Mean-as guide to regional slang
New Zealand’s accent and national slang can be a real crack up, and it can sound even odder if you listen to it regionally.
When The Press asked readers to share their hometown slang, they came back with odd terms like ‘‘quaxing’’, ‘‘scrutinberger’’ and ‘‘pina’’ – which you might not be able to decipher if you’re not from Auckland, Hokianga or Taranaki.
Those few words were the most hard out examples of regional Kiwi slang, along with dozens of nicknames for various places in cities or towns, unrepeatable offensive names for students at particular high schools, and nationally-used words everyone wanted to claim.
There was also a deluge of people upset about mangled pronunciation of Ma¯ ori place names and dozens of others who wanted to refer to their towns by what might be their airport code, such as TGA, TPO, KPO, and YTP – (points if you can figure those last two out).
The odd version of English spoken by Kiwis is already the butt of international jokes for swapping ‘‘i’’s for ‘‘u’’s and ‘‘a’’s for ‘‘e’’s, as illustrated when poked fun at in Air New Zealand’s Christmas ad.
Or when UK MTV had to subtitle Hunt for the Wilderpeople star Julian Dennison in an interview last year.
It’s no wonder Kiwi speak can leave foreigners delirious in translation.
But when common New Zealand words and phrases such as ‘‘hard yards’’ or ‘‘mean’’ evolve further into regionalspecific slang, a simple ‘‘hot bread shop’’ order can make even a Kiwi crumble.
For example, if a person from Taranaki ordered a ‘‘bridge pie’’ in Wellington, they’d probably get a strange look rather than one of the mini pies the rest of the country calls ‘‘savouries’’.
And if someone from Central Otago and someone from Canterbury approached the counter for a ‘‘pie pea and pud’’ and a ‘‘dressed pie’’, well what on earth are those? Apparently the former is a pie topped with mashed potato and peas and the latter is the same with an added slice of beetroot.
The evolution of language, and words for pies, is not a new phenomenon.
However researchers have been able to closely examine the development of language in New Zealand because of its relatively young age, Dr Sharon Marsden, School of Humanities lecturer at Massey University, said.
She explained language, particularly slang, evolves alongside culture.
‘‘The pie thing is interesting because pies are seen as such an integral part of Kiwi culture.’’
Marsden said the words people use and the way in which they are used compliment a community’s way of life.
‘‘It continues to serve as an ‘outsider’ or ‘insider’ indicator,’’ she said.
‘‘Part of it is being within a group and part of it is creating terms that fit in with our culture.’’
But Marsden finds the language in New Zealand particularly interesting because of its ‘‘wide variety’’. This has a lot to do with when the country was colonised.
‘‘The people were coming from different places and they were coming together to develop their own identity.
‘‘New Zealand English started off with different accents from England and then with time, it became recognisable so you were able to define it as how New Zealanders sound.’’
This sound refers back to the vowelswapping structure of words and later became the development of terms and expressions such as ‘‘dairy’’, ‘‘crook’’, ‘‘the wops’’ or ‘‘wop-wops’’, ‘‘nong’’ and ‘‘squizz’’.
But some New Zealand language once popular is hardly known today.
Some words and phrases will naturally fall out of use, Marsden said, while others become nationally used and others will remain within a certain region.
Who remembers ‘‘going for the doctor’’ (go all out) and not having a ‘‘Buckley’s’’ (no chance of success) when you got into a ‘‘bit of a blue’’ (a fight), while being ‘‘full as a bull’’ (drunk) or ‘‘shickered’’ (also drunk) at the ‘‘rubberdy-dub’’ (pub)?
You might’ve heard those terms if you’ve still got your grandparents around but these days you’re more likely to ‘‘suss’’ how to get to the pub while looking ‘‘skuxx’’ (flash or attractive) and have a night that’s ‘‘too much’’ (really good) and ends with a ‘‘feed’’ (meal) and a ‘‘chur’’ (which can mean anything from yes to thank you).
Marsden said it all came down to people’s innate nature to play with language. ‘‘Language is infinitely creative,’’ she said. ‘‘And we have a lot of fun with that.’’