A properly built boomerang is made so that, as it’s spinning, the leading edge of each wing cuts through the air first. Because of this, there really is such a thing as a left-handed or right-handed boomerang—and, if you don’t throw it correctly, with the leading edge cutting through the air first as it spins, a boomerang won’t work.

A two-winged boomerang (it’s possible to make boomerangs with 3, 4 or 5 wings—even more, but I’m sticking with the traditional 2-winged version for this book) has a “control” wing and a “dingle” wing. This is another thing that’s great about Australians—they not only have a lot of weird animals, they have a lot of weird words!