• Daily Life - Strine - Strine Dictionary 豪語辞書

    Enshittification

    Enshittification has been chosen by Australia’s preeminent dictionary as the word of the year for 2024. The Macquarie Dictionary, which is regarded as the main chronicler of Australian English, defines enshittification as “the deterioration of a service brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit seeking.” Most Strine speakers would probably refer to enshittification as things going to the shits. Macquire notes that the term is now being used to describe many things in life, not just tech-related, citing the example of shrinkflation of products as…

  • Daily Life - Strine - Strine Dictionary 豪語辞書

    Tray Trees Make Bonzer Bonsai

    Reluctantly dragged out of my comfort zone, I was rewarded with a bonzer trip around the Japanese Bonsai Garden inside Showa Kinen Park to see the autumnal trees in trays, lit up as part of the Autumnal Night Stroll. Related posts: Arrows of Outrageous Fortune Strine Dictionary Strine (オージー英語)Dictionary Where’s the Whist Amid the Wisteria? Bonzer Bonsai! Quick Cleanse Barking Mad at a Dog Marathon Do Little Beating Jobsworths with Luck Savorin’ Straya Powered by YARPP.

  • Strine - Strine Sports

    Pushbike Paradise

    The few weeks leading up to the start of the rainy season in Tokyo are, for me, idyllic, and for the past few years I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to get an early morning bike ride in on most days, and today was a ripper. The sun rises at about 4 a.m. at this time of the year, and so do I! I get up, pour myself into cycling gear, have a quick brekkie and then get out on the treadly before I can convince myself there’s something better to do than ride a bike. And Mother Nature…

  • Daily Life - Strine - Strine Tucker - Strine Why Atorkin/Australian Methods of Speech/豪語の話し方

    Snot Block Odyssey

    Something was amiss with the start of the weekend when I was barely able to sleep, spending a restless night ahead of plans to head into central Tokyo to pick up some parts, but little did I know that a vanilla slice “snot block” was on the way to rescuing me. Using the restlessness to advantage, I got stuck into the garden, weeding and then being able to cut the lawn courtesy of a quiet push mower and getting down on my hands and knees to manually trim the edges. A quick clean of the Brommie, which has been squeaking…

  • Strine

    Dog’s Life

    We’ve been blessed for the past few days with the presence of Uyu, a gorgeous border collie. Uyu, which means ‘milk’ in Korean, came to stay on Friday night. We weren’t sure if she was actually going to come and stay. She belongs to our son and daughter-in-law. Our son is a notoriously poor communicator. So, even though we agreed to look after Uyu months ago, and the date was decided, we needed to wait until she actually arrived before we could be sure that she would come. Then, when Uyu did get here, things didn’t always go to plan.…

  • Strine

    The First Class First Nations Film Festival

    For a measly 1,000 yen I got to get a totally unexpected and delightfully amazing full day’s entertainment, a couple of souvenirs and an all-round wonderful time at the 2024 First Nations Film Festival held by the Australian Embassy in Tokyo at EUROSPACE. I’ve always been sympathetic to the cause of Indigenous Australians as I’ve understood it, but in recent years I’ve developed a bit of empathy fatigue, or even borderline antipathy, as the blame for society’s shortcomings are increasingly laid at the feet of all white men. So when Mrs. Kangaeroo expressed an interest in going to the festival…

  • Strine - Strine Scribes - Unknown Nichigo

    Goodbye Possums…

    Barry Humphries, the creator of characters such as Dame Edna Everage – the Moonee Ponds housewife famous for her flamboyance and shouted greeting of “Hello Possums” – Sir Les Patterson and Sandy Stone, and himself an entertainer and icon of Straya in many parts of the world, has passed away. Humphries died aged 89 on Saturday following complications from a recent hip surgery. Personally, I wasn’t a great fan of the Moonee Ponds housewife — Dame Edna Average is my name for her — but she had her moments and was a wonderful example of Humphries’ acerbic, anti-Establishment wit that…

  • Strine

    Wistful Wisteria

    There’ve been better times than the past week, and hopefully the climbing hardenbergia comptoniana planted today augurs a rise out of the doldrums. I couldn’t sleep, so as soon as it was light, I got out into the garden, moving the lawn, weeding and my efforts culminating in re-potting the hardenbergia comptoniana, better known as the Australian native wisteria, which had grown too much for the humidity pods. Most of the seedlings have failed, so hopefully the wisteria will be a shining light. There’s still the promise of kangaroo paw and dwarf wattle. Not much else promising going on. Work absolutely…

  • Strine

    Biking Beauty

    I’ve been alternating between busy and broken over the past few days, resulting in fewer posts and less cycling, but still lucky enough to catch some tremendous snapshots of the bike like the ones here. Work has been proceeding at a furious pace as we have not replaced people who have left and remain terribly understaffed. It’s hard to get motivated, too, as my employer tried to cut my wage just days after inking my current contract and doing nothing to reassure me that they will not try the same thing again this year: if, in fact, they even offer…

  • Strine

    Golden Girl

    La Cangura is the name of my bike, a beautiful gunmetal and gold-trimmed machine from Orbea, a manufacturer from Spain, hence the name (which means The Kangaroo in English). She looks delightful in among the canola, the yellow hues of the bike and the flowers a wonderful match. Just wish I was having as much luck with my flowers and other plants in the Kangaeroo Corner garden. I’m relatively new to the gardening caper, only having really taken a great interest in it since Amazing Alex made the Aussie garden for us in March 2022. While the garden is, for…