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English
Etymology
see dinkum.
Pronunciation
Adjective
fair dinkum (not comparable)
- (Australia, slang) Genuine, honest, fair and square.
Are you fair dinkum?- Are you telling me the truth?; Do you really mean that?
2002, John Dutch, April and Anderson, page 63:I mean, if they were out at a concert or something, or if they were involved in some other out-of-school social activity and some fair dinkum Aussie bloke, with a fair dinkum Aussie accent, and a fair dinkum Aussie hat, preferably chewing on a fair dinkum gum leaf, and holding a koala bear in one hand and a kangaroo in the other stood up and delivered those Lawson poems in full bore Strine, the girls would probably have loved him.
- 2004, Susie Ashworth et al., Lonely Planet Australia,
- When people think of Australia they commonly think of the outback; or koalas, kangaroos and ‘fair dinkum’ frontier types.
2007, Barbara Hartmann King, Coloured Sands, page 55:‘You're not wrong there, Doc. Of course, you'd get more of a fair dinkum picture if you were able to interview members of the Wilson family but that would be darned near impossible.’
- 2008 Joe Hockey interviewed on 4 Corners, ,
- He appreciated the honesty, he appreciated the fact that I rang him and was prepared to be fair dinkum with him, and he heard what I said.
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Adverb
fair dinkum (not comparable)
- (Australia, slang) Truly, honestly.
1991, Jeffrey Archer, As the Crow Flies, Pan Macmillan, published 2004, unnumbered page:She checked what he had produced against the diagram in her book, smiled and said, “Fair dinkum, you really do teach maths,” which took Daniel a little by surprise as he wasn’t sure what “fair dinkum” meant, but as it was accompanied by a smile he assumed it was some form of approval.
1995, Edward Berridge, The Lives of the Saints, page 33:Fair dinkum, I'm being straight up with you now, I could have hit him.
2004, Sally Warhaft, Well May We Say: The Speeches That Made Australia, page 466:Kevin, fair dinkum mate, you've got to put your boot into the ball, you're too slow to do all this finessin'.
- 2011, Annabel Stafford, The Mob Can't Hurt You, University of Technology, Sydney, The Life You Chose and That Chose You: The 25th UTS Writers' Anthology, unnumbered page,
- Well, then I've started fucken crying cause I'm fair dinkum scared the prick's gonna kill me. Fair dinkum, it sounds like the whole fucken town's out.
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