Download or read book Suppository of All Wisdom written by Andrew Thompson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inspired by Tony Abbott’s immortal verbal overreach, The Suppository of All Wisdom is a hilarious, fully illustrated guide to the words and expressions we most often mangle, muck up and just don’t quite understand. You’ll be amazed at how many supposably well-educated speakers make mistakes – from schoolteachers, to newsreaders, to Rhodes Scholar prime ministers. Too often the misinformed flaunt the rules, and that’s a travesty. In one foul swoop, this book will make you sound smarter. It is the ultimate grammar guide, literally awesome, and begs the question: why not buy two?

Download or read book Abbott s Gambit written by Carol Johnson and published by ANU Press. This book was released on 2015-01-21 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a truly comprehensive analysis of the 2013 federal election in Australia, which brought the conservative Abbott government to power, consigned the fractious Labor Party to the Opposition benches and ended the ‘hung parliament’ experiment of 2010–13 in which the Greens and three independents lent their support to form a minority Labor government. It charts the dynamics of this significant election and the twists and turns of the campaign itself against a backdrop of a very tumultuous period in Australian politics. Like the earlier federal election of 2010, the election of 2013 was an exercise in bipolar adversarial politics and was bitterly fought by the main protagonists. It was also characterised (again) by leadership changes on Labor’s side as well as the entry of new political parties anxious to deny the major parties a clear mandate. Moreover, the 2013 election continued the trend whereby an increasing proportion of the electorate has chosen not to vote for one of the main two political parties. While the 2013 election delivered a clear victory to the Coalition in the Lower House, it simultaneously produced a much more mixed outcome in the Senate, where the Greens managed to record their largest ever representation and a new party, the Palmer United Party, initially secured three Senate positions at its first attempt (together with the election of Clive Palmer to a Queensland seat in the House of Representatives). With minor and micro parties also winning Senate seats amounting to a total of 18 Senators on the cross-benches, the Abbott government’s ability to govern and pass legislation was placed in some doubt. The 2013 election result suggested that far from ending the preceding tumultuous period of Australian politics, it merely served to prolong this era indefinitely. The 2013 campaign was one of the longest on record, arguably commencing when the besieged Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced the date for the election in late January 2013 – then over seven months away. This unconventional tactic overshadowed the election from that date onwards – providing a definite timeline for Labor infighting, influencing the largely negative tactics of the Opposition, and encouraging new parties to proliferate to contest the election. This volume traces these formative influences on the campaign dynamics and explains the electoral outcome that occurred (including the 2014 re-election for the Western Australian Senate seats ordered by the High Court). Abbott’s Gambit includes insightful contributions from academic experts, campaign directors and electoral watchers, political advisers and professional psephologists. Contributors utilise a wide range of sources and approaches, including the Australian Election Survey, to provide a detailed analysis of this important federal election.

Download or read book There Are Tittles in This Title written by Mitchell Symons and published by Michael O'Mara Books. This book was released on 2014-10-02 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There Are Tittles in This Title is bursting with truly oddball facts about words and language - and will have you hooked from the very first page.

Download or read book The Weird World of Words written by Mitchell Symons and published by Zest Books ™. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did you know that ‘Almost’ is the longest word in the English language with all of its letters in alphabetical order ? Or that ‘Stewardesses’ is the longest word you can type solely with your left hand? Or that fireflies aren’t actually flies, they’re beetles? From information about words and their uses, to useful lists of things you never knew had names, palindromes, famous lines from literature and film, bizarre test answers and more, The Weird World of Words is bursting with truly oddball facts about words and language—and will have you hooked from the very first page.

Download or read book Why Girls Can t Throw written by Mitchell Symons and published by Ad Lib Publishers Ltd. This book was released on 2021-01-07 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For some time now, I’ve wanted to write a book which would answer the sort of questions that you don’t even find asked elsewhere – let alone answered. Obviously, in the interests of eclecticism, I’ve also included some of the more mundane, workaday questions – what you might call the curriculum for a book of this type – but even here, I have at least tried to bring a fresher less reverent approach to bear. Still, there’s no disguising the fact that it’s the more esoteric questions that really grabbed my interest and these are, inevitably, the ones to which I have devoted the most energy. That’s because I really do need to know why the word 'bastard' is only ever used as a term of abuse to men, whether it’s dangerous to suppress a fart, you can actually lose weight by eating celery, whether it’s possible to knock yourself out using just your own fist, why men don't use electrolysis to remove their beards, what would happen to aeroplane passengers if someone opened the emergency exit while it was in the air and why, of course, girls can’t throw.

Download or read book Zweck written by Stephen Deutsch and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered: How it feels to be eponymous? Why some German pigeons were painted blue in the First World War? What connects Rachmaninoff to Chief Sitting Bull? It is 1972. Bernard Robins is in London – American, innocent, uninformed and arrogant – to make his name and fortune as a pianist, composer and conductor. He lives at the Kensington Music Society, a haven for aspiring musicians, including afro-headed violinists, cellists in caftans and coloraturas from Colorado. During his time there, Bernard accidentally encounters his long lost great-uncle, Hermann Heinrich Zweck, a nonagenarian – a once eminent, now forgotten composer, who has known most of the great musical figures of the Twentieth Century and hated almost all of them. Zweck is engaged in a war against stupidity, laziness and cowardice with the entire world, and especially with Bernard and Charles Forsythe – a hapless English musicologist whose only crime, (grievous in Zweck's view) is to be both English and an academic. The romantic relationships the three principals have with strong women, ranging from promiscuity to endless love, change the lives of all concerned. Throughout the novel, Zweck engages in a battle of words with the author in a series of interruptions and monologues. Comically written by an author skilled in both writing and music, Zweck is an accessible and hilarious novel about fame, identity, music and dumplings.

Download or read book Connect written by Simon Lancaster and published by Heligo Books. This book was released on 2022-06-09 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *NEW EDITION FEATURING UPDATED MATERIAL* 'Erudite, interesting and, above all, entertaining' ALAN JOHNSON, FORMER UK HOME SECRETARY 'A racy, engrossing read' PROFESSOR IAN ROBERTSON 'Incredibly absorbing, leaving even the most confident orator with food for thought' PSYCHOLOGIES Communication can make the difference between failure and success. When communication goes badly, it's a nightmare. When it goes well, it's the stuff of dreams. In this revelatory and entertaining guide, top speechwriter Simon Lancaster reveals that the secret to great communication lies not in logic alone, but in skilfully connecting with people's deepest instincts and emotions. Through the power of connections, it is possible to transform people's perceptions about almost anything, making the scary safe, the unfamiliar familiar, and even turning a 'no' into a 'yes'. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and ancient rhetoric, Lancaster examines ten powerful connections you can instantly make to change how people think, feel and act. Forget incomprehensible acronyms, mixed metaphors and jumbled jargon; with these connections, you can literally get people's mouths watering, make their hearts race and leave them addicted to your presence. Packed with wisdom, humour and actionable methods, Connect is the ultimate guide to great communication, giving you the power to inspire, influence and energise anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Download or read book Follow the leaders written by Francis Keany and published by Editia. This book was released on 2016-04-28 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For most Australians, Federal election campaigns are 33 days of TV ads, the occasional radio or TV news story, or wondering why a friend has posted a newspaper story on Facebook, all leading up to the cake stall on election day. For the journalists, photographers and camera crew who make up the travelling media packs following both leaders, the campaign is not so much a festival of democracy as a test of endurance. From wading through salmon guts in Tasmania to the never-ending search for mobile phone coverage, in Follow the leaders, radio reporter Francis Keany documents first-hand what it's like to follow the political leaders of Australia for five weeks straight on the straitened budgets facing modern media outlets. He outlines the fatigue and stress leading up to election day in 2013, following both Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd on their high-vis tour of the nation. It is also an insight into the pressures of modern-day journalism as the media environment goes through extensive change. Follow the leaders is more than reportage. It is a love story – of Francis and his beloved Tess and of the other journalistic couples separated and reunited throughout the campaign, but most of all, of journalists and their desire to seek the truth, even when a sausage sizzle beckons.

Download or read book Messing About in Quotes written by Gyles Brandreth and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-04 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Become a dazzling wit or enjoy a good laugh with this entertaining collection of humorous quotations, carefully handpicked and edited by writer and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth. From Art to Bores, Tennis to Wine, this little dictionary contains over 2,700 of the best quotations, from witty one-liners and funny phrases to pithy comments and unintended humour. If you live to be one hundred you've got it made. Very few people die past that age. - George Burns I thought coq au vin was love in a lorry. - Victoria Wood Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie-detector. - Graham Greene The trouble with a book is that you never know what's in it until it's too late. - Jeanette Winterson

Download or read book Real Communication written by Gabrielle Dolan and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-04-16 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Effective communication through authentic leadership A rapidly evolving workplace and disruptive technologies have created a growing demand for transparency and authenticity in communication from business leaders. Yet many decision-makers find themselves far behind the curve when it comes to understanding and meeting the evolving expectations of employees and customers. Real Communication: How to Be You and Lead True reveals how to guide and communicate in a way that is authentic and will help business leaders truly connect and engage with their teams, customers, and coworkers. • Communicate more effectively • Improve employee engagement • Manage organisational changes • Help teams cope with change When employees trust their leaders, businesses thrive. In Real Communication you will find everything you need to implement new strategies, instill core values, and cultivate engagement.

Download or read book Pragmatics Truth and Underspecification written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of meaning, since Frege initiated the linguistic turn in 1884, has been the subject of numerous theories, hypotheses, methodologies and distinctions. One distinction of considerable strategic value relates to the location of meaning: some aspects of meaning can be found in language and are modelled with semantic values of various kinds; some aspects of meaning can be found in communicative processes and are modelled with pragmatic inferences of one sort or another. One hypothesis of great heuristic utility concerns the relationship that is assumed between the semantic and the pragmatic. This collection of especially commissioned papers examines current thinking on the plausible nature of the semantic, the possible character of the pragmatic and the mechanics of their intersection.

Download or read book The Rock Looking into Australia s Heart of Darkness from the edge of its wild frontier written by Aaron Smith and published by Transit Lounge . This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journalist Aaron Smith's new memoir holds up a unique mirror to Australia. What he sees is at once amazing, disturbing and revealing. The Rock explores the failings of our nation's character, its unresolved past and its uncertain future from the vantage point of its most northerly outpost, Thursday Island. Smith was the last editor, fearless journalist and the paperboy of Australia's most northerly newspaper, the Torres News, a small independent regional tabloid that, until it folded in late 2019, was the voice of a predominantly Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal readership for 63 years across some of the most remote and little understood communities in Australia. The Rock is a story of self-discovery where Smith grapples to understand a national identity marred by its racist underbelly, where he is transplanted from his white-boy privileged suburban life to being a racial and cultural minority, and an outsider. Peppered with his experiences, Smith gradually and sensitively becomes embedded in island life while vividly capturing the endless and often farcical parade of personalities and politicians including Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott. Smith pulls no punches while he reflects on the history of Terra Australis incognita, dissecting what is truly Australia, and its gaping cultural and moral divide. 'A credit to regional journalism, Aaron carried on the fine tradition of the Torres News holding governments to account and telling stories of everyday life in the Straits, never shying away from controversies, lifting all the rocks and even out foxing prime minister Tony Abbott on his visit to Mabo's grave.' — Stefan Armbruster, SBS 'Aaron Smith makes a huge and extremely valuable contribution to journalism in Australia. With insight and committment he brings issues of national and international significance to audiences in Australia and beyond.' — Dr Tess Newton Cain, Griffith Asia Institute 'Aaron's journalism has provided a rare and valuable insight into issues affecting the Torres Strait Islander community. Navigating cultural protocols and geographical challenges, he has given a voice to some of Australia's most marginalised people and shared important stories that would otherwise have gone unheard.' — Ella Archibald-Binge, Sydney Morning Herald

Download or read book Lucky Country written by Ian Lowe and published by Univ. of Queensland Press. This book was released on 2016-03-23 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can we reinvent the Lucky Country? Fifty years ago author Donald Horne described Australia as 'a lucky country run by second-rate people', adding that our leaders are mostly unaware of events that surround them. The good fortune continued when our wide brown land proved to contain bountiful resources of saleable minerals, allowing successive generations of second-rate leaders to create an illusion of economic progress by liquidating those assets. But a crisis is approaching, driven by irresponsible encouragement of population growth rates typical of poor developing countries. In this polemic work, Ian Lowe will assess the state of Australia and whether we can retain our status of the Lucky Country.

Download or read book On Politics and Stuff written by Mark Humphries and published by Hachette Australia. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you love iambic pentameter, then look away because this book about Australian politics is pure prose, baby! This book is quite possibly the most comprehensive book on Australian politics ever written. That's right, it covers BOTH houses of parliament. We'll take you inside the halls of power. And if we can't actually get inside because of security, we'll do some very fun speculating on what might be in there. One thing we know for sure is that this book is unputdownable. Something went wrong with the printing and it's all sticky.

Download or read book For the Love of Language written by Kate Burridge and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 667 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the Love of Language: An Introduction to Linguistics is an engaging introduction to human language and the role of linguistics in understanding its fundamental design, acquisition and functions. Replete with case studies and examples from Australia, New Zealand and around the world, this text offers a thorough introduction to core topics, including the structure and meaning of words, the systems that organise language, strategies for learning about language, the evolution of language and the function of language as a complex social resource. The second edition includes extensive new content across the entire text, including the areas of orthography, syntax, corpus linguistics, language acquisition and multilingualism. Each topic is accompanied by a wide array of pedagogical resources designed to consolidate student understanding, including examples and exercises. Each chapter ends with a research project, providing readers with an opportunity to build on fundamental skills and engage more thoroughly with each topic.

Download or read book Who Gives a Focal written by Colin Murphy and published by The O'Brien Press Ltd. This book was released on 2024-10-21 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We Irish have enriched the English language with a slew of snazzy gems. Did you know we're the ones behind quarks , electrons and vectors , Sudocrem and Wellington boots? No surprise that we invented begrudgery , but croquet and Wunderkind were us too! So if some yahoo is getting on your nerves , don't box him in the gob – hit him with Irishisms galore , and you'll soon put the kibosh on his shaninagans . Y' dig ? Written and illustrated by Colin Murphy and Donal O'Dea, the craggy old blokes behind the bestselling Feckin' Collection and Stuff Irish People Love.

Download or read book So You re Having a Teenager written by Cathy Wilcox and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I love my kids with a primal passion but when they hit puberty I wanted to hand them back for a refund. If only I'd had this witty, gritty owner's manual. It's a pithy, practical guide for all deranged parents.' KATHY LETTE 'I wish I'd read this book before I acquired the three teenagers I have. Very useful.' CRAIG REUCASSEL 'This book should be compulsory reading for teenagers, but since they already know everything, I highly recommend it for their parents instead.' DEE MADIGAN 'This book articulates the frustrations and stresses of modern parenting and provides a reassuring reality check on how to navigate the choppy waters of raising teens in an always-on, screen-obsessed world.' JOCELYN BREWER, psychologist So, you're having a teenager? Congratulations/commiserations. Worried about drugs? We recommend Valium, wine and HRT. Happy you survived the toddler tantrums? Let us introduce you to the eye roll, the cold shoulder and the incoherent mumble. On the bright side, you've reduced your need for Google - your adolescent is now able to frequently correct, hector and lecture you with their strong opinion on everything. And if you feel tired, you're not imagining it. Teen years are like dog years: for every year your teen ages, you age seven. You need a survival guide for the testing times ahead. Friends, next-door neighbours and fellow mums of teens Sarah Macdonald and Cathy Wilcox have lived through it all and produced this straight-talking, not entirely sarcastic, informative guide to what for many parents are the most challenging - but interesting and exciting - years in the role. From A is for Argumentative, Awkward and Angst, to Z is for Zits and Zzzzzs. Because having a toddler is a doddle.