The scope of terms under the spotlight is eclectic, ranging from the archaic (albeit) and the commonplace (commute) to the Australian vernacular (bush week) and even the archaic Aussie vernacular (badger box). It is in his exploration of colourful Australian coinages that Richards makes a real contribution to etymology and history, recording what is essentially spoken vocabulary before it has a chance to disappear or be taken over by American slang.

Some of Richards’s derivations are suspect, particularly when he labels a word that has been imported from England as ‘a piece of Australian children’s slang’. He wonders why the expression bags is missing from most Australian dictionaries – probably because it is has a long history in English playgrounds. Similarly, cocky was surely an English adjective related to cock or cockerel, before it was associated with cockatoos. These derivations are open to dispute, and that is part of the charm of the book. Not an authoritative reference, it is enlightening nonetheless. Some derivations are tall tales from folk etymology. Others digress into fascinating historical detail and the origin of related words: grocer in the exploration of wholesale; plus-fours in that of knickers. Richards is modest in his assertions and willing to admit defeat in tracing the origins of some words. His terse verse, the weekly poems that he composed, using the five words of the week, take up perhaps too much of the book, and vary greatly in quality, but are in keeping with the author’s irreverent and infectious enthusiasm for words.