You don’t hear the term “Chinaman” much these days.
It was fairly common some decades ago in Australia and you used to hear it in Hollywood Westerns, usually describing some poor old pony-tailed gold-fossicker from the Orient.
It was a dismissive term with racist undertones/overtones and has largely disappeared from the language.
Serious cricket fans will also be familiar with the term “chinaman”, a word formerly used to describe a “googly” or “wrong-un” delivered by a left-arm spin bowler.
The “chinaman” has disappeared from cricket commentary due to the same racial aspect that has driven it from more general use. Unfortunately, the loss of the word means there doesn’t seem to be a simple word to label that specific cricket delivery, so they need to come up with something new.
The fishing community does not seem willing to make the same sacrifice and the Chinaman fish lives on in the vernacular of that politically incorrect group of renegades.
Of course, other words and terminology have been lost, removed or simply disappeared from the English language, generally, and Australian English specifically.
Most of the words are racist and are associated with terrible racial practices. Our language has evolved and many words are, rightly, no longer used.
It becomes more controversial when the names of consumer products are changed as corporations avoid controversy associated with racist, sexist or homophobic terms.
Witness the controversy over the change of name from Coon cheese despite the name not having any connection with the racist term. Cheer cheese just isn’t the same.
Other product names have disappeared: Red Skins are now called Red Rippers, Chicos are Cheekies and, as for Fags … well they were a disaster on several levels; homophobic lollies that promoted smoking. They’re now called Fads and no longer have the distinctive red tip.
People will have their views about name changes and there is a constant tussle between the politically correct and those who resist PC moves.
But there are other traditional Aussie words and phrases that are simply disappearing because they have gone out of fashion.
Witness rascal, sheila, strewth, cobber … common words you hardly hear any more. Larrikin is hanging in there but is seriously under threat.
While I like those words because they are part of our character and are essential to understanding our culture, the real estate industry is full of words and terminology that have had their day and should be quietly put out of their misery.
There are the classics: “Renovator’s Delight”, which is putting a positive spin on a property that is a terminal disaster, an unlivable junkyard; “Cute”, which means it is an amazingly small house with no room for visitors; “Charming Cottage”, which tells you it is an old-fashioned little place that is overdue for an update, “Location, Location, Location”, which tells you it is a property with very little going for it in terms of features and space and is possibly situated on a busy road but it is in a central part of town.
The list goes on; something is “cosy” not small, a bathroom is “fully functional” not extremely basic and unrenovated, and I imagine a “family friendly estate” is one of those ones where the neighbours don’t turn up at your door-step wanting to kill your kids but instead say: “Strewth cobber, I’ve got a sheila and a cuppla billy lids of me own”.
