Kwaussie: The word refers to a person who is a dual citizen of Australia and New Zealand, a New Zealander living in Australia, or a person of Australian and New Zealand descent. It was chosen as Word of the Year by the Australian National Dictionary Centre, because to the word has risen to newfound prominence during the dual citizenship crisis that has so far prevented six senators, one deputy prime minister, a senate president, and one MP from holding office.
But the citizenship mess was not the first time the word kwaussie had been used. One of its earliest citations labelled Russell Crowe a kwaussie, calling him “what you get when you cross a Kiwi who can’t decide whether they’re a Kiwi or an Aussie”.
Click through to the article at ABCNews to find out more about kwaussies and other Australian Words of 2017!