Australianisms , Australian language in use

Puzzled by the Australian language? Baffled by Strine in use? Then you may be interested in the Australian Word Map project managed by Auntie (The Australian Broadcasting Commission). Just click here or on the image.

The Word Map is mapping Australian regionalisms - words, phrases or expressions used by particular language groups. The project began in 2005 so I'm not sure how active it is now.

A friend emailed me about sanger.
Here is what a search reveals:

sanger

a sandwich: I had a sanger for lunch.

Contributor's comments: This word is hardly restricted to the region shown thus far - it is well known in Melbourne and Perth (where I have lived).

Contributor's comments: I agree that this term is not restricted to Melbourne and Perth. It is used here in Sydney but usually only in a very casual or slang frame of reference.

Contributor's comments: Sanger is commonly used throughout Australia by members of the Defence Forces.

Some words like togs or cozzie seem pretty Eastern states to me, but there are a wealth of contributions, so have fun, and bookmark it as a place to return to when you are puzzled by words used in Australian crime fiction.

And avagooday! (you won't find that one in the word map - just say it slowly!)

Review: DEADLY WATERS, Pauline Rowson

Severn House, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7278-6555-7, 214 pages

The body of the head teacher of a local school is found in Langston Harbour, Portsmouth, along with a wad of money wrapped up in a five pound note and smothered with honey. The head teacher's car is missing, and her body is actually found out on the mulberry in the harbour, so it had to have been taken there by boat. As the investigation proceeds other nursery rhyme clues crop up, and there is another murder. The investigation team is led by DI Andy Horton about to be supplanted because of recent indiscretions.

DEADLY WATERS has a complex plot but I struggled to keep the threads together in my mind despite the relative shortness of the book. A certain amount of tension is generated by the fact that Andy Horton is given just a week to solve the case by his superior, Superintendent Uckfield. Horton is fighting a personal battle to gain access to his daughter and to sort his own life out. The investigation is hampered by people providing false alibis

This is the fourth title in Pauline Rowson's "marine" mysteries (but only the second in the Andy Horton titles). The problems I had in focussing on the plot of this book may perhaps be attributable to the fact that I have not read earlier titles. According to Pauline Rowson's own website DEADLY WATERS, which I read in hardback, will be available in paperback in April 2009.

My rating 4.2

The Andy Horton series

1. Tide of Death (2006)

2. Deadly Waters (2007)
3. The Suffocating Sea (2008)
4. Dead Man's Wharf (2009)

Coincidentally today I got a promotional email from Pauline Rowson's marketing agent, titled Crime Writer's Unsolved Family Murder Mystery. On the website the same information is available under the title Fiftieth Anniversary of Crime Writer's Unsolved Family Murder.

It continues
Not every crime writer has personal experience of murder in their family but on the fiftieth anniversary of her great aunt’s brutal killing, Pauline Rowson, author of the popular series of marine mysteries featuring the flawed and rugged Inspector Horton, takes time to remember Martha Giles’s unlawful killing on 12 February 1959, and one mystery that it appears she will never be able to solve. Read more

My blog according to Wordle

I was browsing Sunday Salon contributions and got to Blacklin's Reading Room Reviews and was reminded of Wordle. This post sent me off to A Striped Armchair where I found this post about Wordle.

So the image above is the result of my playing around with Wordle. It does reflect the fact that postings that my blog URL yielded contained a review of FRIEND OF THE DEVIL by Peter robinson. But you can just recognise some other elements featured in my blog.

Forgotten Books: VENOM HOUSE, Arthur Upfield

Another contribution to Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books theme.

Arthur Upfield (1890-1964) was an Australian crime fiction author who wrote 34 novels 1926-1966, with "Bony" making his first appearance in 1929, and then subsequently in 28 other novels. Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte was the son of an unknown white man and an aboriginal mother, a gentleman and genius of criminal science, with an M.A. degree from Brisbane University. In his work Bony frequently faces race prejudices but wins them with his wit and smile.

The first title in my records (31 years ago) is VENOM HOUSE written in 1952, but I am sure I had read many before that.

Napoleon Bonaparte, the brilliant half-caste Detective-Inspector, is sent out to small "one-pub" coastal town south of Brisbane to look into the death of Mrs. Answerth of Venom House, found floating in the moat surrounding her home. Two previous murders can also be traced to the house. Bony finds enough psychological dynamite under Venom's roof to account for dozens of murders; a housekeeper, formerly a nurse for mental cases; a violent, mannish sister; a sly, feminine sister; and, locked away upstairs, a mentally retarded brother.

VENOM HOUSE was published in 1952 by Doubleday as part of its Crime Club series. The first British edition was published by Heinemann in 1953. Pictured above is the Medallion edition of 1952, printed by Berkley in the United States.

One of the pleasures in the research on forgotten books is the discovery of delightful sites. While the Wikipedia page will give you lots of info., it can't beat the Unofficial Arthur Upfield site, which not only lists the books but has some lovely scanned covers like the one that I have used here.

From the Wikipedia entry:
In 1987, H.R.F. Keating included The Sands of Windee (1931) in his list of the 100 best crime and mystery books ever published. J.B. Priestley wrote of Upfield: "If you like detective stories that are something more than puzzles, that have solid characters and backgrounds, that avoid familiar patterns of crime and detection, then Mr Upfield is your man."

At one stage Upfield was definitive Australian crime fiction, set in the outback, you can almost smell the hot brown land. Today we might feel that an Upfield novel could possibly carry with it politically incorrect overtones, but in their day his novels put Australia on the crime fiction map, and many titles were widely available overseas, with publishers in both the UK and the USA. His values reflected those of Australian society in the 1940s and 1950s, although the status he gave Bony was an exception to how aborigines were generally treated, in a country which did not give them the vote in Federal elections until 1962.

Arthur Upfield books turn up often on the dusty shelves of our used book shops here in Australia, but such was his popularity that you can still get copies, admittedly used, of VENOM HOUSE at Amazon, and they have many many Upfields on offer.

What sort of blog do you write?

I came across this tool earlier this week.
Basically you put the URL of your blog in and up comes the analysis.

It says MYSTERIES IN PARADISE is..

ESFP - The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions

Not sure whether that is me or not....

Ironically the response for Smik's Reviews is
Detected language Thai. The only supported languages are English and Swedish. But stay tuned, we are expanding.

Blogs I'm watching gets the following response

ESTP - The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

And the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival is

ISTP - The Mechanics

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.


The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

The word "apache" in Agatha Christie

I noticed Agatha Christie using the word "apache" to mean thug or ruffian in the last book I read, THE BIG FOUR.
However when I came across it again in THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE TRAIN I just felt I had to document it.

At the beginning of chapter 2
On turning a corner he came upon a scene of some activity....
"Something has been happening, yes?"
"Mais oui, Monsieur. Two apaches set upon an elderly American gentleman."

Then in chapter 4, the American gentleman is talking to his daughter
"Nothing to tell Ruthie. Some apache fellows got a bit fresh and I shot at them and they got off. That's all."

Apparently the word came into use 1915-20 via French
n. pl. a·paches (ə-pāsh', ä-päsh')

1. A member of the Parisian underworld.
2. A thug; a ruffian.

It is a word that has disappeared from the English language unless we are referring to the American Indian tribe.

Have you come across similar words in your reading?

oz_mystery_readers turns 6

Today it is 6 years since I created oz_mystery_readers.

What I wanted to do was to create an online group where Australian crime fiction readers could meet to discuss books available in Australia.
As you can see from our message history, things got off to a fairly slow start.
But then in late 2004 we introduced bi-monthly discussions which in 2005 became monthly.

We currently have 127 members and have really never had many more than that. However that means each month we have 2-3 postings per member and that compares very favourably with other groups.

We currently not only have quite a number of international members, we also have a number of authors in our membership. We read quite a range of crime fiction, with a regular focus on Australian crime fiction.

So if you are looking for a group where you won't be overwhelmed with a large number of emails each month (perhaps a maximum of 100 a week), where we choose books to discuss on a regular basis, and if you are particularly interested in Australian crime fiction, then perhaps this is the group for you.

Our discussion books are suggested and selected by our members.
Upcoming discussions

March 1-10,WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS? by Kate Atkinson

April 1-10,THE LOW ROAD by Chris Womersley

then

FRANTIC by Katherine Howell and WHAT THE DEAD KNOW byLaura Lippmann.