Talk:digger

RFV discussion

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification.

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

---

digger

[ digger Etymology for sense meaning Australian soldier. ]

Etymology is given as - Derived from Australian Colonial goldfields terminology. The term represents the mateship of common interests and activities where most of the population were gold miners, and almost everybody was a mate, a "digger", with a common cause against the troopers, the traps, the mining licence inspectors.

This does not show how the term came to be used as an informal term for an Australian soldier, nor does it match any other definition given. I also took out the "See also cobber" from this etymology, as cobber does not match any digger definition. The closest I can think of is that both are sometimes used as a term of endearment among friends, but this is a tenuous link and is not part of either the definitions or the etymology.--Dmol 00:41, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

See User_talk:Dmol#digger. Equinox ◑ 00:44, 21 March 2009 (UTC) (I have copied it below, may as well keep it on the same page)--Dmol 05:46, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

From Chambers 2005: "digg'er n a person or animal that digs; a miner, esp a gold-miner; an Australian or New Zealand soldier; an informal Australian term of address; a machine for digging." This suggests that the stuff you removed was correct. Equinox ◑ 00:40, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

But the term cobber does not mean any of the terms listed at digger and this is why i removed it. I have just added rfv-sense to the etymology, as nothing in it explains the origin of the term meaning an Aussie soldier. The quote you show means we are missing a definition (has now been added), which I alluded to in the listing of RFV, but does not explain the soldier meaning.--Dmol 05:46, 21 March 2009 (UTC)--Dmol 00:47, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

• I always assumed that "Digger/digger" came from Word War I due to the trench warfare which ensured years of trench digging for many young men of the period. I am also pretty sure "digger" applied equally to New Zealanders. It is certainly dated now and you're most likely to hear it in period drama cinema or on Anzac day to refer to old age war veterans.

• "Digger/digger" can equally be used as a term of address, but "cobber" I have only ever heard as a term of address or perhaps a synonym of "mate". As in "G'day cobber" for the former, and "He's out playing with his cobbers." for the latter. I can't help with the etymology of "cobber" but both "digger" and "cobber" are definitely synonyms for "mate" with their own nuances, and both dated. — hippietrail 08:21, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

I've added an extra sense, meaning an informal nickname for a friend. It matches the quote given above by Equinox, and i have marked it dated. BTW, the soldier sense is not dated, and is commonly used today. It is heard regularly on the news in Australia.--Dmol 07:32, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Striking. I have removed the etymology. —Ruakh_TALK 23:13, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Additional definition

I have heard from American Indians that the term "digger" is used as a racial slur against American Indians in some U.S. states. Can this be verified, and, if correct, added to the entry? 173.89.236.187 21:32, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

I believe you can find it in "Roughing it" by Mark Twain, and it was commonplace in the Great Basin and parts of California back in the 1800s. The implication was that the Indians were so primitive that they could only dig in the dirt for food like animals. Fortunately the term seems to have died out. When I have time, maybe I'll add it, if nobody else gets to it first. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:48, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Well, American Indians discussing the Washingtong, D.C. football team's mascot on Facebook in the past week have mentioned that, in their experience, when living in California (and, I think, also Texas), this term was used as a racial slur against them. 173.89.236.187 21:33, 4 June 2016 (UTC)

fingernails

We have Od’s niggers as a corruption of ‘God’s diggers’, is ‘diggers’ ever used on its own to refer to fingernails in any other contest? I’m surprised at the etymology for the Aussie meaning as I always assumed it was a jokey reference to how Aussies must’ve dug a long way to go from England to Australia but I’m sure it’s right. Rupert Murdoch is always called ‘The Digger’ in Private Eye (the satirical magazine). Overlordnat1 (talk) 08:59, 19 April 2023 (UTC)