new chum

English

Etymology

From new + chum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

new chum (plural new chums)

1. (Australia, archaic) A newly arrived convict.
2. (Australia) A beginner; a novice.
3. (Australia, chiefly dated, mildly derogatory) A newly arrived and inexperienced immigrant; a newcomer.
   • 1906, Edward Dyson, In the Roaring Fifties, 2005, Gutenberg eBook #17045,

     ‘New chum?’ queried the barman, after serving him.

     ‘I suppose I am,’ replied Jim. ‘Look here, would you mind telling me what in the devil′s name a new chum is?'

     ‘A new chum is a man fresh from home.’

     ‘From England?'

     ‘Scotland, Ireland, anywhere else, if he′s green and inexperienced. Miners from the Californian fields don′t rank as new chums.’

     'And how am I known as a new chum?’

     The barman grinned. ‘That′ll tell on you all over the place,’ he said, indicating the bag. ‘That′s a true new chum′s bundle. No Australian would expatriate himself by carrying his goods in that fashion. He makes them up in a roll, straps them, and carries them in a sling on his back. His bundle is then a swag. The swag is the Australian′s national badge.’

   • 1915, Norman Duncan, Australian Byways, page 44:

     Once, said he, a new chum came to the jarrah bush. A new chum is a tenderfoot, specifically an English tenderfot; he is, of course, the butt of every bush and mining camp in Australia.

   • 1990, John Lane, Fairbridge Kid, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, page 114,

     Being a new chum at Fairbridge meant that I had to go through a lengthy period of initiation all over again.

   • 2004, Humphrey McQueen, A New Britannia, University of Queensland Press, Fourth edition, page 11:

     This acceptance applies to ‘new chums’ in Australia as well as the folks at Home. Much of the evidence that Australians disliked ‘new chums’ comes from Alexander Harris who, as a ‘new chum’ himself, was quite well treated by the ‘old hands’. The emphasis of colonial disdain was on the ‘new’ rather than the ‘chum’.

Synonyms

• (beginner): inceptor, neophyte, noob; see also Thesaurus:beginner
• (newly arrived immigrant): comeling, FOB, freshie, greener, offcomer; see also Thesaurus:newcomer

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “inexperienced new arrival”): currency lad, old hand