Today’s word is shonky for no other reason than I like it. To me, it’s one of those words that expresses its meaning very well. Shonky is an informal Australian/ New Zealand word referring to a person or action that is dishonest, unreliable or illegal. Shonky goings on, for example. The word shonk describes someone who is engaged in dodgy business dealings and its origin is thought to be from English dialect, shonk, ‘smart’ appearing in the 1970s.

I expect we all know someone, or something, shonky.