As our great New Zealand journey comes to an end, we would like to take a moment to remember the Zorb, hokey pokey ice cream, and all the other little quirks that make the kiwi people unique.
"Sweet As" - a confirmation that one hears and agrees with their mate. Often followed by "bro." They love this phrase here so much that it is on t-shirts, postcards, and keychains.
Example: "that river rafting trip was sweet as!"
Variations: Somewhere down the line people also took the idea and replaced "sweet" with alternative adjectives. For example, I heard a guy say to his friend, "man I accidentally ran into that girl. I didn't mean to, but I felt mean as!" And lady say to her daughter opening a kids meal, "oh I bet you are happy as!" At first this phrase drove me nuts with anticipation ("my inner dialogue was dying to know, "happy as a clam? Sweet as pie? Please finish your statement!") but I soon learned to embrace it which is a good thing, because it really is kiwi as.
"Good On You:" well done, a pat on the back. Similar to the US phrase "good for you" but used a lot more frequently and more enthusiastically. We heard it pretty often after telling people about our itinerary. "oh! That is the best thing you could do with your life right now! Good on you mates!"
Jandle: flip flop
Choice: the best. "Oh man, the burgers at Fergburger are choice!"
Bogens: punk teenage boys with neon shirts and terrible mullets. The more extreme the mullet/rat tail/scraggly braid, the more extreme the attitude. We made the mistake of staying at a campground full of them and didn't sleep due to the all night screaming, drinking, and smoking. We even witnessed a group of bogens get escorted out by police, and they were punks the whole time chanting, "oh I am so tough because I am a cop with a badge and I get paid to ruin teenagers night..."
"Aw Yeah:" an exclamation used by bogens, usually yelled across large distances. I think It's sort of like a platonic mating call to see if others of their kind are near by. At the campground you could hear it yelled back and forth from every direction at all hours.
Brekkie: breakfast. Actually, it's pretty common here to abbreviate words and add an "ie." See if you can figure these out:
"ouch! Time to get out the mozzie spray."
"it gets pretty bright in the mandarin orchard, so don't forget your sunnies!"
Hokey Pokey: NZ's national ice cream flavor. It is vanilla with little toffee pieces and caramel swirl.
Lamb: you probably know they eat a lot of lamb, but did you know that it is used in a variety of other foods as well? We tried lamb burger, minted lamb potato chips, lamb and cheese pie, and canned lamb stew. I was reading a trashy celebrity gossip magazine, and they had an article about how Prince William and Kate should serve lamb at their wedding.
Possums: usually kiwis are very green and into saving the planet, but not when it comes to possums. The possums here are really cute and soft, but also overpopulated and taking over some areas. As a method of control, there are traps set all over the forests and beaches, and the government even began dropping the poisonous substance 1080 in the mountains. Most gift shops sell possum gloves and rugs. Our Milford Sound bus driver made an announcement over the speaker encouraging everyone to try to run over possums while driving.
Tim Tams: a delicious little cookie found in NZ and Australia. It's layers of fudge and chocolate biscuit covered in chocolate.
Spare Change: there is no such thing as a penny or nickel. They round too the nearest .10. The bills begin at $5 ($1 and $2 are coins). Returning change took some getting used to while selling produce by the kg at the Wilderland shop.
Extreme Adventures: I anticipated the bungee jumping and skydiving, but couldn't have dreamed of the schweeb or the zorb. There is a market for adventure activities and the kiwis capitalize on that with all sorts of creative ideas:
Zorb - the human hamster ball. A 10 foot tall inflatable ball that 1 or 2 people can sit inside and be rolled down a hill. Or if you feel extra extreme you can Zorb through water.
Freefall extreme - Want look like you went skydiving without spending the money to actually jump out of a plane? You can pay to put on the suit and goggles and go into a "zero gravity" room where you air jets suspend you several feet in the air.
Schweeb - It's part bicycle, part rollercoaster, part subway. Peddle around on Human powered little capsules suspended on a rail way. Peddle as fast as you can and even race your friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment