"A Dingo ate my baby" is a phrase attributed to Lindy Chamberlain and also to Meryl Streep's depiction of Chamberlain in the movie A Cry in the Dark - also known as Evil Angels (1988) - about the death of Azaria Chamberlain, an Australian baby girl who died in 1980 at Uluru in the Northern Territory. The Chamberlain family had been vacationing at Uluru when their daughter was taken from their tent by a dingo. The authorities disbelieved the family's story about a dingo and Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder and her husband of being an accessory after the fact.
The phrase "A Dingo ate my baby" was not actually used by Chamberlain, nor is it used in the film. Chamberlain called out to her husband, "a dingo took my baby.[1] In the film, Streep's character, upon discovering her daughter missing, cries out, "A dingo's got my baby."
In popular culture
- Dingoes Ate My Baby is the name of a fictional band in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- In The Simpsons episode "Bart vs Australia" (Season 6, Episode 16) Bart says to an Australian farmer "Hey! I think I hear a dingo eating your baby!".
- In "The Stranded" episode of Seinfeld (Season 3, Episode 10), Elaine does a mock Australian accent and exclaims "Maybe the dingo ate your baby?"
- In "Flour Child", an episode of Frasier (Season 2, Episode 4), Eddie is attacking a bag of flour that Niles is using to simulate an infant. Daphne puts on an Australian accent and exclaims "A dingo's got your baby!"
- In the "Mystery Spot" episode of Supernatural (Season 3, Episode 11), Dean refers to what Sam is saying as "Dingo-ate-my-baby crazy."
- In the "Good Queen Fun" episode of Project Runway (Season 5, Episode 6), guest judge RuPaul responded "Oh, did a dingo eat your baby, mate?" to contestant Keith Bryce after Bryce apparently took offense to critique from the rest of the judging panel.
- In the Mother Tucker episode of Family Guy (season 5, episode 2), Brian and Stewie host a radio show named "Dingo and the Baby".
- Modern Family's episode "Australia" references this joke when Claire's computer, previously being used for a project referenced as her "baby", is nabbed from a tent by a wild dog.
- In the Hot in Cleveland episode titled "That Changes Everything," when Joy's grandchild goes missing, Regis Philbin's character says "Maybe a Dingo ate it."
- In the Psych episode titled "The Old and Restless," Shawn tries to get into a retirement home by saying, "Dingo ate my baby."