Your comments and questions:

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Q:  Hi Kel, what is the origin of the terms 'Port' and 'Starboard' in ships and aircraft? Cheers, John

A: 'Port' is left and 'starboard' is right ("The side of a vessel, aircraft, or spacecraft which is on the right when it is facing forward" -- Oxford). This appears to come from a Germanic source word where 'starboard' originally referred early Germanic vessels which had sing side rudders -- so 'starboard' was originally 'steer-board.' 'Port' comes from classical Latin via French -- with the source words meaning 'door' or 'gate.' So, the port side was against the jetty or landing and goods were loaded and unloaded through the 'port' side. 

Q:  When we go overseas to live or visit, we say we are going 'abroad'. How did this saying come about? Philip

A: It came into English around 1300. The core meaning of the source word 'broad' is 'wide.' So, from this, around 1450, 'aboard' came to be used to mean 'far from home' from the notion of being widely separated from home.

Q:  Many are calling the Liberals’ result a ‘drubbing.’ What is the origin of this word? Adam

A: The verb 'to drub' (recorded in English from 1634) means 'to beat with a stick.' The noun 'a drubbing' (from 1650) means a beating or a thrashing. It's uncertain where it comes from. but most likely from an Arabic source word, which came from travellers in Turkey. 

Q:  Hi Kel, you will remember Paul Keating claiming that the Malaysian Prime Minister was "recalcitrant." He was insulted. I thought it just meant difficult to deal with. Is there more? Cheers, Rick 

A: The word goes back to 1797 and came into English from a very similar French word (behind which there's a bit of classical Latin). And in both those source the meaning of the word was "stubbornly obstinate and uncooperative." It's clear why he was offended!

Q: Bob says that he heard that the Liberals needed a 'Michael Douglas moment' in this campaign and asks what this means and where it came from?

A: Michael Douglas starred in a 2023 movie called "The American President' -- at the end of which he makes a powerful finale speech when the presidential character he was playing was under attack and he powerfully and persuasively saved his presidency. 

Q:  Hi Kel, the other day I was speaking with my daughter who lives in Colorado. Amy mixes with the corporate crowd and we discussed the term "negging". The art of paying someone a compliment that's not a compliment. John

A: It clearly comes from the word 'negative' and has been around since at least the 1990s. Originally it meant something like rejecting or refusing to consider what someone has to say. But as it developed it changed a little. According to the Urban Dictionary it now means "a negative remark wrapped in a back-handed compliment. "

Q:   Hi Kel, In the 1950s my mother would say "don't be obstropolos" when I would not respond to her request -- where's that from? Regards, Ossie 

A: 'Obstropolos' is older than you might think -- recorded from 1727. It appears to be a jocular, comic variation on another word: 'obstreperous' (which is older, and comes from a Latin source meaning 'troublesome'). The Oxford suggestions that 'obstopolos' originally meant 'having an obstreperous mouth -- probably also with punning reference to classical Latin ōs "mouth". 

Q:  How about explaining 'POST' as in 'first past the post'. I studied Constitutional law about 50 years back and I could never get my head around the idea of 'first past the post' -- in which (with no distribution of preferences) someone might win with just 34% of the vote, even though 66% of voters don't want them!  Brad

A: A large field of horses can be running towards the same finishing 'post.' The idea behind 'first past the post' as a voting system is that one winner scores the prize, just as the horse who runs first past the post collects the whole of the prize money.  So, whoever is in the lead (by either much or little) will win. Our preferential system intended to mean that the winner has collected the majority of votes overall (including first, second, and third, preferences).

Q:  Can you please explain why so many politicians and news reporters amongst others pronounce “t” as “d”. For example, “important” pronounced as “impordant” and “cattle” pronounced as “caddle”. And so, the list goes on. It really annoys me. Thanks Kel. Meryl

A:  The prime minister is one of the worst offenders. He always pronounces 'important' as 'imporDant.' The "why" questions are the hardest to answer. All I can say is that this is an American vocal habit. They buy 'budder' and travel to 'Idaly.' So folk have picked it up from them.  

Q:  Hi Kel, the origin and meaning of " part and parcel ". Thanks, John

A: The word 'parcel came into English from Anglo-Norman French in the 1300s. It comes from a source word related to words such as 'particle' and 'part.'  That makes part and parcel a tautology, since both words in effect mean the same thing. English loves this kind of doublet: nooks and crannies, hale and hearty, safe and sound, rack and ruin, dribs and drabs. Many derive from the ancient legal practice of including words of closely similar meaning to make sure that the sense covers all eventualities: aid and abet, fit and proper, all and sundry.  Part and parcel is a member of this second group — it appeared in legal records during the sixteenth century. We use it to emphasise that the thing being spoken about is an essential and integral feature or element of a whole.

Q:  Hi Kel, I'm pondering the origin of the words "reporter" and "commentator" and the difference between the two. It seems to me that that the line between the two is becoming quite blurred especially when it comes to the presentation of current affairs. Your thoughts?

Cheers, Graeme

A: In the sense of 'a person who give a report of an even or situation 'reporter' goes back to around 1400. The meaning of 'A person employed to cover news or conduct interviews for the press or broadcasting media' goes back to the birth of newspapers in 1776.  'Commentary' meaning 'a description of some public event broadcast or televised as it happens' goes back to 1927. These sources suggestion there should be little difference between reporting and commentating.  Neither word originally meant 'expressing a personal opinion.'

Q:  What is the origin of the term "scot-free" as in he got off scot-free?  Charlie

A: 'Scot-free' originally meant 'free from payment'. It's recorded from the days of Old English (a thousand years ago).  The word was originally 'shot-free' and 'shot' was used to mean 'the charge, reckoning, amount due or to be paid, esp. at a tavern or for entertainment; or one's share in such payment. ' There was an Old English word, the verb 'to shoot' meaning to pay or contribute. 

Q: Martin wrote to ask about (and object to) the expression 'no brainer'

A: 'No brainer' is an American colloquial coinage recorded from 1959. It just means 'obvious' -- in other words, something that does not require a great deal of thought, something that can been seen easily with very little use of the brain. It is not meant to be an offensive expression suggesting some people have not brains!

Q:  Could you please provide the derivation of the derogatory term “phoenixed” as used in business terms?   Regards, Rosalind 

A: It's an illegal way for a company to avoid debt. The directors abandon a company that is deeply in debit and allow it to be declared bankrupt, after first transferring any assets of value to a new company which they then launch debt free. The name comes from the myth of the phoenix, a legendary bird. Legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion and then is reborn out of the flames. You can see how it would apply to this illegal business practice. 

Q:  Why is the Vatican called the Holy "See"? Vicki

A: From the 12th century the throne of a bishop or archbishop in a principal church could be called a 'see'. The word came into English from classical Latin via Anglo-Norman French. The Latin source word means 'seat' -- hence the throne of a bishop. The longer expression 'The Holy See' (usually with upper case initial letters) is recorded from around 1400 to mean the Papacy, or the authority and jurisdiction of the Pope.  Under the terms of the 1929 Lateran Treaty with Italy it was restricted as a title to the Vatican City State. 

Q: Where do "Red Cent" (as in I will not give you one red cent) and "Brass Razoo" (as in " I don't a brass razoo) come from? Darryl

A: 'Red cent' is American, starting (in 1837) to mean a one cent coin made of copper, and, hence, with a slightly reddish hue. It rapidly became an idiomatic way of referring to a trivial amount of money. 'Brass razoo' is Australian and New Zealand slang (going back to 1919), and it was always an imaginary coin of trivial value, only every used in negative expressions. But there never was a real 'brass razoo' (despite some myths to the contrary). But I have heard of a one souvenir shop that sold a piece of fake money labelled a 'brass razoo' to cash in on the expression. 

Q:  Hi Kel, could you tell me where comeuppance came from originally? Thanks, John

A: This started as American slang meaning 'a deserved punishment.' It's older than I would have thought -- being recorded from 1859. It seems to have developed from that phrase 'to have it coming' -- incorporating the older phrasal verb 'to come up.' This meant to move from one place to another, and 'comeuppance' borrowed this to suggest the idea of moving into a place where justice will catch up with you.

Q:  Could you please explain the meaning of verballing or to be verballed. I’m so sick of hearing it from our leaders! I love your segment on Credlin. Thank you, Annette.

A: 'Verbal' as a verb only goes back to around 1920 (the noun is much older, from the 1400s). In the 1920s, and from some decades after that, the verb 'to verbal' was just being used as a synonym for 'said' or 'spoke.' Only in the 1960s does it take on its currently -- to falsely claim that someone has a made a statement. It is British and Australian slang -- largely unknown in the United States. And it began in police work, when a police officer dishonestly claimed that an accused had made a 'verbal confession'. The earliest citation is the (London) Times from 1963 The extended use, being applied to politicians, is exclusively Australian, and is only recorded from 1990 (appearing in the Courier Mail in that year).

Q:   Hi Kel, can you please help? I have two words which mean the same thing but are not medical words but ones that we use frequently, especially with small children. The words are "wee" and "poo". Where on earth have they originated from? Carol

A:  From a desire to communicate with small children -- especially during toilet training -- in words of one syllable. Thus, the need to avoid saying to a baffled two-year-old "urinate" or "defecate" -- while as the same time avoiding vulgarity. "Wee" has been around since 1930. The Oxford suggests that it is "Echoic: frequently as a child's word." And the Oxford says that "poo" is "nursery slang' and is recorded only from about 1960. Which I find surprisingly late.

Q:  Hi Kel, what is the collective noun for Liars? Or is that too political? Cheers, Richard

A:  I don't know. A prevarication of liars? Two other suggestions have been made: a 'conspiracy' of liars, or a 'deceit' of liars. 

Q:  Hi Kel, What about the word “naff”? I first heard it many years ago – maybe the 1980’s when Princess Anne told someone to “naff off”! It might have been a pesky journalist. A fairly gentile way of telling someone to Bugger off or F*** off? What can you tell us about naff? Regards, Richard

A: 'Naff' has been a bowdlerized substitute for a four-letter-word since at least 1959. It was used in that year (in that way) by Keith Waterhouse in his play "Billy Liar." From 1964 it was also used as an adjective meaning "Unfashionable, vulgar; lacking in style, inept; worthless, faulty" (Oxford). As to the origin of the word -- the experts remain puzzled.  

Q:  Hi Kel, could you tell me the origin of why a farmer is sometimes called a Cocky. Regards Joan  

A: During the pioneering years, many small selectors had flocks of cockatoos settle on their grain fields -- so much so, that it became a joke, that they appeared to be 'raising cockatoos no corn'. Hence, small farmers were called cockatoo farmers, then just cockatoos and then just cockies.

Q: Brian writes: "I feel quite miffed by the current election campaign (why can't they do better?) But where does 'miffed' come from?'

A: The experts are unsure. It's been traced back to 1623 and seems to come from a Middle High German source word muff or mupf  -- and this seems to have begun as nothing more than a grunt or interjection expressing disgust.

Q:  Would you please explain to me where the phrase "pretty penny" came from? Wendy

A: It's very old, going back to 1710. It originally meant 'a considerable gain, profit, or sum of money' (Oxford). It was using 'pretty' as an old adjective meaning 'to a considerable extent' or 'very.' And it was also using the old denomination of 'penny' to mean money in general.  So, a 'pretty penny' is 'an attractive sum of money'. It seems odd to us because it is so old, and a penny ceased to be a significant amount of money a long time ago. In fact, the phrase probably survived because of the alliteration of the Ps -- English seems to like (and remember) alliterative expressions.

Q:  To “home in” is to converge on a particular location or subject. In recent times TV commentators and their interviewees many, if not most, instead use the term “hone in”. I understand that language is fluid and changes with time, but this appears to me to be a clear misuse of the verb “to hone” or sharpen and indicates ignorance on the part of the user. Gerry

A: This is not a new usage -- it is simply wrong. 'Hone in' makes no sense, and is used by people who have misheard 'home in.' 

Q:  HI Kel., I would like to know the origin of 'Bobby Dazzler'. I was born in the late 40's and used to hear it often. Now rarely. Thank you.  Christopher

A:  The word is recorded from 1866. The experts are uncertain as to its origin. Both components ('bobby' and 'dazzler') were used to mean 'superlative.' More than that they do not know.  

Q: Where does the word 'hustings' come from? Alan

A: It's corruption of 'house thing' -- for the Vikings a decision-making gathering was called a 'thing'. (The Icelandic parliament is still called 'the thing'.) When a household gather to make a decision, it was a 'house thing' -- corrupted into modern English as 'husting.'

Q: What is 'pork barrelling' and where does it come from? Rick

A: From an American short story from the 1830s -- as a jokey way of talking about buying votes.

Q:  Hi Kel, in regard to blueprint, where did it originate from, and what is the significance of blue in the first part of the word? Thanks. John

A: In the early 1800s, long before photo copying, 'blueprints' where printed copies of architectural plans. They were blue with white lines because of the chemistry of that primitive printing/copying process.

Q:  Hello Kel, I would be thrilled if you could help me to finally make sense of when to use who and whom. Kind regards, Kieran

A: I will write a whole column on who/whom. Stay tuned.

Q:  Hey Kel, In recent times with financial upheavals etc, could we introduce a new word for the opposite term of DOWNHEAVAL??? Harvey  

A: I doubt that your new word will fly. 'Heave' means 'to raise up' so any 'heaval' will always be in an upward direction. ('Upheaval' comes from 1838 from geology, to describe the results of volcanic activity.)

Q:  Hi Kel, I keep hearing the phrase ‘in real time’. Is there unreal time? Susan

A: 'Real time' is recorded from 1946. The Oxford says it means: 'The actual time during which a process or event occurs, esp. one analysed by a computer, in contrast to time subsequent to it when processing may be done, a recording replayed, etc. Frequently in in real time: performed or occurring in response to a process or event and virtually simultaneously with it. ' It is technology that has given us this phrase -- because technology (in effect) gives us the possibility of 'compressing' time rather than taking 60 seconds to perform one minute of work.

Q:  Kel, what is the origin of "Fast asleep"? Bally

A: "Fast" in this expression is the aphetic (or shortened) form of the word 'fastened.' So 'fast asleep is not the opposite of 'slow asleep' -- rather it means 'fastened (attached) to sleep.'

Q:  Kel, I'm still confused about "gaslighting". It seems to me the way it is used and named as such today, that it is more like "baiting", in that it causes a flare up in response, as with lighting the gas. Can you explain a little more about the general understanding of the word please?
Thanks for your emails and Wednesday appearances on the telly. Catherne

A:  It's from the movie "Gaslight' in which a murderous husband persuades his young wife not to believe the evidence of her own eyes. So, a politician is gaslighting us when he says "Don't trust your senses or your logic, just believe what I say." 

Q:  Where does Ponzi scheme comes from and what does it mean? Serge

A:  A form of fraud in which belief in the success of a non-existent enterprise is fostered by payment of quick returns to first investors using money invested by others; any system which operates on the principle of using the investments of later contributors to pay early contributors. Named after the con man who invented the idea around 1920 in New York -- Charles Ponzi

Q:  Hello Kel, would like to know where the expression "Indian summer" came from. Thank You. Diane

A:  There are several explanations for where the phrase came from, mostly put forward in the early nineteenth century, which suggested the term was of sufficient antiquity by then that its origin had gone out of living memory. William and Mary Morris suggest it came about because the word “Indian” had been adopted as a term among early colonists to describe something false, or a poor imitation of the real thing, as in Indian corn or Indian tea. Whatever the reason, this name for a short period of fine weather at the end of autumn is now the standard term.

Q:  Something that puzzled me as a child -- negatives that don’t have a positive, eg - dis gruntled (I would love to feel “gruntled”. Others have occurred to me but won’t pop out of my head now. 

Other examples of “untoward” are disabused (enlightened) and dismayed (and what would “mayed” mean anyway? Greg

A: The positives once existed for 'gruntled', 'sheveled', and 'peccable'.

Q:  Which is the CORRECT term: "I couldn't care less" or " I could care less". I have always used the former and I believe it is the only one that makes sense. The latter is used almost exclusively by Americans, and they swear by it. Are you able to help out? Thanks Kel. Regards, James  

A: The only one which makes any sense (logically) is "I couldn't care less" -- meaning: "I care about this so very little I couldn't possibly care less!"

Q:  I regularly see the incorrect use of the term' You and I' when it should be 'You and me".
e.g. "You and I' may agree on a certain course of action, but whatever is decided won't have any effect on 'You and me' when often the words You and I are expressed in the latter part of the above. Maybe worth a comment on Peta Credlin in the next week or two. It really annoys me. Ross.

A: Added to Peta's list.

Q:  Whatever happened to Gazillions? Terence

A: 'Gazillion' (just like 'zillion' from which it is formed) is a 'large but indefinite about (Oxford) -- while billion and trillion are precise amounts.

Q:  Hi Kel, I seem to keep hearing the term catfished or catfishing. I think I know what it means but where the heck did it come from? Aileen.

A: 'Catfished' is being deceived online by someone adopting a false persona -- pretending to be someone they are not. The word is recorded from 2010.  Use in this sense derives from the title of the 2010 documentary film Catfish, which concerns this kind of deception. Within the documentary, the husband of a woman who has been adopting a fictional online persona refers to her as a catfish (in this case with positive connotations), drawing on the concept of the fish as an invigorating or enlivening force, based on the (probably false) idea that catfish were once used in the transportation of cod. There's a quote from 2010 that says: 'The catfish will keep the cod agile. And there are those people who are catfish in life, and they keep you on your toes. They keep you guessing, they keep you thinking, they keep you fresh.' It has now become entirely negative. 

Q:  EORA: Probably the most respected source on Sydney Aboriginal people is Val Attenbrow (Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Museum, archaeologist and author).  Her classic book -- Sydney's Aboriginal Past: Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records, 2002, University of NSW Press -- was written after years of research (1989-1996) on the Port Jackson Archaeological Project.  In it she states (p.35): "The term Eora ... is used today in a variety of contexts to refer to the original inhabitants of the area between Port Jackson and Botany Bay or sometimes to the people of the whole of the Sydney region.  However, neither the early colonial accounts nor the late 19th century anthropologists or linguists use the term in this manner.  Earliest references to this term are in wordlists compiled by First Fleet officers William Dawes, David Collins, Philip Gidley King and Daniel Southwell".  She goes on to say that Dawes spelt it "Eeora" and said it meant "men or people"; Collins Spelt it Eo-ra" and said it was the "name common for the natives"; King said it meant "men or people", and spelt it variously as "Eo-ra" and "Yo-ra", etc.  Only Collins' accounts use Eora in context: "I then asked him where the black men (or Eora) came from", and Attenbrow comments: "Neither the word lists nor the contexts in which eora is used in these early accounts suggest the word eora was associated with a specific group of people or a language".  It was not until 1943 that Eora was used more widely as a "tribal name" (e.g. in Tindale's 1974 map of Aboriginal Tribes of Australia).  Attenbrow adds they did this although "there was no evidence that Aboriginal people had used it in 1788 as the name of a language or group of people inhabiting the Sydney peninsula". Likewise, Jacqueline Troy (considered an authority on indigenous languages of the Sydney area), states that Yura (her preferred orthography for Eora) was the "Sydney language word for 'person', though it was not used to refer to non-Aboriginal people". She reiterates this in Macquarie Aboriginal Words (ed. Thieberger & McGregor), 1994):  "Iyora (yura) is the Sydney language word for 'person' and was first used in the mid-twentieth century as a language name". p.61). I hope this helps, -Tony 

A: Thanks Tony -- it's a great help.

Q:  What is the origin of 'doing my head in' thank you. Paula

A: This is a British, Australian and New Zealand colloquialism, recorded from the late 60s/early 70s. It means being exasperated or annoyed. 

Q:  We aussies know where wipper-snipper came from, but what about wipper snapper?
My Dear Mother used it often (she'd be 98 years old now if she was still with us). Brian

A: 'Whippersnapper' was used to mean 'child' for many years (not heard much these days (not heard much anymore). It comes from the 1600s, from a word that originally meant 'a diminutive or insignificant person.' By 1700 it was being used of a young person. It's literal meaning (originally) was 'a snapper of whips'. So, it might have come from the notion that a 'cracker of whips' was a young person in an insignificant job of herding animals.

Q: Re: Aboriginal placename -- and calling the Sydney basin 'Eora land':  Well said!  And even the name, Eora, is not an Aboriginal tribal name; it was made up by the early colonists as a general name for the various Sydney groups. Tony

A: This is news to me. 'Eora' is not in the Australian National Dictionary or in any of the dictionaries of Aboriginal words/placenames on my shelves. I will do some research.

CHILDREN'S READING

Your column on 'children reading' has prompted me to write - I was addicted to Enid Blyton too and it has left me with a lifetime love of words. The naughtiest thing I ever did at school when I found a library book I had not read, I would lay it down sideways at the back of the shelf so it was there for me the next week, back in the 1950's we were only taken to the library once a week and one book at a time - that was never enough for me. My dad always encouraged me to read the comic strips in the newspapers too and as I grew, it led me to browse the rest of the paper and has led to a keen interest in current affairs. Our own children thrived on the Ladybird 'Talkabout' books - as they got older and had favourite stories, we all knew them off by heart and sometimes we would entertain Daddy with an impromptu 'play' - reciting the various parts!
We have 11 grandchildren, and they never went to bed without a story - I used to substitute their names for the heroes of the story, and they loved it!! Kaye

Kel in my family it was the series of Selby the Talking Dog by Duncan Ball. In particular my brother would voraciously read these books. And then as you will know, ever year in school they have ‘Book Week.’ Duncan Ball came to visit one year and that was a real thrill. I recall giving him an illustration of Selby which I had done and asked him to sign. Well he wanted to keep the illustration. I told him I wanted to keep it but I felt so bad. So we found out he was presenting at our local library. I dashed off another illustration and presented it to him at the library for him to keep. Cheers, Adam

Thanks Kel, for reminding me of one of my favourite childhood memories. Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five series were my introduction to the joys of reading. My wife (who grew up in England) enjoyed the same experience. Many of the books have found their way to our nieces and nephews. The tradition continues.  Leo

Regarding your children’s reading books, I too grew up reading Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and Secret Seven books. I also read and re-read her Mallory Towers and St Clare’s schoolgirl series (your granddaughter might enjoy them too). In my teens I read the Nancy Drew detective novels. If you asked me what my all-time favourite childhood book was though, it’s Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals. Imagine a child growing up in the dreary north of England reading a book filled with the sunshine of Corfu. I’ve read that story again and again over the years. It never fails to entertain. Liz

Hi Kel, in response to today’s article, I also loved all of Enid Blyton’s books, including the Famous Five and Secret Seven. I loved horses and found all of the Pullein Thompson sisters books at my local library. There were many and they kept me going for quite a while, and my library habit is still going strong now I’m in seventies. When I became a primary school teacher in 1970 I knew that a love of reading was key to everything, so tried to pass that on to my students by reading to them every day for fifteen minutes. I usually started the year with Charlotte’s Web, which they all loved, then some by Mary Patchett and others. Once I had the whole class write to Mary Patchett with their little illustrated stories taken from her book, and wonderfully she wrote back to us, including a comment on every child’s work. Naturally I was thrilled on their behalf and realise now that to an elderly Australian author living in the UK it would also have been thrilling for her to receive a huge envelope filled with childish enthusiasm. Now I’m reading Charlotte’s Web to my six-year-old granddaughter who has just started reading, and every time she visits, she immediately asks for more chapters, which is very satisfying to me! Your column this morning took me straight back to lovely memories of my youth, walking the two-mile round trip to the library at least once a week to stock up on great stories. Thanks for all of your articles which I enjoy reading and send on to my sister in Kansas every day, Warm regards from Barb  

Out of curiosity I asked my 82-year-old father what his favourite childhood book was. His response … Eve Garnett’s Family from One End Street series. Entertaining reading for children and adults alike. I’m sure you will have read them. Cheers, Liz

I was brought up by my parents on reading lots of books, but I really remember enjoying the “Millie Mollie Mandy” books. Do you know of them? I don’t remember how many there were but they definitely influenced my outlook on life. I wonder if they are still available? They are probably not ‘woke’ enough now. But I do enjoy reading a lot. I have a great pile of half-read books beside my bed. (My hubby used to say he knew when i was asleep as the book fell on the floor!) Heather

Young teenage son: Read him “Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, a trilogy in five books” by Douglas Adams. He wrote for Dr Who, Red Dwarf and other sci-fi parody, a little formulaic, but still entertaining.

Hi Kel, all our family love reading - I used to hide a bike lamp under my pillow and read under the covers! As a librarian I found there was a lot of snobbery around Enid Blyton - she was formulaic, all the stories were too similar, plus of course the usual racist/sexist/colonialist garbage - and the accusation that she'd written so many books - around 700 - that people would still be reading them in their late teens, thus being infantilised! I found they were a great tool to get kids reading.

I looked forward to The School Friend comic and looked forward to it coming out every Friday. My husband read all the boys comics. Anita. (I read a boys' weekly paper called "The Eagle"--Kel)

Probably you & I, like many ‘boomers’, had the advantage of spending our true ‘childhood’ in the pre-televisual era, so the only ‘moving visual narratives’, apart from trips to ‘the flicks’, were in our own imagination, stimulated by words. Probably the first ‘books’ I can remember were ‘Little Golden Books’ from before my actual ability to read independently, but that capability was developed during the depths of a miserable winter in 1950/51 in London, when my father attended London Uni on an international postgrad scholarship. I cut my teeth on ‘Beano’ & ‘Dandy’ weekly comics, but the graduation to ‘proper’ books came with Arthur Ransome’s incomparable ‘Swallows and Amazons’ yarns, starting when I was 6. They were followed by C.S. Lewis’ ‘Narnia’ stories, Ivan Southall’s ‘Simon Black’ adventures and hundreds more: 2 fiction & 2 non-fiction books every Saturday from the Earlwood library until I was at High School. John

My children were born in a time when the little golden books were in. I bought the first book while pregnant with my first child and started reading it to them while still in my womb.  Lucy

Similarly to your daughter, my parents bought us a Disney comic each week, and it was from them that I developed a love of words, as Donald Duck and his nephews were forever getting words mixed up.  So I learned the meanings of gyroscope, lepidoptera, efficiency, pickling a specimen, prospecting, flintlock, blunderbuss, tout de suite, etc., all while I was in primary school. Consequently, as a teacher for 45 years, I always had Disney, Garfield, Peanuts and other comics in the classroom for kids to read. Tony

Hi Kel, my son, now in his forties, was “captured” from his pre-school years by me reading him a segment of The Silver Brumby series by Elyse Mitchell every day.  This lasted for a few years until he could read well enough to take control himself.  He has well and truly joined the ranks of the life-long readers. Really enjoy your column, Di

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Q:  Would you please comment on these two contemporarily apt words: (1) Tailgating (2) Corflute. Thank you, Bronia 

A: 'Tailgate" (drive too close to the car in front) in American (from 1962). It arose because the back boards on a cart were once called the 'tailgate'. I'll write about 'corflute' soon in a column.

Q:  Hi Kel, we are hearing a lot about "sliding doors moment" -- I've heard Peter Dutton use it. Could you tell me what this means please? It seems to be a recent addition to the vocabulary. Regards, John  

A: It comes from the title of the 1998 Gwyneth Patrow movie "Sliding Doors" in which the future changes for her character depending on whether or not she goes through the sliding doors on a London underground train. 

Q: “out of whack” -- where did the saying come from and how old is it? Shirley

A: First recorded in Texas in 1885. The experts best guess is that it started out in life as 'out of thwack' -- and, in turn, 'thwack' was an onomatopoeic word that named a hit or a slap. 'Thwack' goes back to the 1500s, and this 1885 Texan version seems to suggest that one is out of energy, too tired, and so weak that he's unable to raise a hand to even slap his horse. 

Q:   I'm hoping you can advise the meanings of both 'billion' and 'trillion', particularly in Australia, but also in USA, Jennie

A: Originally there was a British billion (which was one million million) and an American billion (which was one thousand million). The American billion is now accepted worldwide, even by the British. Something similar has happened to trillion. It is now usually accepted as being one thousand billion (10 to the power of 12). There was once (briefly) an older version that said it was a billion billion (10 to the power of 18) but that seems to have gone by the board. 

Q:   Where does the saying “put that in your pipe and smoke it” come from. Brian  

A:  From around 1800. It seems to have begun as an Irish expression meaning -- " just think about that for a minute". Possibly from the thoughtful appearance of many smokers. Now it just means: ‘That’s got you, hasn’t it? That made you stop and think!”

Q:  Can you explain the origin and meaning of Vox Pop? Michael

A: It's a bit of Latin Vox Populi meaning 'voice of the people' -- hence, interviews in street with passers-by are called 'vox pops' in radio and TV. Originally it was part of a longer Latin phrase Vox populi vox dei --meaning the voice of the people is the voice of God.

Q: Oliver asks for the origin of the name of the 'Tory' (Conversative) party?

A: The word seems to come from an Irish word in the 1600s meaning 'outlaw'. In the English Civil War, it was applied to Royalists who opposed Cromwell and the Parliamentarians. As a political label it seems to have been applied first the supporters of the restoration of the crown in 1688.  Those early Torries were supporters of the executive power of the Crown and the authority of other established institutions, e.g. the episcopacy of the Church of England.  Many remained Jacobites at the time of the Hanoverian Succession (1714). Their character changed when they were joined by a faction of disaffected Whigs--and in 1830 they formally became the Conservative party. Whig started in Scotland as a name for the Covenanters and seems to come from a Scottish word meaning 'poor, yokels, country bumpkins. So, both 'Tory' and 'Whig' started as slurs that were (as is so often the case) adopted by the people they were aimed at as badges of honour and their preferred name.

Q:  I would like to know the origin of the phrase ‘It is not over until the fat lady sings’ Kath

A: So would everyone, Kath! The earliest citation so far discovered is from an American sports program from 1978.  However, it is actually a rather older expression, which occurs in several forms: It ain’t over till the fat lady sings, The opera isn’t over until the fat lady sings, or Church ain’t out ’till the fat lady sings. Research continues.

Q:  Is there a difference between a crisis and an existential crisis?  Geoffrey

A:  'Existential' means 'relating to existence' -- so an 'existential crisis' is one that threatens existence. Many a crisis can happen between now and ceasing to exist!