Kangaroo petrol takes the cake
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (381837)
Rockingham, Australia
January 8, 2022 11:03pm CST
I wrote recently about Omicron going through our eastern states like ‘a dose of salts’. Many of you had not heard of the term before. Dianne (@DianneN) mentioned that some sayings are specific to some countries. So I asked if she’d heard of ‘kangaroo petrol’.
By the time I’d finished commenting on responses, I’d also used ‘feel the pinch’ and ‘takes the cake’. What a lot of idioms we use in our day-to-day interactions. Or is it just me?
And what a good excuse to put up a photo of a kangaroo.
25 people like this
23 responses
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jan 22
@JimBo452020 They use a toe on their hind leg as a scratcher.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (169439)
• United States
10 Jan 22
My question as well. By your answer I can totally relate. I have experienced it.
1 person likes this
@ptrikha_2 (49753)
• India
10 Jan 22
I think you used this term before. Or was it a different term.
And at 1st, I thought that you had a Kangaroo at your window!!
A number of idioms indeed!!
A number of idioms indeed!!3 people like this
@ptrikha_2 (49753)
• India
11 Jan 22
@JudyEv
Yes I remember those discussions.
May be you can persuade the people living now in your old place to join Mylot and post similar discussions on Kangaroos!!
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
9 Jan 22
Haha I heard 90 percent but dose of salts did not here that before what a shot of the roo. I never got the hate for them. When I visted your country could feel a kind of hate towards them are they annoying or something. I found them to be comedians but at same time do not play.
4 people like this
@crossbones27 (52905)
• Mojave, California
9 Jan 22
@JudyEv Cool and they animals all wild animals do damage because really their territory but we all have to learn to live with one an another if we going to survive so good to see people get that part.
3 people like this
@cherigucchi (15934)
• Philippines
9 Jan 22
@JudyEv I know a lot of idioms but we don't use them regularly
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jan 22
@cherigucchi When I start thinking about it, we use a great many.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
9 Jan 22
Here is what I put on another comment. Saves me writing it out twice: When a person first learns to drive a geared car they sometimes have trouble releasing the clutch gently and the car jerks along for a little while. Then we say they have 'kangaroo petrol'.
3 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
9 Jan 22
I was afraid you were gonna tell us they're making petrol from kangaroos.
3 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (51811)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
9 Jan 22
@JudyEv I should hope not.
2 people like this
@snowy22315 (208776)
• United States
10 Jan 22
We use take the cake feel the pinch might be in a pinch here or feel the burn what is the expression kangaroo petrol supposed to mean..like it's no good!
3 people like this
@allknowing (153544)
• India
9 Jan 22
Never heard of kangaroo petrol but 'feel the pinch' and 'takes the cake' are in my vocabulary
3 people like this
@allknowing (153544)
• India
10 Jan 22
@JudyEv Does not make sense to me What has the kangaroo and petrol got to do with this activity?
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jan 22
@allknowing What activity? I put up three idioms: take the cake, feel the pinch and kangaroo petrol. I wondered if people knew about them. That's about it, really. 
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jan 22
Kangaroo petrol is when you let the clutch out too quickly on a manual car and it 'hops' down the road. To 'take the cake' means to be the best or worst of something as in 'Doesn't that just take the cake'.
@wolfgirl569 (135601)
• Marion, Ohio
9 Jan 22
I read the answer to my question in the comments
Love the picture
3 people like this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
9 Jan 22
love the picture -
so the project team I was on in Malaysia was led by Aussies. heard the term used often! but they used it two ways, one was applied to really strong coffee (that'll make you hop)!
3 people like this
@DocAndersen (54399)
• United States
9 Jan 22
@JudyEv i think it was a regional Aussie thing that they used in Sydney a lot.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (169439)
• United States
10 Jan 22
I did not see that discussion but I assume that it is a reference to a dosage of Magnesium salts to cure constipation.
3 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
10 Jan 22
You're right. Epsom salts was also used in this way - or perhaps they're the same thing.
@bunnybon7 (50970)
• Holiday, Florida
9 Jan 22
I love them. They are such a cute animal. Of course all animals are cute. Cause God made them. 
3 people like this
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
9 Jan 22
How did I miss kangaroo petrol? I looked up the meaning online. I use idioms all the time. One I use that I hate is "Thanks for giving me a heads-up". :-(
2 people like this
@JudyEv (381837)
• Rockingham, Australia
11 Jan 22
@LindaOHio It's not used here much at all so I'm not sure how others see it.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (222285)
• United States
10 Jan 22
@JudyEv Ahh, so it means bad luck in Australia?
1 person likes this
