It's not beer o'clock yet, cyberbludger

Good old Aussie linguistic culture is alive and kicking, thanks to terms like dunny budgie, pash rash, cyberbludger and beer o'clock.

For the uninitiated a dunny budgie is a blowfly, a pash rash is the result of excessive kissing, a cyberbludger plays internet games on the boss's time, and beer o'clock is any time you feel like a drink.

All have become official entries in the latest version of the Macquarie dictionary.

"There is a well-spring of humorous Australian colloquialisms that shows we're not being swamped by US English," said the dictionary's publisher Sue Butler.

"We are exposed to a lot of American culture, but we only take from it what we want, and we are still doing our own thing."

The dictionary's growth mirrors the fast pace of life in the third millennium.

It has increased by more than 5,000 words since its last revision five years ago, meaning it adds three new words every day.

"We were a backwater of the English language a century ago, when news would float through to us eventually," said Ms Butler.

"Communications are so much faster now, and so much more specialist jargon gets translated into general-speak."

Prime Minister John Howard's decade in power is reflected in a number of new entries - Tampa Crisis, Pacific Solution, Coalition of the Willing and the term he coined when discussing the issue of balancing work and leisure, the "barbecue stopper".

"Dog whistling" is the newly acknowledged political term for making a public statement designed to appeal to a particular group of voters while drawing no response from the rest.

A "cappuccino course" describes academic study considered to be lightweight in content, such as a surfing degree.

To "google" is to search for information on the internet.

A "greenchip" company or investment is environmentally sound as well as financially solid.

"Hose rage" is a byproduct of water rationing, describing the anger felt while watching someone else's illicit use of water.

A "jolly bean" is an amphetamine pill, and a "McMansion" is a grand home considered to lack individual character or charm.

Computer technology is behind many of the new words, including the humorous "wetware", which distinguishes the fluid-bathed human brain from computer software and hardware.

It has also spawned the term familiar to users of chat rooms, email and SMS - the language-within-a-language known as "weblish".