'Kwaussie': Dual citizen saga behind Australia's word of 2017

 

The term "kwaussie" - a hybrid of Kiwi and Aussie - has been named Australia's word of the year.

 

The portmanteau came to prominence in 2017 through the nation's dual citizenship political saga, said the Australian National Dictionary Centre.

 

It describes a person who is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand - as was the case with Australia's deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce.

 

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42217518

 

-- © Copyright BBC 2017-12-04

Why does this sound like pussie? I'm genuinely puzzled. Is it some kind of slight? On which side? I might think a lot of things about the Maori but pussies isn't one of them.

Surveys have shown that hardly anybody has ever heard this term before today. It seems that just anyone can invent a name and claim it as a new word.

5 hours ago, nausea said:

Why does this sound like pussie? I'm genuinely puzzled. Is it some kind of slight? On which side? I might think a lot of things about the Maori but pussies isn't one of them.

i imagine it's meant to sound like"quasi"

 

a quasi-aussie is seemingly or partly aussie, when the other part is kiwi, kwaussie

Edited December 4, 20178 yr by revolver

Thought they would be better off calling them 'Claytons Aussies;' the Aussie you have, when you don't have an Aussie!

20 minutes ago, car720 said:

No, it's just that the Australian public service is lacking the educational skills to spell............quasi.

Based upon their airline, they'd spell it Qasi