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minda


1.  [derogatory] someone who is a bit of an idiot (from the name of an institute in Adelaide for people with intellectual disabilities): You should have seen him - he was acting like such a minda. Compare crowl, Moonya.
2.  a type of unfashionable sandal.

Contributor's comments: Minda refers to Minda Incorporated, service provider for the intellectually disabled.

Contributor's comments: Minda was commonly used in Whyalla SA when I lived there from 1963 - 96.

Contributor's comments: [Adelaide informant] Definitely used a lot when I was in school as a put-down term.

Contributor's comments: Besides being a derogatory term for anyone acting strangely, mindas were what we called a certain type of girl's school sandals in Adelaide in the 80s. I believe they were called fat-cats or T-bars in other states. "Oh Muuuum, do I have to wear the mindas? Can't I have lace-ups like the cool girls?"

Contributor's comments: Someone of spastic of mental retardation. From the home in Glenelg, originally named for the Mentally Intellectually Neurologically Disabled Association. Within the school yard, the disparaging use of the term was 'Don't act like (or be) such a minda!'

Contributor's comments: loser, dickhead, ditz, idiot: "She is such a minda." Or "God I'm such a minda" after you have done or said something stupid.

Contributor's comments: I always hated this term - it was used as an insult in 1970s Adelaide. The word came from an Adelaide residential institution for children with physical and mental disabilities. The insult was commonly used in the schoolyard - "you're a minda" etc.

Contributor's comments: It was very commonly used in my high school in Adelaide late 80's/early 90's. The fatcat shoes that someone was talking about were called "minda shoes" or "minda boots". I actually called a teacher at my school a minda, and amazingly got away with it apart from a warning from her!