Parliamentary debates can be heated — but there are rules about what members can and can’t say. ‘Unbecoming’ language, insults, and accusations of dishonesty are banned. See how ideas about ‘unparliamentary language’ have changed over time.
This selection of ‘unparliamentary language’ is from the indexes of the New Zealand Parliamentary Debates. There, such words are listed under ‘Speaker, unparliamentary language’.
1933
Blow-fly minded
Financial Frankenstein
Shrewd old bird
1936
Fungus farmer
Pipsqueak
Stonewalling
1943
Members hated the sight of khaki
Retardate worm
1946
Clown of the House
Idle vapourings of a mind diseased
I would cut the honourable gentleman's throat if I had the chance
Quasi-parsonical
Skite
1949
His brains could revolve inside a peanut shell for a thousand years without touching the sides
Hoey
Humbugs
Hypnotised rabbits
1957
Kind of animal that gnaws holes
Trained seals
1959
Kookaburra
Member not fit to lick the shoes of the Prime Minister
1963
Energy of a tired snail returning home from a funeral
Member a vicious woman
Sits on his behind
1966
Labour Party is dominated by an outside body
Shut up yourself, you great ape
Snotty nosed little boy
You are a cheap little twerp
Ridiculous mouse
1969
Commo (allowed)
Duck shoving
Like a snail leaves a slime behind him
1974
Scuttles for his political funk hole (allowed)
Soft-soaping (allowed)
Could go down the Mount Eden sewer and come up cleaner than he went in
Dreamed the bill up in the bath
Greasy hands
Grubby little man
Intestinal fortitude
Low style
Mealy mouthed
Slinking off to another part of the House
Frustrated warlord
1977
John Boy
Silly old moo
Racist
Sober up
1980
Ayatollah
Ditch the bitch
Fascist dictator
Heil Zeig
Marxist or neo-Marxist
Member for Pretoria
Merv the Swerve
Papanui Parrot
Quigley Wiggly
The Arapawa Goat
