They’re dreamy. They’re funny and even if you have no idea what is being said, they’re sexy.
Yup, that’s right. I am talking about Kiwi accents.
Lets be honest, I’m talking about the way the MEN sound.
Mmm. . . he he
I think I can speak in confidence that I am not alone in my oh la la la keep talking paleasseee thoughts. They just sound so damn good even when I have no idea what they’re saying! I don’t know, maybe it’s a Canadian thing!
The other thing I love about the way Kiwis talk is what they say! I got a little taste for the lingo before I went over there but nothing could prepare me for the things that Kiwis say.
I occasionally messed things up because of their accent or just passed on what they say all together. Example: thinking they were calling a spa pool a sparkle… I thought it made sense.. you know sparkle.. bubbles.. I got a few laughing with that one. Even more laughing when I told them we call it the right thing.. a hot tub! Which they insist on saying it with some kind of southern accent, hot tuuuub. Apparently we all have southern accents Silly Kiwis!
Yes I still laugh at the fact that their e’s are pronounced as i’s.
“Lets go to bid (bed)”
“Ouch my hid (head)” and of course
“Were sittin on the dick (deck)”
I guess read, rid, and red are kind of like the 3 ‘theres’.. but not really?
Here’s a few of my favourite phrases and weird words. Gotta love ‘em.
- Jandals- sandals, flip flops
- Dairy- corner store/convienience store
- Chilly bin- cooler
- Tomato sauce- ketchup
* Don’t ever buy tomato sauce thinking its pasta sauce. You will have a disgusting meal of pasta and ketchup. Yuck! - Macca’s –McDonalds
- Op shops- thrift store/secondhand shop
- Togs- bathing suit
- Torch- flashlight
- Jersey- sweater
- Mean- awesome
- Gumboots- rubber boots
- Heaps- lots
- Tramping- hiking
Hiking=tramping (Mount Grey)
|That’s a short list! Here are some fun phrases!
Aye– My personal fav ‘cause I’m from Canada… eh!
They actually mean completely different things though. Canadians will usually say eh as if a word of agreement. “It was hot today eh” “That was cool eh”. Aye is more used as a question as if to say, don’t you think. “It was hot today aye”. Sometimes they’ll literally just say “ayyyeee”. They say the sole purpose of the Kiwi language is to shorten everything but I know still doesn’t really makes sense..
Sweet as– this one took me a while to get over. Most people would finish the sentence. Sweet as what… ?Kiwis just leave it open. They also don’t say just sweet as, they’ll basically stick as onto anything; cheap as, windy as, stupid as…
Good as gold– this one I heard a lot from a co worker there. Basically meaning, great. I know just saying great is in fact shorter, like how the Kiwis claim to talk but good as gold seems to have a better ring!
Yeah, nah– this is my favourite! So contradicting and I actually say it all the time but instead say ‘ya no’. It really has no meaning except maybe like saying umm or just saying yes but no also.
Hardout– this is exactly why I had thought all Kiwis were basically surfer dudes.. and dudettes! Many meanings of this word: agreeing with someone, saying something is awesome or talented perhaps and basically amplifying an adjective.
“We should go to the cool bike trail” “hardout”
“How was surfing” “It was hardout”
Go get a feed– this makes me laugh every time. Being a farm girl.. we say gotta feed the horses or cows or animal of some sort. To say “they went out for a feed” or “we went for a feed” makes me wonder if they’re hanging out with their sheep a little too much?
Chur– thank you, thanks. How you get thank you from chur I will never know. I noticed guys say this one. To me it just sounds like some sort of hang 10 surfer lingo.
She’ll be right– it will be alright. Probably the most used. I like this one. Mostly because Kiwis say it about everything. They don’t stress and I like that!
I won’t even try and figure it all out. Don’t expect you’ll understand most Kiwi movies and please if you’re North American you just sound silly trying to talk the talk, sorry to say. It just doesn’t sound right. She will not be right!
Hope you enjoyed being enlightened about what people think the English language is. Ya no, besides being entertaining it is cool to hear people talking English but the vocab is totally different. This is just a wee list. The Kiwis are sweet as. Chur.
See what I did there.. ya that’s why Kiwis speak kiwi and no one else!
What are your fav Kiwi expressions? Have you been somewhere where they’re speaking English but not?