Goliath glowed.
“It's a funny thing, Limpy,” he said. “We went all that way looking for toad heaven, but if a crow from out west suddenly appeared and flipped me over and ate the soft juicy bits on the inside of my legs and tummy, I wouldn't want it to happen anywhere else but here.”
Limpy nodded and smiled.
He knew exactly what Goliath meant.
BRUMBY: A wild or untamed horse. Strangely, there is no similar word for a wild or untamed yabbie. (See yabbie.)
CARKED: Dead. Always followed by the word “it.” As in “Will Wally be coming to Dave's funeral?” “No, he's carked it too.”
CHIPS: Small pieces of fried potato. Known in some places as French fries. But not in France, where they are called fried potato.
CROOK: Ill or damaged rather than criminal. Limpy's crook leg is the result of a truck driving over it. At no stage has his crook leg ever tried to rob a bank or falsify corporate accounts.
FLOATIE: An inflatable or foam device to help unsure swimmers stay afloat in pools and at the beach. Can be used in the bath if you're very nervous.
FULL STOP: The little dot at the end of a sentence. Also an expression meaning “not at all.” So an Australian would say, “I don't like having to put full stops at the end of sentences, in fact I don't like full stops full stop.”
GOBSMACKED: Stunned with surprise and/or amazement. If you ever find yourself gobsmacked while swimming in deep water, perhaps because you see somebody with a floatie shaped like a yabbie, be careful or you could end up carking it. (See carked, floatie, and yabbie.)
KNICKKNACK: Small ornament beloved by most mothers on their birthdays, but only when purchased legally. (See nick.)
MATE: Friend, comrade, buddy. Used a lot when people are being helpful and friendly. “Hey, mate, if that's your wombat over there lying on his back with his legs in the air, I think he's a bit crook.” “Thanks, mate.” (See crook.)
NICK: Two meanings in Australia: (1) Steal. (2) Leave a place briefly. On the occasion of his mother's birthday, a thief might say “I'm just gunna nick out and nick a knickknack.” (See knickknack.)
WOMBAT: A wild, but mild, Australian animal about the size of an overweight cat. Despite its plumpness, a vegetarian. Lives in a burrow too small for a home gym.
YABBIE: A freshwater crayfish. Can be lured with a piece of meat on a string. This is not recommended if the yabbie is on someone else's plate in a restaurant.
Morris Gleitzman grew up in England and moved to Australia when he was sixteen. He has been a frozen-chicken thawer, sugarmill rolling-stock unhooker, fashion-industry trainee, department-store Santa, TV producer, newspaper columnist, and screenwriter. Now he's a children's book author. Toad Heaven is his fifteenth book.
Published by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children's Books a division of Random House, Inc., New York
Text copyright © 2001 by Creative Input Pty Ltd. Illustrations copyright © 2001 by Rod Clement
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