That makes sense, ake. That kinda fits what she was saying to me and how she was saying it.

Jim, you seem to have misconstrued my meaning. I never intended it to equate to "smart arsed". If I meant "smart arsed" I would have said it, believe me. In fact, I'm having trouble seeing where you made that connection.

As I said in my post, I was thinking of the term in relation to "deceit, pretence, and bragging". The not-so nice-comments that a smartly dressed person in Oz might receive might imply that because they are spruced up, especially if this is out of character for them, then they might be "up to something", e.g. "So, where are you off to then? You are looking all spruced up."

Oz humour can sound very derogatory but is really just a very dry form of humour, therefore the speaker's intention can be difficult to interpret sometimes. A large percentage of Aussies like to laugh at themselves as much as at each other.