Ever wondered what a ‘furphy’ was? I certainly did after moving to Australia. The answer’s in the Aussie Slang Dictionary. A furphy is a kind of rumour. The word is derived from the battle fields of World War I where rumours seemed to follow the water carts which were manufactured in Australia by the Furphy company.

I thought I’d check out the Furphy company in question and sure enough it looks as though they’re still in action. J. Furphy & Sons, an Australain Engineering Icon since 1866, is based in Shepparton, Victoria. They specialise in stainless steel containers. Their water tanks are used for fire fighting as well as in industry.