Aussie salute

English

WOTD – 26 January 2020

Pronunciation

The hand movement in an Aussie salute

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒzi səˈl(j)uːt/, /ˈɒsi-/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔzi səˈlut/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Aus‧sie sa‧lute

Noun

Aussie salute (plural Aussie salutes)

1. (Australia, humorous) The act of waving a hand in front of the face to flick away flies (particularly bush flies, Musca vetustissima).

   Synonyms: Barcoo salute, bush salute

   • 1979 April 5, Brian Lee, “Dung Beetles to the Rescue”, in Bernard Dixon, editor, New Scientist, volume 82, number 1149, London: IPC Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 46 and 47:

     [page 46] Even the stuffy diplomats of Canberra, the nation's federal capital, seem to drop their normal besuited reserve to wave what has laughingly become known as the "Aussie salute". But expressing a jovial liking for their fellow men is not what these antipodeans are doing: they are swatting flies. [...] [page 47] Proving that the introduced beetles are affecting bushfly numbers at this early stage is an even more difficult task (the diplomats of Canberra are still waving the Aussie salute).

   • 1988, Helen Jonsen, Kangaroo’s Comments and Wallaby’s Words: The Aussie Word Book, New York, N.Y.: Hippocrene Books, →ISBN, page 79:

     Together the blowies and the mozzies gave birth to an important piece of Australiana – the Aussie salute.

   • 2005, John Williams, “Chairman Mao off the Bow”, in The Fortunate Life of a Vindicatrix Boy, [Scotts Valley, Calif.]: Published by John Williams; produced by the Booksurge Group, →ISBN, page 44:

     The flies are a different proposition. It takes a while to learn the ‘Aussie salute’, waving your hand in front of your face at regular intervals to keep the flies away. It doesn’t matter where they land, as long as you keep them off your face, out of your nose and mouth. No matter how accomplished you become at the Aussie salute, you have not really made it until you have swallowed an Aussie bush fly.

   • 2011, Tim R. New, “Insects and People in Australia”, in ‘In Considerable Variety’: Introducing the Diversity of Australia’s Insects, Dordrecht, Heidelberg: Springer Science+Business Media, →DOI, →ISBN, page 177:

     People may casually admire a Ulysses butterfly (and even pay to see living native butterflies as exhibits in Butterfly Houses), be fascinated by large termite mounds or trails of foraging ants, buy dragonfly larvae for fishing bait, counter bushflies with the ‘Aussie salute’, swat mosquitoes, and fear encounters with bull ants.

   • 2018 March 9, Craig Platt, “Uluru: 20 things that will surprise first-time visitors”, in Stuff.co.nz‎^[1], archived from the original on 13 November 2018:

     There are a lot of flies in the warmer months and it's not uncommon for tourists to wear hats with face nets to avoid them. Be prepared to do a lot of "Aussie salutes" during the day.

Translations

act of waving a hand in front of the face to flick flies away

Further reading

• Aussie salute on Wikipedia.Wikipedia