cultural value, she said by telephone on
Tuesday.</p>
<p class="" id="story-continues-1">“It’s more a kind of history, if you like, of the language,” Dr. Laugesen said of the dictionary.</p><p class="">Initial reactions on social media were a mix of amusement, surprise and indignation.</p><p class="">Some
users expressed gratitude that the dictionary’s debut had brought new
attention to famous “budgie smuggler” photographs of Mr. Abbott in a
tightfitting bathing suit.</p><p class=""><br></p><p class="">from the NY Times<br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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