Cat & Pigeons
Recently, I was giving a talk about my book The Newcomer’s Dictionary at a local library. In conversation with one of the audience members, I discussed a potential issue that would cause some concerns for one particular group and said, “This will put the cat among the pigeons.” A women in the audience was […]
It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.
‘It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.’ is a truism with an edge. It instructs us that the well-connected will always have better professional and social opportunities. But what about the newcomer? For us, the ‘who you know’ can be very limited. This is a serious dilemma as we try to establish ourselves […]
The thinking woman’s crumpet
The term ‘the thinking woman’s crumpet’ always makes me laugh. I first heard it in London in the 1980s and since then I have used it sparingly but effectively to describe the elusive appeal of certain male actors. These performers exude something more than just sex appeal. Pardon my French but there is a ‘je ne […]
A major geographic
What is a “major geographic”? Is it an earthquake, a national emergency, a religious conversion or a cocktail? No, in fact, a major geographic is the noun that is used to describe the action taken by someone who decides to escape their problems by moving around the world. Within Australia itself, a major geographic can describe a […]
Word tourist
To select words for The Newcomer’s Dictionary, I became a word tourist. That is to say, I would visit a word and delve into its meaning and history in order to decide whether it should be included. Words that I considered distinguished runner-ups include: alien, baggage, distance, émigré, home, homesteading, relocate, settler, tourist, transient, transplant, wanderlust and […]