A wigwam for a goose's bridle

A wigwam for a goose's bridle is a phrase, once popular in Australia, meaning "none of your business". A common usage is in response to an inquiry such as Q. "What are you making?", A. "A wigwam for a goose's bridle".^[1] The rejoinder was a code for "Mind your own business" and children acquired this pragmatic knowledge after repeated discourse with their parents ended with this response.^[2] It was a common family saying.^[3]

The phrase was also in use in New Zealand^[4] and more generally by English speakers, for example in an 1836 magazine article referring to Calcutta and an exchange with a sailor.^[5]

Originally, the phrase was "a whim-wham for a goose’s bridle", with "whim-wham" a word meaning "a fanciful or fantastic object". The phrase was deliberately absurd as a goose would never wear a bridle. Folk etymology converted the word "whim-wham"—a word that was no longer much used—to "wigwam", an Ojibwa word for a domed single-room dwelling used by Native Americans. This change retained the phrase's absurd meaning and sense.^[6]

The phrase is believed to be less popular than it once was.^[7]

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