The famous dictionary is turning 90 this year and to celebrate, it’s inviting all Aussies to submit words and phrases that are unique to our beloved lingo.
The ‘Words Where You Are’ campaign is asking for the meaning of words, along with a few examples of them being used and proof they’ve reached a level where they’re used with the expectation it will be understood (we reckon ‘mate’ should be No. 1 for sure).
They’re also keen to learn our regional differences – like ‘potato cake’ versus ‘potato scallop’ and ‘billy cart’ versus ‘hill trolley’.
Of course, there can be no winner when it comes to the old ‘swimmers’ versus ‘togs’ versus ‘cossie’ debate.
But we’d say it’s our national duty to ensure everyone in the world knows what ‘budgie smugglers’ are.
You can share your ‘Australianisms’ with the Oxford Dictionary online here or post them on Twitter using the hashtags #wordswhereyouare and #ozwords.
Want to test how good your ‘World English’ is? Try your hand at the Dictionary’s quiz here.
