Admit it, how many of you are bludging right now? Maybe you are reading the news or having a cheeky look at the weekend’s football scores when you should be sending that draft email sitting in your inbox.
To bludge is to waste time when you should be doing something. Americans refer to bludging as loafing. A classic piece of Australian slang, to bludge originally meant to live off the earnings of a prostitute. The term has since expanded to include a wider range of meanings.
To be on the bludge is to be actively engaged in bludging, which can mean to be idle or doing nothing. As in, we spent Saturday just bludging around the house. (Who doesn’t at this age?)
A bludge can also refer to any job or class that requires next to no work. As in, this assignment is a bludge. Similar to the original meaning, to bludge off someone is to impose on them or live off their hospitality.
Enough bludging, back to work!
Each week, we have a look at a slang word from Australian English. You can see other Aussie Word of the Week posts from the Macquarie Dictionary here.
