Gday

This was phrase of the week a whiles back - just thought it might be appropriate to note that this is an expression that was adopted in Australia - it is not true blue Aussie - it appears in the Brer Rabbit stories as told by ‘Uncle Remus’ - it is an American South slave expression.  I wonder how many other ‘dinky-di’ expressions are like that?

I reckon there’s loads, which is probably understandable since we’re such a young nation.  In any case, this website is not about expressions that originated here, as that rarely matters for newcomers learning English, what matters is what’s commonly being used in Australia, no matter where it comes from or when it became popular.  Though it’s always very interesting to hear where these common expressions have come from, if it was an American South slave expression, do you mean it came from Africa or it emerged out of the linguistic diversities of the slave population in America?

it is an American South slave expression.  I wonder how many other ‘dinky-di’ expressions are like that?