Where "Technicolour Yawn" Comes From
“Technicolour yawn” is a joking Australian way of saying vomit, or the act of vomiting. Green’s Dictionary of Slang marks it “orig. Aus.” and gives no etymology. The joke is in the picture: a “yawn” that comes out in colour.
The earliest dated use in Green’s is 1963–74, in Barry Humphries’ Barry McKenzie comic strip, which uses it for being sick over the side of a ship. A 1967 Australian book on lover stories calls a bout of vomiting “the greatest technicolour yodel in history”, a variant of the same joke. Humphries used it again in his 1985 book Traveller’s Tool, and it was later recorded in British, Scottish and Canadian print as well. In 2016 an Australian book of “vital Aussie vernacular” was still listing it.
Source:
“He had a technicolour yawn in the car park after the buck’s night.”
How Aussies Actually Use It
It is a cheerful, slightly cheeky phrase, more at home in a story about a big night out than in polite company. You will also see it spelled “technicolor yawn”. For other Aussie words for the same thing, try “chunder” or “perk”.
Say It Like an Aussie
Say it: TEK-ni-KUL-er YAWN.
In conversation:
- He had a technicolour yawn in the car park.
- A technicolour yawn ended the night.
- Poor Dave had a technicolour yawn.
Good to know: It’s a funny, indirect way of saying someone was sick. It’s cheeky, so it suits a laugh with mates.
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