went walkabout (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Mullins, Bill AMRDEC]

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

I think I learned it from the movie "Crocodile Dundee".  Anyone who has
seen the picture would be familiar with it.

Also, Jenny Agutter was in a movie called "Walkabout", set in Australia.
Don't know how big a release it had in the U.S.


>
> > From: "John Baker" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 3:07:36 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> Eastern
> > Subject: Re: went walkabout
> >
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: went walkabout
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >
> >         It's a pretty well-known term - I'm familiar with it, and
> > I've
> > never been to Australia.  Bierbauer could have picked it up from a
> > movie
> > or novel.
> >
> >
> > John Baker
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf
> > Of Victor
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:56 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: went walkabout
> >
> > An expression that looks rather odd to me:
> >
> >  >>"The worry is that this is going to come back as the governor who
> > _went walkabout_," says Bierbauer at University of South Carolina.
> > http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/06/24/sanford-returns-
> home-t
> > o-impeachment-rumblings/
> >
> >
> > The problem is not the expression itself, but finding it in South
> > Carolina.
> >
> > TheFreeDictionary lists it as Australian (as do other sources), with
> > two
> > of the possible meaning for "to go walkabout" being "to be lost or
> > misplaced" and "to lose one's concentration", both likely applicable
> > here.
> >
> > Of the first 30600 raw ghits, most of the front 30 refer to the same
> > Google blog post ("Went Walkabout. Brought back Google Wave."). The
> > only
> > exception (aside from nonsense references) is this one.
> >
> >  >>Seal that went walkabout [story title]
> > http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14119081.800-seal-that-went-
> walkab
> > out.html
> >
> > The next non-Google-blog reference is also from the New Scientist:
> > "How
> > Earth's poles went walkabout".
> >
> > Of the next 60, most still refer to the same Google blog post, but
> > there
> > is a sprinkling of others--most appear to be UK.
> >
> > One slang dictionary lists "walkabout" as "an tour on foot by an
> > important person (such as a visiting member of the royal family,
> > politician or celebrity)". That's UK usage and does not apply here
> > either.
> >
> > Most of the ghits for "go walkabout" (43600 raw) appear to be
> > Australian
> > (although some Google suggestions might be referring to Africa). Of
> > the
> > 47700 raw ghits for "gone walkabout" most also appear to be
> > Australian
> > references. The only exception that I thought I found:
> >
> >  >>Gone Walkabout: A Jesuit makes his way down
> >
>
under.http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=117
> 2
> > 3
> >
> > So this one is, again, Australian.
> >
> > The only thing left to do is to look up Charles Bierbauer ("dean of
> > the
> > University of South Carolina's communication department and a former
> > political reporter"). Bierbauer was a 20-year correspondent for CNN,
> > covering the span from Reagan to Clinton, but he was born in
> > Allentown,
> > PA. There seems to be no reason why he would have picked up
> > Australian
> > slang.
> >
> > So far, this remains a mystery to me. Any comments?
> >
> > VS-)
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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