The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers
rubbishing
verb: someone does something (see more)
Many people in Australia know that sometimes it can be like this:
Sometimes someone (e.g. Dan) says some bad things about another person (e.g. Liam) to this other person, when Dan doesn’t think these bad things about Liam.
Dan doesn’t do it because he wants Liam to feel something bad.
When someone does this, they say something like this at the same time, not with words “I know that I can say things like this to you because you are someone like me. I feel something good towards you now.”
People can feel something good when they hear things like this, like they want to laugh.
Note
Other similar phrases for this type of interaction are 'giving your friends a hard time' 'putting shit on people' and 'chiacking'. Rubbishing can be harsh even though it is meant in good spirits."One day I got rubbished for not catching many fish. So I got up next morning at 4am to fish for bream and I got five big ones. I never was rubbished again."
"The problem for Abbott is that he's gone past the tipping point. If you have 8 people in the proverbial pub, one will be a supporter one will be unsure while the other 6 are rubbishing him uproariously. This is not sustainable for any captain."
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