Australia’s idiomatic expressions: “speaking the culture” to manage social relations

This paper explores idiomatic expressions in Australian English, drawing on a 2021 survey investigating Australian words and expressions. While idioms such as flat out like a lizard drinking ‘busy’ garner considerable interest from the public and have enjoyed the lexicographical limelight, there has been comparatively little linguistic analysis of these idioms, particularly their links to Australian identity. We examine the quantitative and qualitative responses from 2,848 survey participants and find that idiomatic expressions spike around negative characteristics associated with people, such as “arrogant” or “stupid”. Namely, idioms tend to cluster where critical distance may be most beneficial, and “speaking the culture” can manage complex and often delicate social relations, ranging from jocular mockery and abuse, to mitigating potential face threats. We also catalogue the diverse range of creative variants within idiom frames, such as X short of Y (e.g. a stubby short of a six pack ‘stupid’), and their possible pragmatic effects.