Thanks for changing the category to folklore, Joe. Good logic.

Steve Parkes, is that Newcastle, Oz, because unless I am mispronouncing your phonetics (grin), I don't remember hearing it here.

And a thought to ponder: does the experiment of the Word Map have consequences in the distribution of word usage? It was only when I saw the term "budgie smugglers" that I started using it so now I am spreading the word around my friends, including my Internet/Mudcat friends around the world, and it is such a visually "stimulating" reference that other people have started using the term as well.

A similar problem occurs to me, in that I read an excellent Oz book called Lily on the Dustbin by Nancy Keesing about 15 years ago or more, and now I use some of those expressions as part of my regular vocabulary, because they are so clever. E.g. "as scarce as rocking horse shit". An unbeatable expression, IMHO.

Helen