Macquarie Dictionary website a morass of errors

The Macquarie Dictionary is an excellent publication, the best Australian dictionary. The fact that it comes from my almer mater has nothing to do with it.

But the website is an absolute travesty. Take for example the page on slang (beginning with the letter 'B'):

* 'Baloney' isn't nor ever was Australian slang, but American. I'm interested in the historical connections between Australian and USA slang ever since the Gold Rush days, but this is really pushing it. The same goes for 'bunkum', 'bum steer', 'butt', etc, etc.

* Henry Lawson's poem 'The Captain of the Push' is not the derivation of the term 'bastard from the bush'. It comes from a rude poem called 'The Bastard from the Bush' which is sometimes attributed to Lawson, but no one knows who wrote it. 'The Captain of the Push' is a different poem, which 'The Bastard from the Push' parodies.

* 'epsecially in made while playing a team sport' is not only not a clause, it's utter nonsense and badly spelled, like so many other entries.

* Australia has many terms meaning 'a shiftless or dissolute person', but 'bum' can hardly be said to be one of them, outside of North America. 'Bum' means 'bottom' or 'backside' in this country. One suspects your lexicographers are addicted to American TV -- not a good place to start on anything.

* 'bushwhacker noun one who lives in the bush; a bushie; often viewed as unsohpisticated' -- don't you guys know any proofreaders? I'll do it for $25 an hour.

These are just a few quickly found examples from an Australian slang dictionary that is a morass of Americanisms, misspellings, bad grammar, errors of fact and just plain iggerance.

Macquarie, it's reasonable for your readers to expect that a dictionary website will do a great deal better.

Tagged: australia, australian+english, australian, slang, dictionary, dictionaries