Agamedes notes the Rudd influence on a journalist's language: appealing to the masses through misuse of the Australian language.
"Smoko tradition runs out of puff" screams the headline (The West, 27 Feb 2010). "Perth health experts are sounding the death knell for that longstanding tradition among Australian workers -- the smoko", writes Cathy O'Leary, Medical Editor.
If you don't understand the word, perhaps you should avoid its use.
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The "smoko" may have begun as a break to allow smoking of a cigarette. As long as 40 years ago -- by my memory -- "smoko" meant the morning or afternoon break for tea. Yes, it's a chance for a smoke. The meaning of smoko, however, was -- and still is -- a break from work for tea and a snack.
O'Leary: please check Wikipedia. Or the Macquarie Dictionary, if you want to be more formal. "Smoko" is a break from work, a tea-break. In Australia at least, the association with actual smoking has long since disappeared.
A nice play on words. A clever attempt to use slang like a Rudd: and wrong.
Sorry, O'Leary, would you like to try that again? And check the correct meaning of each word? Meanwhile, stick to the medical reporting. And fire the sub-editor who was out at smoko when this article slipped through the checking.
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