Having lived significant amounts of time in the States, England and now New Zealand, I have inherited a weird mix of colloquialisms and phrases. I am often unsure of where I even originally picked up certain words.
If I said to you: “Can you suss it out for me?” or “I need to get it sussed,” would the Americans among you understand this? You could probably figure it out from the context, but is “suss” a word you would use? I think I probably picked that one up in the UK, but I can’t really remember now.
“Go figure” is definitely American. It’s not a phrase I actually use a lot, but sometimes it fits the occasion just perfectly. “Here I am, 39 years old and I still have to worry about pimples. Go figure!”
Working in a largely Maori organisation, my sentences are often peppered with Maori words. “Can you just taihoa on that?” which means, “Can you wait a little while on that.”
Or “Ka pai” which means “Good.” or “That’s okay” or “Thanks for that” depending on the context.
Or “Hohah”. “I’m getting a little hohah with all the war coverage on television.” Fed up, tired of.
And then there are classic New Zealand words, like putting “eh” at the end of sentences to form a question. “You’re coming over next week, eh?” I think Canadians do this as well, don’t they?
I was just looking through a list of uniquely New Zealand words and phrases, and was shocked at how many I use. There are hundreds: yonks, hissy fit, hoon, bun-fight, brassed off, cardie, chilly bin. The list goes on and on.
With that motley accumulation of vocabulary, no wonder people have difficulty figuring out where I’m from.
I say hissy-fit, and I’ve never been to NZ (or have I? heh).
and suss is definitely not american. I have no idea what that means, even.
“suss” is heard in the US, but it’s regional. I don’t use it myself, but I’ve certainly heard it said.
except for the maori expressions, I don’t think you list many that are really unique to NZ — cardie for cardigan is used in Great Britain, Canada, and Australia too!
http://www.nz.com/NZ/Culture/NZDic.html
yes, i suspect there’s a lot more cross-fertilisation than we imagine, so “uniquely” perhaps was not the right word.
i certainly never used or heard any of those words when i lived in the UK, though!
Anita,
most of the language is specific to the Commonwealth. Some of those words have originated in New Zealand, chilly bin for example. Australia uses a different word for that related to a brand name, cooli/y I believe. But the point is that to those not from New Zealand or Australia a lot of our slang is incomprehensible.
A lot of the crossing over happened during the world wars, where troops were posted together etcetera. (It may sound out of date but as a result of overseas television a lot of our slang now comes from sources that understand its use; the really weird slang is old.) As a result the New Zealand vernacular has many words that come from Yiddish, German and other languages, these words have been adapted over time. Since the ANZAC (Australian New Zealand Army Corps) troops worked together, a lot of basic New Zealand slang is non-specifically Kiwi but also common to Australia; proximity and a certain love/hate relationship also explains this.
Although the dictionary that you cited is reasonable it doesn’t trace the history of the words. There are many better resources, none of them are online, unless you want to buy them which I suspect not.
However I think that although Deb’s choices may not be the most pertinent examples for your purposes, or the most extreme they are definitely valid. I get queried on a regular basis, by Britains, Canadians and Australians, not just those from America and/or other countries. So maybe everyone is not as familar, or finds it as easy to look up an online dictionary.
If you are interested the Dictionary of New Zealand English, published by Oxford University Press is a good resource, or Curious Kiwi Words by Max Cryer gives a slighty more interesting view.
Yet even more interestingly, I think that you illustrated Deb’s point: ‘no wonder people have difficulty figuring out where I’m from.’
Here though, for your interest are some that have originated in New Zealand:
Murder House: School Dental Clinic (or the training schools of the 50s and 60s)
Cow Spanking: Milking cows.
Nappy Valley: Suburb full of families.
Chateau Cardboard: Cheap wine.
I can’t guarantee exclusive use, but I can guarantee origin.
Apologies for the mammoth comment, us Kiwis are known for our need to defend ourselves and our rather loquacious natures. :)
I think you’re right too Deb. Another difference is that we use those words.
hey emma. gosh, it’s 4:00am here and my mind is a bit groggy (that’s not a new zealand word, is it?;)
i agree, those words that i listed are perhaps not good examples, but i just picked out words that i actually do use, but have never heard anywhere else. except of course australia. i could’ve chosen others that are perhaps more pertinent, but i don’t tend to use. “She’ll be right” for instance.
Bach – now there is a good kiwi word, that i *do* use! because we’re going to drive to ours in about 8 hours’ time!
Cow spanking – i’ve never heard that. bit of a dag, that one ;) (dag – that’s actually australian, isn’t it?)
It’s too early here, otherwise I’d roll off a string of them. But don’t forget your gummies and if you have a barbie at the crib (another word for bach local to southern NZ) have a snarler for me. :)
yes, i’ve heard of crib, but not snarler! although michael obviously knew what it was.
michael says here’s a good one: “a fair suck of the sav.” i like that one. have never used it, though.
ok, we’re running hours late but we’re really really going now. hopefully traffic will be ok.
I like snarler because soldiers came up with the name after hearing the sausages cooking and decided that they sounded like dogs snarling. Bangers is similar, you know the popping, hissy sounds.
Fair suck of the sav is good. My Dad always used to talk about savvy soup, as in being a bit sad and cheap and old I guess.