“I’ve been fossicking in my bag for ages, but
I just can’t find my keys.”

The story behind this week’s Aussie slang expression is quite an interesting one. According to the Australian National University (A.N.U.) fossick has been in use in Australia since the 1850s. It’s so common I hadn’t even realised it was slang until I came to write this post.

It is believed that fossick, which comes from the Cornish dialect (an English dialect spoken by people in Cornwall, England), was brought to Australia by Cornish miners. Although the meaning is not exactly the same, in Cornish fossick means ‘to obtain by asking, to ferret out‘ (A.N.U.), the word was probably used by these miners to describe their search for gold. Australia has adopted a number of specialised mining terms from the Cornish, however fossick is the only term used by the general community.

So, the next time you are searching or rummaging for something, think of the word fossick and then impress your Aussie friends by incorporating it into a comment like the one above.

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Glossary

dialect – a form of a language that people speak in a particular part of a country, containing some different words and grammar, etc.

miner – A miner is a person who makes a living digging coal, salt, gold, minerals, or other natural resources out of the earth.

not exactly – used for saying that someone or something is slightly different from a particular way of describing them or it

ferret something out – to find out a piece of information or find someone or something, after looking in many places or asking many questions

adopt – to accept or start to use something new

specialised – used in one particular subject, usually by people who know a lot about the subject

general – involving or relating to most or all people

rummage – to search for something that is difficult to find among other things