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bindy


a shortening of the word bindi-eye. Compare joey, jo-jo, prickle. Also, bindi.
Contributor's comments: [Geraldton, WA informant] [A bindy is a] prickle or doublegee: "Watch out - the grass is full of bindies".

Contributor's comments: Bindieye rather than Bindi was the word used in the Pilbara area of W.A. as children. Not heard much now.

Contributor's comments: This is used in Melbourne.

Contributor's comments: In Sydney we used the shortened form 'bindi' (as well as the full 'bindi-eye'). It is a very common lawn weed, but only the little sort, not the great big sharp ones. During a long summer your perpetually bare feet would toughen up enough to be able to walk on bindi-infected grass with immunity - those were the days!

Contributor's comments: Originally bindy-eyes (Although I have always assumed a different spelling - bindii, as if it were Latin) when I was growing up in SEQ, then shortened to bindies.

Contributor's comments: Bindis were referred to many years ago in a deadpan sketch by Norman Gunston discussing the quality of the grass in Sydney with Joe Cocker.

Contributor's comments: Bindy, and/or "Bindy-eye," was the name used by Eastern Suburbs of Sydney kids for Bindii (Soliva pterosperma) over fifty years ago. The three-cornered prickles were a real nuisance to bare-footed kids in Summer.

Contributor's comments: [Kalgoorlie informant] prickle: "The bindi punctured my tyre."

Contributor's comments: The word was also in use in Melbourne. I first heard the word on the George Smilovic (sp?) comedy single "I'm Tough" in 1984 but the brother of a friend of mine knew what it meant.

Contributor's comments: Bindis are called biddi-bids in NZ.

Contributor's comments: Bindi - known as a double gee in Perth circa 1970-90.

Contributor's comments: I have come across the word Bindi being used extensively both in and around Moree and also in the Canberra region.

Contributor's comments: As a child In the late 60's, I spent time in both Melbourne and Sydney. I picked up the use of bindi in Sydney, being a prickle in the grass (usually after it was found in my foot) but my friends in Melbourne had no idea what I was talking about.

Contributor's comments: Bindi or bindi-eye was a common term in the sixties in Sydney for a grass burr, the round, flatish kind, not the bike-tire puncturing three-cornered jacks. Actually bindis are a spriral and we used to uncurl green ones to eat the little sweet seed in the centre.

Contributor's comments: [New England informant] Bindy-eye was fairly common in the '70's, but has virtually died out. The sharp burrs were called 'cat heads'.

Contributor's comments: I grew up in the New England region of NSW and we called prickles "Bindy -eyes".