Category: Word lovers

Why is it a neck of the woods?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Why is it “a neck of the woods”?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. Neck minnit… Q: Hi AWC, I’ve been

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Word lovers
Australian Writers' Centre Team

What’s YOUR inspiration?

Here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we often teach the importance of harnessing moments of inspiration to spark your storytelling. These are a valuable and renewable resource – not only powering your writing, but also your own life’s story. Because just like a novel, sometimes your life needs moments of inspiration to

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Why do cats have nine lives?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Why do cats have nine lives?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, it’s cats and curiosity… Q:

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Where does Larrikin come from?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: The origin of “larrikin”

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, it’s larrikinship… Q: Hi AWC,

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Is it stamping or stomping ground?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Stamping ground vs stomping ground

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re stomp collecting… Q: Hi

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Why is it called an Indian summer?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Why is it called an “Indian summer”?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re having lazy, hazy days

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Why are they called rose-coloured glasses
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Why ‘rose-coloured glasses’?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re coming up roses… Q:

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Origin of cut to the chase
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Origin of ‘cut to the chase’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, cutting and chasing… Q: Hi

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Where does Molotov cocktail come from?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Origin of ‘molotov cocktail’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, can you feel the Molotov

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Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Quash vs squash

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re awash with squash, by

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where does the Mexican standoff and Mexican wave come from?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: The origin of the Mexican standoff and Mexican wave

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, once upon a time in

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Where does doggie bag come from?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: The origin of the “doggie bag”

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, it’s a dog’s dinner… Q:

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Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Why do we use “zzz” for sleep?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we need beauty sleep… Q:

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Explore our top 10 Q&As of the year
Our famous Q&As!
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Top 10 Q&As of 2021

Q: Hey, it’s the end of 2021! A: Somehow, yes. Q: What a year. A: It was a year, that’s true. Q: So, they want us to lock down our 10 favourite Q&As of 2021. A: Please don’t say “lock down”. Q: Choose? Select? Curate? Throw darts at a wall?

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Word lovers
Australian Writers' Centre Team

Solve our holiday cryptic clues quiz

The holidays are a great time to sit back and give your brain a well-earned rest, right? Well, it’s also a great time to test its limits – with our now-infamous annual holiday treat. That’s right, we’re back this year with a collection of cryptic clues for you to solve.

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Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Holiday vs vacation

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re having holiday vibes… Q:

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Relax with these good books
Word lovers
Australian Writers' Centre Team

22 recommended reads for 2022

Word of mouth – it remains one of the most powerful ways to find out about something new. And so, with our AWC community being filled with avid readers, we decided to ask “what were some of your favourite books that you read this year?”. The books didn’t have to

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is it succession or secession?
Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: Succession vs secession

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re succeeding… Q: Hi AWC,

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What words defined 2021 according to dictionaries?
Word lovers
Australian Writers' Centre Team

2021 Words of the Year

Every year, the world’s major dictionaries look at their data and announce their “word of the year” based on search trends. Traditionally it was a varied mix of duck milkshakes, metrosexuals and even emojis. But last year saw a common theme – with the likes of “pandemic”, “COVID”, “lockdown” and

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Our famous Q&As!
Dean Koorey

Q&A: The origins of “plus” and “+”

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re feeling plus-sized… Q: Hi

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