The Definition Of ‘Bogan’ Has Been Updated

Bloody oath, there’s a new definition for bogan!

When the release of the sixth edition of the Australian Dictionary comes around, I go off like a frog in a sock. It’s absolutely bonza that the Aussie lexicon gets updated like this and with this new edition we’re looking at over 2000 new entries and more than 3000 updates to existing words. Oxford University Press must have been going flat out like a lizard drinking looking for all them words! Bloody oath!

Fair suck of the sav though, couldn’t believe there was a new definition for bogan.

The previous definition was “a person who is regarded as being uncultured and unsophisticated, especially such a person from a low socio-economic or poorly educated background”.

With the sixth edition, ‘bogan’ has been redefined and now has a far less classist definition. It’s become more of a general term that is synonymous with words like ‘dropkick’ or ‘flog’. I would know – my mate Donald is a deadset flog, and I reckon the new definition of bogan might even fit him, too.

The new definition is:

An uncultured and unsophisticated person; a boorish and uncouth person

I can’t remember the last time I used a dictionary instead of Google, but today is ‘Dictionary Day’ and Oxford University Press is releasing a sixth edition of the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary. Words like ‘selfie stick’ and ‘insta’ are added for the first time, while ‘internet’ and ‘journalist’ get slight definition tweaks.

There are a few other surprises to the sixth edition – with words that I didn’t know actual human beings use making the cut. Here are a few unusual ones I hadn’t come across:

  • Anzackery: The promotion of the Anzac legend in ways that are perceived to be excessive or misguided.
  • Exxy: expensive
  • Tree changer: a person who undergoes a ‘tree change’
  • Kangatarian: A person with a largely vegetarian diet who includes kangaroo meat as an environmentally-friendly source of protein.
  • Normcore: A style of dressing that involves the deliberate choice of unremarkable or unfashionable casual clothes.

If you’re flush with heaps of moolah, you can grab the sixth edition of the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary from October 26. But it’s worth big bikkies! The hardback will cost $44.95 and the paperback goes for $39.35.


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