Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, aborigines, Indigenous Australians: it can be difficult for media organisations to know what terms are appropriate when writing stories about Australia’s first inhabitants.
Language
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Uranium’s uncertain future
Crikey readers have their say.
An archbishop, an imam and a linguist walk into a tax office…
There’s been some recent discussion on a linguist mailing list about how to fill out an eTax form, writes linguist Piers Kelly.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freak
There has been much recent criticism of the analysis of the Norway massacre, particularly of the premature reporting of the atrocity as an Islamist terrorist attack. But “terrorist” is only a recent term, writes Piers Kelly.
Breivik? It’s not a Muslim name
Shakira Hussein waits to hear the name of the perpetrator of each atrocity, bracing herself against the inevitable backlash if it should be a Muslim name. But, says Hussein, we need to break this mood of instinctive defensiveness.
The salubrious use of the word ‘salubrious’
Despite what you may think, the word ‘salubrious’ means healthy, not dodgy. But has this contrary ironic use of the term actually reversed its meaning? asks Piers Kelly.
A f#@%ing stupid law
It’s unbelievable that Victoria still has legislation against offensive behaviour and ‘obscene’ language. Six months imprisonment for thrice singing an obscene ballad? Jesus fucking christ! says Aidan Wilson.
Why do we keep calling Osama ‘Obama’?
It’s a trap that journalists — and the Crikey office is not immune — have been falling into all week: accidentally saying “Obama” not “Osama”. Linguists explain why it happens and it’s not just that they sound similar.
No pimping this ride
Language nerds test the smut filter at the Roads and Traffic Authority, by attempting to purchase number plates that use dirty foreign words. What swear words make it through?
No pimping this ride
An extraordinary story appeared yesterday morning concerning a minor dispute between the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority, and the owner of the personalised numberplate ‘Kiki’, writes Piers Kelly.
Pardon my French
Over the seven years of elementary school, 40 hours of French instruction per year add up to 280 hours. Yet, unfortunately these lessons are a waste, with the children gaining very little knowledge of another language. Ingrid Piller explains why
travel Rex Hunt’s Translation Adventures
Rex Hunt’s Fishing Adventures always seemed like a fairly simple show. That is until Jay Martin was forced to translate it into Polish. How does “she’ll be off like a prawn in the sun” sound in Polish anyway?
Hearts and darts
As you peruse ‘The Love Book’ in today’s tabloid newspapers, have a look at the romantic — and odd — Valentine’s Day language used back in Australian newspapers some 172 years ago, writes Piers Kelly.
Pavlovian response
It’s official. The great Aussie meringue dessert we know as a Pavlova, actually originated in New Zealand. But passions aside, none of this is really news. That’s been in the New Zealand Oxford dictionary for 13 years already, notes Piers Kelly.
Delving into Fairfax’s “deep verticals”
A recent Fairfax email from Don Churchill discussed the development of “deep verticals”. Deep what? Piers Kelly delves into the archaic term. And it’s not all good news for Fairfax staff.
Why Melburnians speak funny
A curious transformation is happening to Victoria’s vowels, and it’s not going unnoticed. For a while now, many Victorians have been confusing “el” sounds with “al” sounds, so that celery sounds like salary, pellet like palate and telly like tally, explains Crikey’s Fully Sic. language blog.
lol 
Mac in the USSR: Beatles in the 21stC
After years of negotiating the songs of The Beatles are finally available for purchase on iTunes. To celebrate, The Guardian indulges in some word play, rewriting Beatle’s song titles for the iTunes age. Think: ‘While My Guitar Gently Tweets.”
Errr, what’s a Berlusconi bunga bunga?
Reports of orgies at Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi’s villa — dubbed bunga bunga sessions by Berlusconi — has thrilled the Italian press. The term supposedly come from Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi. But what does bunga bunga mean?
Come in Spinner: Words, sticks and stones…
One of the great achievements of the post-World War II consensus — the moderation of political language — is starting to unravel a little bit, writes Noel Turnbull.
Ketchup not sauce? Boo f–king hoo … here’s a language to lament
Another news story about “endangered” Aussie English, with Dick Smith getting upset about Heinz advertising ketchup. Boo hoo. I care much more about actual endangered languages and cultures, writes Greg Dickson.
Obama is not a ‘Nazi’ and abortion is not a ‘holocaust’
US politicians often refer to their opponents as “Nazis” or horrible events as “a holocaust” but these just trivialise one of history’s most disturbing atrocities, writes Rabbi Marvin Hier.
Writing ‘Australia’ in six languages is tacky, not multicultural
As someone concerned about Australia’s monolingual mindset, I probably should have been pleased to discover a souvenir apron and stove gloves with ‘Australia’ written in six languages. But its tokenism upsets me, says Ingrid Piller.
Why does the French accent sound so sexy?
What makes an accent sound good, bad or ugly? When it comes to the many accents of people speaking English around the globe, some are infinitely more pleasant to the English ear than others. Aung Si explains.
What’s a rat-fucker?
So Kevin Rudd called the Chinese delegation at Copenhagen the “rat-fucking Chinese” who tried to “rat-fuck” Australia. Rat-what? Piers Kelly explains the little known term.
Hypo over hyphens
Crikey isn’t the only publication riddled with grammar and spelling issues, with the NY Times examining its spelling stuff-ups for the week. The biggest issue? To hyphen or not to hyphen.
