Meaning

Technicolor yawn

The meaning of the phrase

Vomiting.

Not for all the tea in China
Not for all the tea in China

What’s the origin of the phrase ‘Technicolor yawn - A’?

This is one of the many colourful Australian phrases for vomiting. It was coined by, or at least popularised by, Barry Humphries and appeared in his 1965 review A Nice Night’s Entertainment:

When I swallowed the last prawn,
I had a technicolor yawn and I chundered in the old Pacific Sea.

See also Point Percy at the Porcelain.

Historical trend

“Technicolor yawn” in printed material over time

Source: Google Books Ngrams (1980–2020).

198020002020
  • Technicolor yawn