Kiwi Dictionary

  While the Kiwis may speak English, there are many terms and expressions that are not included in the American English dictionary. I have learned MANY new words and expressions since I have been here. Most of them won't look near as good on paper (or screen) as they sound when the Kiwis say them. The accent here is very attractive.

New stuff:

pull a finger- get a move on, from what I can tell (pronounced "pull a finga")

oy - a term of offense (like hey-my labmate says it all the time when he gets sick of me making fun of him-Oy!)

a bit of alright - if a guy is handsome, you say he's a bit of alright. Funny people.

she'll be right as rain (she'll be right, for short) - it will be okay

wonky - off-centered (askew)

ta - very British and they seem to say it after everything here-it doubles as thanks

that's the story (which is almost always shortened to "story") - means "right on" or some positive sort of agreement

full stop - period (as in the form of punctuation). I am sure most Americans probably know this one-but I did not.

Mountain Dew- yes, this is Mountain Dew as we know it, but said Kiwi style this sounds more like Mountain Jew. And I get harassed unmercifully for swallowing the t and putting a particular southern drawl on Dew (like do). Oh well, I am stuck with this southern accent whether Kiwis like it or not. It is just yet another thing for them to be amused by.

chicken burgers- anything here that includes a patty on a bun is called a burger. Hamburgers, chicken burgers, fish burgers, etc. They still look at me funny when I mention chicken sandwiches.

And then there is the famous Kiwi Burger at McDonalds- a burger topped with lettuce, tomato, a fried egg and a slice of beetroot. Yummy (just kidding!).

I put this chart in to explain how I was received when I went to lab one day saying that I was craving an egg biscuit. My labmates looked at me like I had four heads. Biscuits are cookies here and eggs go on toast or English muffins, even the McDonalds here don't have biscuits. As for scones, they are probably the closest to our biscuits except that they are a bit more dense and can have dates, cinnamon, fruit or just about anything else in them. We do have some things in common-muffins. Nobody misunderstands when I ask for a muffin! Success!

Old stuff: 

bach - holiday house (pronounced batch)

buggar, buggar all - damn

bollocks - said with particular enthusiasm, this basically means balls, as John Cage would 

                say it on Ally McBeal

biffo - fistacuffs, fight

bum - butt (it is still weird to hear grown men saying lollies and bum)

breaky - breakfast

chilly bins - coolers, ice chests

goodo -  good, great

grunds - underwear (the Kiwis hate saying panties, go figure...)

jaffas - candies with a chocolate center and orange outside

knackered - worn out, extremely tired

lollies - candies

manky - mangy, worse than scody

scody - nasty

scivvies - turtlenecks (not lingerie, as I would have thought)

tart - a brash female - I particularly like the way it sounds when the Kiwis say it. Since there are no "r"s pronounced in this version of the English language, it sounds more like tot said by someone with a southern drawl.

togs - swimming costume, or bathing suit

wee - small - I have had many wee looks at things since I have been here. I have had wee looks at TVs, couches, bikes, beds, etc. Again, weird to hear grown men saying something like "wee" all the time. But its sounds so nice when they say anything here !! :)

My least favorite saying of the Kiwis- I can't be bothered. A lot of Kiwis "can't be bothered" to do a lot of things. At first I thought it sounded very arrogant to hear anyone say it, but now I realize it just means "I don't feel like it." Even so, that phrase still perturbs me.

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