Where "Miserable as a Bandicoot" Comes From
Bandicoots are small, long-nosed marsupials that were quickly linked with hardship in early colonial Australia — poor, starved land was said to be so bad "a bandicoot would starve on it." The simile "miserable as a bandicoot" grew out of that same association and was first recorded in the 1820s.
Over the following century the phrase kept turning up to describe both scrawny, undernourished livestock and thoroughly unhappy people, cementing the bandicoot's reputation in Australian English as a byword for looking, or feeling, thoroughly down and out.
"Ever since his footy team got knocked out, he's been miserable as a bandicoot."
How Aussies Actually Use It
It's a colourful, old-fashioned way to describe someone who's thoroughly down in the dumps — sulking, disappointed, or just having a rough trot.
You're most likely to hear it from older Australians, often paired with a specific reason for the misery, like a lost game or a bit of bad luck.
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