Are you seeing your mates this arvo because it’s been yonks? Do you shout “ave a go, ya mug’ to your football team from the stands? Or tell your mate his team has got Buckley’s chance of winning the AFL Grand Final? Do you mutter ‘stone the crows’ when surprised? Perhaps you’ve got your wobbly boots on? Aussie English may be the most inventive and creative language in the world. This larrikin lexicography by Kel Richards tells the stories behind almost a thousand Aussie words and phrases.

So if you’ve ever wondered how ‘bloody’ became an all-purpose swear word, why ‘bludger’ means a lazy person, or even what ‘dangle the dunlops’, ‘possum knockers’ or ‘molly-dooker’ might mean, then you need to read this bonzer book.