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jo-jo



a. a low-growing plant (Soliva pterosperma) often found in lawns with small spiky burrs which stick painfully into bare feet but cannot penetrate footwear.
b. one of these burrs: I've got a jojo in my foot. Compare bindi-eye, bindy, joey, prickle.

Contributor's comments: In the 1940/50's in the Manning Valley, a joe-joe was a single-spiked seed that stuck in your foot, many and often. This occasioned one to sit down to pick them out as they broke off if rubbed against the other foot, therefore getting more in your bottom, and still more in the hand that steadied you as you held the aforementioned foot in the air to perform the extraction. Some regions (eg Sydney) call them bindies.

Contributor's comments: In Sydney, from the 50's I heard these called bindi eyes, and was surprised to hear them called jo jos in Wollongong (from the 70's).

Contributor's comments: Jo-jo acronym for Jump On Jump Off, cause the farmers friends are hitching a free ride.