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  • Susan Butler on ABC's Radio National talking about 'The Aitch Factor'

    Dec 29, 2014 | 0 Comments

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    The aitch factor

    Do you say ‘aitch’ or ‘haitch’? In the Australian vernacular this pronunciation has been a bone of contention for a long time.

    Language is an ever-evolving entity but when is a word ‘real’ enough to feature in the dictionary? Susan Butler is the editor of the Macquarie Dictionary and has the fascinating task of deciding which words belong in the dictionary.

    Listen to the podcast


  • More shirtfronting!

    Dec 17, 2014 | 0 Comments

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    The discussions about shirtfronting still go on, fuelled by the fact that the AND (Oxford Dictionary’s Australian branch) has chosen it as their Word of the Year. But it seems to me that there is still a lot of confusion. This is how I see it.

    Since men have been wearing shirts, they have had this habit of grabbing an opponent’s shirt front and twisting it to express their displeasure. Read more...


  • The frog blog

    Dec 05, 2014 | 2 Comments

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    It is the season when the Red Frogs appear again. Their habitat is wherever schoolies might be celebrating schoolies week and they are there to help those who fall by the wayside. Read more...