See The Australian Spirit, by Russel Ward
(The Oxford Dictionary and a touch of gravitas): According to Gary Nunn, “it is perhaps the most significant linguistic event in the history of Australian English. In a major collaboration with the Australian National Dictionary Centre, the largest update of uniquely Australian terms was this week added to Oxford Dictionaries. (grog ▶noun – phrases off the grog Austral./NZ informal abstaining from drinking alcohol: I’m supposed to be off the grog three nights a week. on the grog Austral./NZ informal drinking alcohol, especially heavily: a group of young locals are well and truly on the grog.
Until now, Australian English had unofficially been the poor relation. As some commentators notes, “the strewths and shrimps thrown on the barbie had become so cliched that they’d distorted the Aussie lexicon into caricature.” It led to a form of linguistic cultural cringe. Meanwhile, British English was applauded for being proper and American English was fawned over for its nonchalance.
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