Where "A Wigwam for a Goose's Bridle" Comes From
This one started life in Britain as "a whim-wham for a goose's bridle" — "whim-wham" being an old English word for a trinket or frivolous little object, in use since at least the 17th century. It was used as a deliberately meaningless answer to nosy questions. When the saying reached Australia, "whim-wham" — a word that had mostly dropped out of everyday use — got swapped by folk etymology for the more familiar "wigwam," an Ojibwa word for a domed Native American dwelling. The phrase is first recorded in Australian print in 1917.
The phrase functions as a kind of conversational escape hatch: when a child demands to know what a parent is making, holding, or doing, "a wigwam for a goose's bridle" provides an answer that is technically a response but contains zero useful information. It's an absurdity chosen deliberately to signal that the question won't be answered — and that the asker might benefit from thinking about why that might be.
Source: wordhistories.net — "'a whim-wham for a goose's bridle': meaning and origin"
""What are you making, Dad?" "A wigwam for a goose's bridle.""
How Aussies Actually Use It
The phrase is almost always used by an adult fending off a curious child's repeated questions — "What are you doing?", "What's in the box?", "What are you making?" — with a cheerfully evasive, made-up answer instead of the real one.
It's meant to be funny and gentle rather than sharp, more "stop asking and let it be a surprise" than a genuine brush-off.
🎓 Want to sound like a true Aussie?
Watch Down Under English on YouTube for real Australian pronunciation, slang lessons, and culture — taught by an Australian educator.
Watch on YouTube →