Daryl Maguire (Image: AAP/Erik Anderson)

What with one thing and another, Crikey has decided it’s necessary to put together a Spiv-tionary for terms that you only hear in conjunction with high-level dodginess. Starting with:

A “tickle from up top”: A new (and slightly gross) phrase from Daryl Maguire, it means to secure help for a deal from a more powerful source that yourself.

ICAC-able: Activity or material able to be captured and investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

For example: “Former NSW MP Daryl Maguire has conceded that his desperate campaign to secure a ‘tickle from up top’ by sharing Gladys Berejiklian’s email address with a “pissed off” Louise Waterhouse was an ‘ICAC-able’ offence.

Please, dear readers, send us some suggestions for other words and phrases you only hear in shonky circumstances.