Phraseology and Culture in English

3. A (very) polysemous derivation: The word 
weekender
According to Ramson (1988), the word weekender has only one meaning, 
viz. ‘holiday house’; the compiler of the Australian National Dictionary adds 
that the word is in use elsewhere, but that it made its appearance in Austra-
lia before migrating to other shores. Let’s quote a single example, taken 
from Terrill (2000: 309): “The land took hold of the consciousness of a 
rising middle class in the 1970s and 1980s. Rural retreats and weekenders 
became popular. Young professionals moved to small towns.” 
In reality, the word is quite polysemous. In Australian English, it has 
been used, and continues to be used, to refer: 
ʊ
to weekly publications released on the weekend (e.g. Western Week-
ender, in New South Wales; Adelaide Hills Weekender, in South Aus-
tralia; Albany Weekender, in Western Australia; Gold Coast Weekender,
in Queensland, etc.); 
ʊ
to Saturday newspaper supplements (The Age, The Illawarra Mercury,
The Townsville Bulletin, etc.);
ʊ
to the title of a weekly overview of weekend activities printed in the 
Good Weekend supplement to the Sydney Morning Herald;
ʊ
to television broadcasts (e.g. Sydney Weekender, on Channel Seven);

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Bert Peeters
ʊ
to weekend holiday packages or weekend-long sporting events (in chess, 
golf, etc.), practice sessions, professional or religious training sessions, 
reeducation schemes, music events, etc.; 
ʊ
to caravans, tents, sleeping bags and luggage items;
ʊ
to clothing and accessories (e.g. jeans, shoes);
ʊ
to boxes of assorted chocolates;
ʊ
to petty offenders jailed for the weekend.
The list is not exhaustive. One might add that the musical act Youth Group 
has a song called “Weekender”, released in 2000, and that there is a club in 
Melbourne going by the same name. It is somehow hard to imagine that a 
derivation in -er which, unlike its base, is so highly polysemous can be 
related to a word which is not a key word in Australian English.