bunyip aristocracy

Englisch - Englisch

Definition von bunyip aristocracy im Englisch Englisch wörterbuch

A peerage (hypothetical or proposed) in Australia. The term is used scornfully for such a scheme

Silbentrennung

bun·yip a·ris·toc·ra·cy

Etymologie

() Coined by Australian journalist and politician Daniel Deniehy (1828-1865) in 1853 satirising a proposal of William Wentworth for an hereditary peerage in the then colony of New South Wales. (Reference: Bill Wannan, Australian Folklore, Lansdowne Press, 1970, reprint 1979 ISBN 0-7018-1309-1, entry for "Bunyip Aristocracy".) At that time in the Sydney underworld bunyip was slang for an imposter or con-man, a sense Deniehy may have been taking in, but one almost certainly unknown to Wentworth. (Reference: The Lingo: Listening to Australian English, Graham Seal, University of New South Wales Press, 1999, ISBN 086840-680-5, page 16.)