Kiwispeak

Haven't had much to blog about lately so I'll have to continue searching for the next adventure out here in Kiwiland :)

Spent a reasonable amount of time last week planning and consequently finalising the year-end holiday plans - encompassing Auckland, Queenstown and (almost) everything in between. Pretty excited about it so will have loads of stuff to talk about then :)

In the meantime, let me feed you with some Kiwi speak that I learnt so far during my stay in this very interesting country:

1. Kia ora (pronounce Kiora)
Translation: A Maori greeting that means "be well". You can follow that up with "May the force be with you"....just kidding :P
It's a nice way of saying hello, especially when conversations get bland.

Speaking of bland conversations, let me give you an example of one, one that is usually had with a gym receptionist:

Gym receptionist: Hello! How are you?
Leon: I'm good, how are you?
Gym receptionist: I'm good, thanks!

So one day I decided to spice things up a little bit.

Gym receptionist: Hello! How are you?
Leon: I'm FANTASTIC! How bout yourself?
Gym receptionist: (broad smile and caught off-guard). I'm good, thanks!

Not much change unfortunately. At least I tried...

OGAYYY. Back to more Kiwispeak.

Numero Dos: Good on you!
Translation: Good for you. Said when someone thinks that you're a lucky sonofabeech. Every time when someone says "Good on you", I imagine good stuff falling on my head.

3. Aye
Translation: no definitive translation. It's almost an equivalent to the Malaysian filler word "LAH". Therefore I found it real easy to adopt the word into my everyday conversations.
Example: It's awfully cold weather, aye?
As compared to: It's so hot here in malaysia lahh!

Come to think of it, they're not directly replaceable in some instances. Aye is usually used to seek agreement on a preceding statement (as described in the example above).

The last Kiwi speak I can think of is not really a phrase or word, it's more of a pronounciation:

4. 'Wh' is pronounced 'F'
So when I heard my colleague telling me about this ski-resort up north called Whakapapa, I laughed my ass off!