Stephen Calder
2006-09-22 02:05:15 UTC
I was reminded of this Australian phrase by a TV commercial for a game
where the prize was $30,000. "That's big bickies" said the announcer,
meaning "a lot of money".
This led me to do some research.
There are more spellings for the word "bickie" than you can poke a stick
at. For a long time it was spelt "bikkie" in Australia, but seems to
have changed to "bickie" more recently. It's also spelt "biccie."
A "bickie" is colloquial for biscuit (US "cookie"), and is known in the
UK as well as in Australia. But in the UK it's spelt "bicky" or "bikky";
the SOED (2002) does not record any other spellings. SOED marks it
"nursery & joc."
"Big bickies", though, seems uniquely Australian, first recorded in
Kings Cross, Sydney, an inner city suburb formerly well known as a
centre of the underworld and a red-light district. They've cleaned it up
a bit in recent years but it's still on the seedy side.
The Macquarie Dictionary gives a very full account of its etymology in
the following terms:
"From the notion that the biscuit tin was a time-honoured place to store
house-keeping money. The expression was recorded in the 1960s in Kings
Cross, Sydney, and was in use by professional punters from about the
same time."
The Australian National Dictionary, 1988 (AND is the Australian
supplement to the OED) lists "bikkies" under this spelling as meaning
"money" and cites the local newspaper, the Kings Cross Whisper, as the
first known source in print, dated 1966. AND lists Australianisms and
Australian usages only. The phrase "big bikkies" occurs in only one of
the quotations, dated 1981.
Interestingly, AND says it a facetious use of "bicky" (so spelt) meaning
biscuit. The interesting part is the spelling.
The spellings "bicky" and "bikky" are not given in the Australian
Concise Oxford or the Australian Oxford Dictionary.
where the prize was $30,000. "That's big bickies" said the announcer,
meaning "a lot of money".
This led me to do some research.
There are more spellings for the word "bickie" than you can poke a stick
at. For a long time it was spelt "bikkie" in Australia, but seems to
have changed to "bickie" more recently. It's also spelt "biccie."
A "bickie" is colloquial for biscuit (US "cookie"), and is known in the
UK as well as in Australia. But in the UK it's spelt "bicky" or "bikky";
the SOED (2002) does not record any other spellings. SOED marks it
"nursery & joc."
"Big bickies", though, seems uniquely Australian, first recorded in
Kings Cross, Sydney, an inner city suburb formerly well known as a
centre of the underworld and a red-light district. They've cleaned it up
a bit in recent years but it's still on the seedy side.
The Macquarie Dictionary gives a very full account of its etymology in
the following terms:
"From the notion that the biscuit tin was a time-honoured place to store
house-keeping money. The expression was recorded in the 1960s in Kings
Cross, Sydney, and was in use by professional punters from about the
same time."
The Australian National Dictionary, 1988 (AND is the Australian
supplement to the OED) lists "bikkies" under this spelling as meaning
"money" and cites the local newspaper, the Kings Cross Whisper, as the
first known source in print, dated 1966. AND lists Australianisms and
Australian usages only. The phrase "big bikkies" occurs in only one of
the quotations, dated 1981.
Interestingly, AND says it a facetious use of "bicky" (so spelt) meaning
biscuit. The interesting part is the spelling.
The spellings "bicky" and "bikky" are not given in the Australian
Concise Oxford or the Australian Oxford Dictionary.
--
Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia
Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia