Example sentences for: borak

How can you use “borak” in a sentence? Here are some example sentences to help you improve your vocabulary:

  • Borak was a negative in the Victorian language Wathawurung and was one of a comparatively small number of words which the Aboriginal languages collectively contributed to an on-the-whole short-lived Australian pidgin.

  • Yet another Aboriginal word, borak , was held by some to be the etymon of barrack , although the probability has to be that this is a British regional dialect word given a new lease of life in fresh circumstances.

  • Borak was borrowed in the late 1830s and, perhaps because the Dharuk negative baal was already in use, did not last long in its primary sense.

  • Oddly, borak was coupled with the verb poke in the phrase to poke borak at , meaning to deride, and this was close enough to the transitive use of the verb barrack ridicule, jeer at, verbally abuse to suggest that the two might be connected.

  • Australian pidgin acquired a second negative, borak , used as an alternative to baal or in a figurative sense for humbug, nonsense, or rubbish, from Wathawurung, whence came also an exclamation merrygig well done and coolie , a derogatory term for a person who partnered an Aboriginal woman.


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