"Can't talk - flat out like a lizard drinking."
Where "Flat Out Like a Lizard Drinking" Comes From
The whole joke is a double meaning: "flat out" means working at full pace, and a lizard's low, splayed body posture as it laps water looks exactly like that word — flat. The image is funnier than it is accurate, since lizards actually drink pretty calmly.
It's a classic piece of mid-20th-century rural Australian vernacular, built on the same absurd-visual-pun tradition as a lot of bush slang.
How Aussies Actually Use It
Said whenever life gets hectic — flat out at work, flat out with the kids, flat out during harvest. It's a cheerful, self-deprecating way to explain why you haven't returned a call or finished a job yet.
Usually delivered with a laugh rather than genuine complaint, in keeping with the Aussie habit of not taking busyness (or yourself) too seriously.
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