This year, the dictionary’s update added 11 words or phrases of New Zealand or te reo Māori origin. From over the Tasman, the Oxford also gathered 11 Australian words to add. On a per capita basis, that’s a clear win for New Zealand (but I won’t dwell on it or engage in any gloating until after this weekend’s game in Perth).
Now, of course, if anyone accuses you of using slang – for example, cuzzy-bro or sweet as – you have an answer: “Well, it’s in the dictionary!”
The full list of new Kiwi language entries: cuzzy bro, sweet as, hapū, lifestyler, lux, mōrena, rark, rark up, climb into (someone), deal to (someone), trundler.
No, I’m not about to insult Kiwis by explaining what they all mean except for lux, for which some might be following a Latin route (light) to understand. In fact, it is an abbreviation of Electrolux so is a verb meaning to vacuum.
Another example of a brand name morphing into a verb is one I grew up with. As a boy, I was taught to nugget my shoes.
I would like to make some comparison with the 11 Australian entries. Here is a selection: balanda, carn, goon, gunzel, slab.
It’s a few decades since I lived in Australia and it is abundantly clear that my absence has taken its language toll.
The only one I recognize from my Oz time is carn. It typifies that Australian ability (I’m using that word loosely here) to economise on syllables; “come on”, shouted at a sports match, is reduced to one easy syllable. It pales into insignificance beside the word Australia, which can be reduced to two syllables (Strya). Or, by some experts, even one (Stry).
Research was called for and I’ll do my best to pass on the findings. Balanda boils down to a white person or white people (Pākehā). It possibly came from the Yolngu language of Arnhem Land, which might link it back to a particular province in Indonesia – or it might date all the way back to Sanskrit.
Custodian has a new indigenous layer to its meaning but it’s one that fits either side of the Tasman; it refers to an Australian Aboriginal person recognised as having certain ancestral rights to, and traditional obligations, responsibilities and authority for, a particular area of land.
I don’t know whether you’ll benefit from knowing that gunzel is Australian slang for someone who loves trams or trains but, if you do benefit, remember you read it here first.
In case you are planning to visit your cuzzy bros across the Tasman, I’d better add another two explanations as you will probably be sharing a few beverages with them.
A slab refers to a case of beer (typically containing 24 cans or bottles). I think the Kiwi equivalent is a box of beers (but that may not have made the dictionary).
If you’re offered something out of a goon bag, that’s a plastic bladder in which inexpensive wine is sold. The box around it is called a cask. Forewarned is forearmed.
So, I say it’s encouraging to see our vernacular and its te reo elements being taken seriously by a lofty and much-respected publication.
Sweet as.
