new chum
Noun

new chum (plural new chums)

  1. (Australia, archaic) A newly arrived convict.
  2. (Australia) A beginner, a novice.
  3. (Australia, chiefly, dated, mildly, derogatory) A newly arrived and inexperienced immigrant; a newcomer.
    • 1906, Edward Dyson, In the Roaring Fifties, 2005, Gutenberg eBook #17045 ↗,
      New chum?’ queried the barman, after serving him.
      ‘I suppose I am,’ replied Jim. ‘Look here, would you mind telling me what in the devil′s name a new chum is?'
      ‘A new chum is a man fresh from home.’
      ‘From England?'
      ‘Scotland, Ireland, anywhere else, if he′s green and inexperienced. Miners from the Californian fields don′t rank as new chums.’
      'And how am I known as a new chum?’
      The barman grinned. ‘That′ll tell on you all over the place,’ he said, indicating the bag. ‘That′s a true new chum′s bundle. No Australian would expatriate himself by carrying his goods in that fashion. He makes them up in a roll, straps them, and carries them in a sling on his back. His bundle is then a swag. The swag is the Australian′s national badge.’
    • 1915, Norman Duncan, Australian Byways, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=6I8LAAAAIAAJ&q=%22new+chum%22|%22new+chums%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22new+chum%22|%22new+chums%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bg-_T9KPIO6aiQfu4sWeCg&redir_esc=y page 44],
      Once, said he, a new chum came to the jarrah bush. A new chum is a tenderfoot, specifically an English tenderfot; he is, of course, the butt of every bush and mining camp in Australia.
    • 1990, John Lane, Fairbridge Kid, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=pcRHAAAAYAAJ&q=%22new+chum%22|%22new+chums%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&dq=%22new+chum%22|%22new+chums%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bg-_T9KPIO6aiQfu4sWeCg&redir_esc=y page 114],
      Being a new chum at Fairbridge meant that I had to go through a lengthy period of initiation all over again.
    • 2004, Humphrey McQueen, A New Britannia, University of Queensland Press, Fourth edition, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=eJy4y4X92kYC&pg=PA11&dq=%22new+chum%22|%22new+chums%22+-intitle:%22%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bg-_T9KPIO6aiQfu4sWeCg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22new%20chum%22|%22new%20chums%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false page 11],
      This acceptance applies to ‘new chums’ in Australia as well as the folks at Home. Much of the evidence that Australians disliked ‘new chums’ comes from Alexander Harris who, as a ‘new chum’ himself, was quite well treated by the ‘old hands’. The emphasis of colonial disdain was on the ‘new’ rather than the ‘chum’.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (inexperienced new arrival) currency lad, old hand



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