Talk with your young child about the role of the president: to lead our country and help make decisions. The Funny Dictionary is available for pre-order from the National Library and these other popular bookstores.Young children might not have the cognitive ability to understand our complex political system, but they’re very aware of issues of justice and fairness. Funny and challenging, the book will be available in bookstores from 1 October 2018. The Funny Dictionary: An A-Z of Kids’ Funny Definitions includes around 40 black and white photographs from the National Library’s pictorial collections. Maybe the child was thinking of the great Magda Szubanski? My expectations were a little deflated when I read the school child’s definition of Magna Carta as “She was a very good woman to the poor”. Its core message is that no-one is above the law. The Magna Carta, meaning ‘The Great Charter’, is a document that has influenced legal systems around the world. In 2015, we celebrated 800 years of the Magna Carta. When asked what a Soviet was, the child responded: “a Soviet is another name for napkin”. Russia, of course, was a part of the Soviet Union. Table manners are important, no matter what side of politics you are on. Certainly, in recent times, party rooms have led to a number of near-death experiences and outright fatalities. But this kid missed the mark entirely (well, almost entirely), confusing caucus with carcass: “A caucus is a dead animal”. It’s the equivalent of the Liberal Party’s Party Room. In the Australian context, a caucus is usually associated with the Australian Labor Party (ALP), comprising all the elected members of the ALP, which meet to discuss policy, the election of leaders and Ministers when in government, disciplinary measures, and strategy. Doesn’t seem like a stable situation to me. This kid took the concept to a different place entirely, when he defined balance of power as “making a battery stand up straight in your hand”. When a small group in Parliament has the deciding vote, they are said to hold the balance of power.
Much more common is this version of pacifist: pacifist, the child wrote, “is a person who has been over the Pacific Ocean”. I don’t know many modern-day pacifists - pacifist meaning someone who believes that war and violence are unjustifiable. This is a collection of the splatter-marks they left.”įor RiotACT readers, here are the 10 funniest definitions on politics from The Funny Dictionary.Ī global definition of peace, if I’ve ever heard one. When Julian Burnside QC read an early version of The Funny Dictionary, he explained: “ The Funny Dictionary is a delightful collection of harmless blunders in language, all committed by people who, leaning out as far as they can over the edge of an exam question, fall heavily to the ground.
Politics definition for kids free#
Book your free tickets from the National Library. The event is free and includes refreshments.
The RiotACT’s Tim Benson will provide the music with his M3 jazz trio. The book will be launched at the National Library on 16 October 2018 by Emeritus Professor Michael Coper AO, with Mark Parton MLA taking the role of Master of Ceremonies. These funny definitions come from my new book, The Funny Dictionary: An A-Z of Kids’ Funny Definitions, published by the National Library of Australia. Spare a thought for these kids who were asked to define various words and concepts concerning politics and government. Politics confuses many of us, even for politically astute Canberrans. Our future generation is redefining politics.ġ0 Funny Definitions from The Funny Dictionary