Bungees II

Lol! Wow, never heard of bungees. I looked up the etymology and there are slightly different nuances among the recognized dictionaries. tinyurl.com/yapwwesm

OnlineEtymology (US): "British schoolboy slang for "rubber eraser;" this probably is more or less onomatopoeic, from notions of bouncy + spongy. First record of bungee jumping is from 1979."

The Macquarie Dictionary (AU): "mate, friend. Used in North Queensland (Mareeba). May have aboriginal origins: Hey, bungee. How are you going?"

Oxford: "1930s (denoting an elasticated cord for launching a glider): of unknown origin."

As in 'octopus straps'. Australian English is great at creating shortened forms ending in 'ies' or 'y'.

Ahhh...makes sense now. I take it that's what you call these instead of bungees, or maybe in addition to bungees.

Yes, it is, I've noticed! In my head I was pronouncing it "ossies."

Slimey yikes