Austral English Part 125

"`What are these men that we are going to see?' `Why one,'

said Lee, is a young Jimmy--I beg your pardon, sir, an emigrant, the other two are old prisoners.'"

1867. `Ca.s.sell's Magazine,' p. 440:

"`I never wanted to leave England,' I have heard an old Vandemonian observe boastfully. `I wasn't like one of these `Jemmy Grants' (cant term for `emigrants'); I could always earn a good living; it was the Government as took and sent me out."

[The writers probably used the word immigrant, which, not being familiar to the English compositor, was misprinted emigrant. The "old Vandemonian" must certainly have said immigrant.]

Jimmy Low, n. one of the many names of a Timber-tree, Eucalyptus resinifera, Smith, N.O. Myrtaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 208:

"The `Red,' or `Forest Mahogany,' of the neighbourhood of Sydney. These are bad names, as the wood bears no real resemblance to the true mahogany. Because the product of this tree first brought Australian kino into medical notice, it is often in old books called `Botany Bay Gum-tree.' Other names for it are Red gum, Grey gum, Hickory, and it perpetuates the memory of an individual by being called `Jimmy Low.'"

Jingle, n. a two-wheeled vehicle, like an Irish car, once common in Melbourne, still used in Brisbane and some other towns: so called from the rattle made by it when in motion. The word is not Australian, as is generally supposed; the `Century' gives "a covered two-wheeled car used in the south of Ireland."

1862. Clara Aspinall, `Three Years in Melbourne,' p. 122:

"An omnibus may be chartered at much less cost (gentlemen who have lived in India will persist in calling this vehicle a jingle, which perhaps sounds better); it is a kind of dos-a-dos conveyance, holding three in front and three behind: it has a waterproof top to it supported by four iron rods, and oilskin curtains to draw all round as a protection from the rain and dust."

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,'

p. 44:

"During my stay in Melbourne I took a jingle, or car, and drove to St. Kilda."

1865. Lady Barker, writing from Melbourne, `Station Life in New Zealand,' p. 12:

"A vehicle which was quite new to me--a sort of light car with a canopy and curtains, holding four, two on each seat, dos-a-dos, and called a jingle--of American parentage, I fancy. One drive in this carriage was quite enough, however."

1869. Marcus Clarke, `Peripatetic Philosopher,' p. 14:

"Some folks prefer to travel Over stones and rocks and gravel; And smile at dust and jolting fit to dislocate each bone.

To see 'em driving in a jingle, It would make your senses tingle, For you couldn't put a sixpence 'twixt the wheel and the kerb-stone."

1887. Ca.s.sell's 'Picturesque Australasia,' vol. i. p. 64:

"In former days the Melbourne cab was a kind of Irish car, popularly known as a jingle... . The jingle has been ousted by the one-horse waggonette."

1887. R. M. Praed, `Longleat of Kooralbyn,' c. iv. p. 30:

"The Premier hailed a pa.s.sing jingle."

[This was in Brisbane.]

Jinkers, n. a contrivance much used in the bush for moving heavy logs and trunks of trees. It consists of two pairs of wheels, with their axle-trees joined by a long beam, under which the trunks are suspended by chains. Its structure is varied in town for moving wooden houses. Called in England a "whim."

1894. `The Argus,' July 7, p. 8, col. 4:

"A rather novel spectacle was to be seen to-day on the Ballan road in the shape of a five-roomed cottage on jinkers... .

Mr. Scottney, carrier of Fitzroy, on whose jinkers the removal is being made ..."

Jirrand, adj. an aboriginal word in the dialect of Botany Bay, signifying "afraid." Ridley, in his vocabulary, spells it jerron, and there are other spellings.

1827. P. Cunningham, `Two Years in New South Wales,' vol.

ii. p. 59:

"The native word jirrand (afraid) has become in some measure an adopted child, and may probably puzzle our future Johnsons with its unde derivatur."

1889. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 316:

"When I saw the mob there was I didn't see so much to be jerran about, as it was fifty to one in favour of any one that was wanted."

Jo-Jo, n. name used by Melbourne larrikins for a man with a good deal of hair on his face. So called from a hairy-faced Russian "dog man" exhibited in Melbourne about 1880, who was advertised by that name.

Job's Tears. The seeds of Coix lachryma, which are used for necklace-making by the native tribes on the Cape York peninsula, are there called Job's tears.

Joe, Joe-Joe, Joey, interjection, then a verb, now obsolete. Explained in quotations.

1855. W. Howitt, `Two Years in Victoria,' vol. i. p. 400:

"The well-known cry of `Joe! Joe!'--a cry which means one of the myrmidons of Charley Joe, as they familiarly style Mr.

[Charles Joseph] La Trobe,--a cry which on all the diggings resounds on all sides on the appearance of any of the hated officials."

1861. T. McCombie, `Australian Sketches,' p. 135:

"The cry of `Joey' would rise everywhere against them."

[Footnote]: "To `Joey' or `Joe' a person on the diggings, or anywhere else in Australia, is to grossly insult and ridicule him."

1863. B. A. Heywood, `Vacation Tour at the Antipodes,'

p. 165:

"In the early days of the Australian diggings `Joe' was the warning word shouted out when the police or gold commissioners were seen approaching, but is now the chaff for new chums."

1865. F. H. Nixon, `Peter Perfume,' p. 58:

"And Joe joed them out, Tom toed them out."

1891. `The Argus,' Dec. 5, p. 13, col. 4:

"`The diggers,' he says, `were up in arms against the Government officials, and whenever a policeman or any other Government servant was seen they raised the cry of "Joe-Joe."'

The term was familiar to every man in the fifties. In the earliest days of the diggings proclamations were issued on diverse subjects, but mostly in the direction of curtailing the privileges of the miners. These were signed, `C. Joseph La Trobe,' and became known by the irreverent--not to say flippant --description of `Joes.' By an easy transition, the corruption of the second name of the Governor was applied to his officers, between whom and the spirited diggers no love was lost, and accordingly the appearance of a policeman on a lead was signalled to every tent and hole by the cry of `Joe-Joe.'"

Joey, n. (1) A young kangaroo.

1839. W. H. Leigh, `Reconnoitring Voyages in South Australia'

pp. 93-4:

"Here [in Kangaroo Island] is also the wallaba ... The young of the animal is called by the islanders a joe."