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bennie
a bevan: He's such a bennie.
Contributor's comments: I lived in Hobart for 15 years and have never heard of a 'Bennie'.
Contributor's comments: Lived almost 60 yrs in Tassie, have never heard the word bennie.
Contributor's comments: I have lived in Tasmania for well over 20 years, and never heard the term bennie.
Contributor's comments: bennie, or benny is a term that is commonly used in Tasmania (Hobart particularly) meaning intellectually disabled person. Originated from 80's tv show LA Law character called Benny who was i.d.
Contributor's comments: Lived all my life in areas all over Tassie. Never heard this word used in this context. Closest would be BeanHead for idiot, or, Beanie for a knitted close fitting hat.
Contributor's comments: I have lived in tasmania for 25 years and I found this term common among young people in the early 1990s.
Contributor's comments: I first came across the term in the UK whilst at school in the '70s. The usage derived from Bennie who was a character in a day-time soap called "Crossroads". Bennie was the village idiot. The use seemed to apply to anyone considered to be intellectually disabled. I later heard from a friend who served in the British Army in the Falkland Islands, shortly after the unpleasantness with Argentina that many of the troops considered the Islanders relatively unsophisticated and so christened them "Bennies." (As in "Two Bennies approaching your position now. Over.") Not surprisingly the locals became a little irate on discovering this, so an order went out forbidding the use of the word "Bennie" to describe the locals. Henceforth, the squaddies referred to them as "Not-Bennies". Getting back to the point however, I have lived in Tasmania for 14 years and recall hearing this word used in a similar context on a few ocassions, mainly in rural parts of the State. I wouldn't have thought it's derivation was the same as the British use as I don't think Tasmanians have ever been so unlucky as to be subjected to "Crossroads."