The earliest known usage is from the early 19th century, when it was recorded as a London slang term.[1] The word's origin is unknown, and though many theories exist regarding its etymology, none are considered conclusive.
In Australia, a bloke is a unique masculine archetype associated with the country's national identity. The "Aussie bloke" has been portrayed in important works of art and associated with famous Australian men. "He's a good bloke" literally means "he's a good man".
Origin
According to Quinion, Ernest Weekley and John Camden Hotten, bloke probably derives either from the Romany, language of the Roma, or from Shelta, a secret language of Welsh and Irish Travellers.[2][3][4] These languages have roots with the Hindi word loke, a man.[2][3] Lexicographer Eric Partridge conjectured the word loke was the original but an unspecified word "too low for mention" was the cause of a b- added in slang.[4] The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says the word is of "Origin unknown" but adds: "Ogilvie compares 'Gypsy and Hindi loke a man.'" The OED's first cited use is in 1861.[5] Some believe it derives from the Celtic word ploc, a large, bull-headed person.[2][3] The word first appears in early 19th century England possibly, according to Michael Quinion, as a variation of the slang term gloak, which itself was a variation of an older slang term buzzgloak, meaning pickpocket.[2][3]
History
Originally bloke was criminal jargon (or cant) for a man of superior station, someone who was not a criminal, as in: "I stole the bloke's watch right off ‘im."[2][3]
The earliest found usage, according to Quinion, is from 9 April 1829 in the court papers of the Old Bailey in the trial of 17-year-old John Daly who was charged with housebreaking.[2][3] It appears in the transcript once as blake and once as bloke.[2][3] In 1839, H. Brandon included it in his book Poverty, Mendacity and Crime but spelled it bloak and defined it as "a gentleman".[2][3] An accused poacher from Cobham, Surrey however, testifying in a court case reported in The Times in 1839, glosses the meaning merely as "a man".[6] After the early 1850s, the term becomes more widely used in literature including by Henry Mayhew and George Augustus Sala to mean a man of any class, which is the meaning most popular today.[2][3] The OED adds a specialist usage in naval slang from 1914 onwards for the commander of a warship, shown as "the Bloke" with a capital "B" in its examples.[5]
In Australia, where it was used early on, the term meant "the boss" or someone of status.[2][3] Sources report that in the US the term was in use by the late 19th century, although it is much less common now,[7] and mainly is used in the sense of "stupid" or "worthless" person.[2][3] This sense may originate with the Dutch blok, a fool, which is where blockhead comes from.[2][3]
According to the Google Ngramculturomics project, which examines the popularity of words in published sources over time, bloke increased in popularity starting around the turn of the 20th century and reached a peak around 1950 before levelling off around 1960 at a flat level up to 1999.[8]
A bloke, or "Aussie bloke", is a masculine archetype unique to Australia.[10][11] Sociologist Catriona Elder[12] says in Being Australian (2008) that the 'Aussie bloke' is part of the Australian national identity:
…it is often suggested that nations are made up of 'types' of people. National identity is seen to be based on what are considered shared character traits often deriving from history. A good Australian example is the idea of the 'Aussie bloke' and the belief that this type of person is unique to Australia.[13]
Australian historian Russel Ward in The Australian Legend (1958) "famously described"[10] the mythical "Aussie bloke" as:
…a practical man, rough and ready in his manners and quick to decry any appearance of affectation in others… Though capable of great exertion in an emergency, he normally feels no impulse to work hard without good cause. He swears hard and consistently, gambles heavily and often, and drinks deeply on occasion… he is a greater knocker of eminent people unless, as is in the case of his sporting heroes, they are distinguished by physical prowess. He is fiercely independent… above all he will stick to his mates through thick and thin, even if he thinks they may be wrong… He tends to be a rolling stone, highly suspect if he should chance to gather much moss.[14]
Ward's archetypal "bush bloke" was outdated even when he wrote about it,[10] yet as Elder goes on to say:
…the power of this national type – the bush bloke – comes not from the fact that all Australians or even a majority of Australians live this life, but from an acceptance of it as a pleasureable and meaningful story that describes who Australians are. The image supposedly reflects a national character – that is, if you are Australian, some of these characteristics make up your identity. Many people argue that this image is outdated and inaccurate. In fact, Russel Ward (1958) argues that the image should be understood as typical, not common.[15]
Many Australians today would no longer associate with Ward's archetypal bloke without some irony, yet it still lives on outside Australia.[10] For example, in a 2000 Time magazine article published in the United States, Belinda Luscombe said "'The Bloke' is a certain kind of Australian or New Zealand male" and goes on to describe the "Classic Bloke" as "not a voluble beast. His speech patterns are best described as infrequent but colorful." He is "pragmatic rather than classy….does not whinge" and "knows how to take a beating".[11] When Steve Irwin died, many Australians were embarrassed that he was portrayed as a typical Australian derived from Ward's "laconic bush bloke",[10] but as Elder says, "Ward's Aussie bloke may be out of date… but the endeavor of creating stories about being Australian is still a central way in which being Australian is reinforced."[10]
Dennis Carroll (1982) associates the "ordinary bloke" with a form of masculine individualism unique to Australia: "An individual who does not conform to the Australianist-related patterns of male behavior will be dismissed as an outsider… the kind of individualism based on too much success, wealth or power will take him beyond the valued reciprocates of egalitarian mateship. A man should be reasonably successful in areas which are not too threatening to others and remain an 'ordinary bloke', accessible, easy-going and sociable. Individualism is thus always… couched in terms of some approved, Australianist-related image of masculinity."[16]
During World War I, one of the most popular Australian books of the era, Songs of a Sentimental Bloke (1915), was about a man who transforms himself into a domesticated, urbane and "sentimental bloke". C.J. Dennis's book of poems concerns a roughneck larrikin named Bill, a typical bloke who – uncharacteristically for a bloke – spends time in the city, finds love with a woman, settles down and is exposed to high culture.[9] As the title suggests, the narrative revolves around questions of masculinity.[9] It showed "that masculinist men can choose love and domesticity,"[9] and uses coarse language "to prove – amongst other things – that life and love can be just as real and splendid to the 'common' bloke as to the 'cultured'".[17] The book was influential in Australian culture, it "sold an extraordinary 100,000 copies in four years",[18] it "attained the status of cultural treasure"[19] and remains the best-selling volume of Australian verse.[9] Dennis's book was adapted to film, stage, ballet, musical and many gramophone recordings and radio and television programmes throughout the 20th century;[17][20] however, it was most famously produced as a silent film, The Sentimental Bloke in 1918, starring Arthur Tauchert cast as the 'bloke' of the title.[19] The film portrays Bill going through a transformation becoming a gentrified household breadwinner, yet also retaining his manly characteristics, the bloke who is more than a "careful little housewife".[9][21] It is now considered one of the most important films in the Australian Film Commission's archives and called by them "Australia's finest film from the silent era".[22]
The word "bloke" does not always mean exclusively male. The term "blokey" was added in 1997 to the Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary. It is a variation on the noun "bloke" and means exclusively male.[31]
Good bloke
In Australia, the term "good bloke" has a particular nuance that distinguishes a "good bloke" from just any "bloke". For instance, in Richard Walsh's essay "Australia Observed" (1985), Walsh (himself a noted good bloke) notes "The ultimate accolade in Australia is to be a "good bloke", meaning someone who is gregarious, hospitable, generous, warm hearted, and with a good sense of humour. In Australia it availeth a man nothing if he makes himself a fortune and is not a good bloke!"[32] A good bloke is also readily identifiable by his unceasing fidelity to the principles of mateship and an egalitarian sensibility.[33][34] For example, Australian World War II hero Fred Chilton was eulogised as follows by his fellow servicemen: "He was an excellent man. He wasn't highfalutin; he was just a good bloke."[35]
The notion of the "good bloke" has been the subject of feminist critique, however. Writer Clementine Ford, for instance, has written that "men who beat women keep being given a free pass by the same people who swear up and down that they don't tolerate violence because they're a 'good bloke'".[36] Similarly, Brigid Delaney has said that being a good bloke really "means drinking a lot. It means conforming to the norms of a place and not pushing back. It means protecting your mates and isolating those who take offence or complain."[37] The darker elements of the Australian "good bloke" are also hinted at in the award-winning Australian country song by Stan Coster, "He's A Good Bloke When He's Sober". In 2017, the notion of the good bloke found itself under sustained attack for the first time in the Australian press when Australian rules footballer Bachar Houli, was given a reduced suspension for striking another player in the Australian Football League on the grounds that he was a good bloke.[38] Eventually, this penalty was overturned on appeal. The so-called "good bloke defence" was criticised by many, including AFL official Nathan Burke, who argued that: "If you start bringing in 'this bloke's a good bloke, this bloke's not a good bloke', who are we to actually judge who is a good bloke and who isn't in the first place?"[39]As of November 2022[update], the "good bloke defence" is not part of any Australian laws, nor has there been any proposal to enshrine the principle in the constitution (in contrast to the closely-connected Australian concept of mateship, which has been the subject of such a proposal).[citation needed]
The concept of the good bloke has been leveraged by mental health advocates in initiatives such as "The Good Bloke's Guide".[40] An Australian charity, the Top Blokes Foundation was established to support young men's mental health. The use of the term "top blokes" is a reference to males who are admired by their peers.
In 2017, popular Australian comedians Hamish Blake and Andy Lee controversially named one James Lord, an electrician, Australia's "best bloke", based on his performance during a prank whereby he agreed over the telephone to provide a job reference to a person he had never met (actually the comedians), and then, when telephoned by the employer (actually the comedians again) proceeded to lie convincingly and enthusiastically on behalf of the person he had never met. Lord's position as "best bloke" was cemented when the comedians set up a further test, whereby Lord was unwittingly placed in a position where he, Blake and Lee were to drink a beer each, but were provided with only two beers for the purpose, and Lord offered to forgo a beer so that Blake and Lee could partake of the two beers.[41] The position of "best bloke" is not to be confused with the position of "first bloke", a position held by Tim Mathieson, spouse of the 27th Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, the first woman to hold the position.[30]
The "good Aussie bloke" is generally regarded as being synonymous with the "good bloke".[42]
Bugger or buggar can at times be considered as a mild swear word. In the United Kingdom the term has been used commonly to imply dissatisfaction, refer to someone or something whose behaviour is in some way inconvenient or perhaps as an expression of surprise. In the United States, particularly in the Midwest and South, it is an inoffensive slang term meaning "small animal".
Kallista is a locality within Greater Melbourne beyond the Melbourne metropolitan area Urban Growth Boundary, 36 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district, located within the Shire of Yarra Ranges local government area. Kallista recorded a population of 1,418 at the 2021 census.
Digger is a military slang term for primarily infantry soldiers from Australia and New Zealand. Evidence of its use has been found in those countries as early as the 1850s, but its current usage in a military context did not become prominent until World War I, when Australian and New Zealand troops began using it on the Western Front around 1916–17. Evolving out of its usage during the war, the term has been linked to the concept of the Anzac legend, but within a wider social context, it is linked to the concept of "egalitarian mateship".
"Chav", also "charver", "scally" and "roadman" in parts of England, is a British term, usually used in a pejorative way. The term is used to describe an anti-social lower-class youth dressed in sportswear. The use of the word has been described as a form of "social racism". "Chavette" is a related term referring to female chavs, and the adjectives "chavvy", "chavvish", and "chavtastic" are used to describe things associated with chavs, such as fashion, slang, etc. In other countries like Ireland, "skanger" is used in a similar manner. In Ontario, the term is "hoodman", an equivalent of the term "roadman" used in England. In Newfoundland, "skeet" is used in a similar way, while in Australia, "eshay" or "adlay" is used.
Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies; as such, its recognised literary tradition begins with and is linked to the broader tradition of English literature. However, the narrative art of Australian writers has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent into literature—exploring such themes as Aboriginality, mateship, egalitarianism, democracy, national identity, migration, Australia's unique location and geography, the complexities of urban living, and "the beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning "a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good-hearted person", or "a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions".
Mateship is an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship. Russel Ward, in The Australian Legend (1958), once saw the concept as central to the Australian people. Mateship derives from mate, meaning friend, commonly used in Australia as an amicable form of address.
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis, better known as C. J. Dennis, was an Australian poet and journalist known for his best-selling verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke (1915). Alongside his contemporaries and occasional collaborators Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson, Dennis helped popularise Australian slang in literature, earning him the title "the laureate of the larrikin".
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1918 Australian silent film based on the 1915 verse novel The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C. J. Dennis. Produced and directed by Raymond Longford, the film stars Arthur Tauchert, Gilbert Emery, and Lottie Lyell, who also co-wrote the film with Longford.
The term "ocker" is used both as a noun and adjective for an Australian who speaks in Strine, a broad Australian accent, and acts in a rough and uncultivated manner. Richard Neville defined the ocker positively as being "about conviviality: comradeship with a touch of good-hearted sexism". However, the term is mostly understood to be pejorative compared to other terms, including larrikin, mate, cobber and bloke. In the 1980s, Carol Thatcher was said to have been met with a hostile reception when she attempted to write a book comparing "ockers" with "poms". John Richard wrote that the "awful ocker" juxtaposed with the "loveable larrikin".
The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis. Portions of the work appeared in The Bulletin between 1909 and 1915, the year the verse novel was completed and published by Angus & Robertson. Written in the rough and comical Australian slang that was Dennis' signature style, the work became immensely popular in Australia, selling over 60,000 copies in nine editions within the first year of publication.
Albert Arlen AM was a Turkish Australian pianist, composer, actor and playwright. He is best known for his musical The Sentimental Bloke, the "Alamein Concerto", and his setting of Banjo Paterson's Clancy of the Overflow.
Wog is a racial slur used to refer, in British English, to black and South Asian people, and, in Australian English, to people from the Mediterranean region. Whilst it is extremely derogatory in British English, in Australian English it may be considered non-offensive depending on how the word is used, due to reclamation and changing connotations.
Australian comedy refers to the comedy and humour performed in or about Australia or by the people of Australia. Australian humour can be traced to various origins, and today is manifested in a diversity of cultural practices and pursuits. Writers like Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson helped to establish a tradition of laconic, ironic and irreverent wit in Australian literature, while Australian politicians and cultural stereotypes have each proved rich sources of comedy for artists from poet C. J. Dennis to satirist Barry Humphries to iconic film maker Paul Hogan, each of whom have given wide circulation to Australian slang.
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1932 Australian film directed by F. W. Thring and starring Cecil Scott and Ray Fisher. It is an adaptation of the 1915 novel Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C. J. Dennis, which had previously been filmed in 1919.
Ginger Mick is a 1920 Australian silent film directed by Raymond Longford based on The Moods of Ginger Mick by C. J. Dennis, which had sold over 70,000 copies. It is a sequel to The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and is considered a lost film.
The Climate of Courage is a 1954 novel by Australian writer Jon Cleary. It was his fifth published novel. It is set during World War II and involves a group of Australian soldiers who have returned from service in the Middle East.
The Sentimental Bloke is a 1961 Australian musical by Albert Arlen, Nancy Brown and Lloyd Thomson based on Songs of a Sentimental Bloke by C.J. Dennis. Set in Melbourne, it is one of the most successful Australian musicals of the 20th century.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1922.
The Moods of Ginger Mick is a verse novel by Australian poet and journalist C. J. Dennis, published by Angus and Robertson, in 1916. The collection includes fifteen illustrated plates by Hal Gye.
1 2 "bloke, n."Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved 23 May 2012.(available online to subscribers)
↑ The Times, 28 March 1839, p.6:"As we were going along, Allen said "There is a bloke running from that tree to the sheep-pens". The translation of the slang term "bloke" is "a man." (A laugh)."
↑ Boyd, David (Summer 1998). "The Public and Private Lives of a Sentimental Bloke". Cinema Journal. 37 (4). University of Texas Press on behalf of the Society for Cinema & Media Studies: 3–18. doi:10.2307/1225724. JSTOR1225724.
↑ Edgar, Suzanne. "Albert Augustine Edwards (1888–1963)". Edwards, Albert Augustine (1888–1963). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 1 September 2012.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
↑ Ritchie, John. "William George Plunkett (1910–1975)". Plunkett, William George (1910–1975). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 1 September 2012.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
↑ Walsh, G. P. "John Simpson Kirkpatrick (1892–1915)". Kirkpatrick, John Simpson (1892–1915). National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. Retrieved 1 September 2012.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
↑ Walsh, Richard (Winter 1985). "Australia Observed". Daedalus. 114 (1). MIT Press on behalf of American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 421–438. JSTOR20024969.
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