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#108129 07/23/03 11:21 AM
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Forget hearing it on R4, I've heard it in real life! I shall decline from naming the actual Kiwi who started this confusion...

Some friends and and I were dropping off our Zildian friend at an airport a few weeks ago. This fella was going on and on about chicken so we moseyed upstairs to the restaurant. At which point, he looked down at the lower level, saw the check-in desk for the airline he was flying with, and wondered aloud why on earth we'd brought him upstairs when he needed to chicken. Some rather confused glances were exchanged before we figured out what was going on!!!!! This also made for a good bit of teasing for the rest of the afternoon...


#108130 07/23/03 09:11 PM
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Pooh-Bah
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Slander! My seconds will be calling on yours, forthwith ...


#108131 07/23/03 09:11 PM
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Slander! No, libel! My seconds will be calling on yours, forthwith ...


#108132 07/23/03 10:54 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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If you want seconds, Pfranz, the barbequed chicken is *especially good. And it's libeled "low-fat."


#108133 07/23/03 11:04 PM
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I asked an Aussie friend what the difference in accent was and was told "In NZ they say 'feesh and cheeps ' but we say 'fish and chips'." I asked another friend who said "the Aussies say 'fush and chups' but we say 'fish and chips'." Or was it the other way 'round.
It didn't clear things up much.



#108134 07/23/03 11:34 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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OZ - feesh & cheeps, Seednee
NZ - fush & chups, Sudney.

I have been giving much thought to our accents of late. The NZ accent is becoming ever more clearly different from its OZ counterpart. A popular music group here at the moment has a lead singer who sings with a pronounced Zildian accent, and it is much less similar to the mutant aberration spawned on the penal side of the Tasman than used to be the case. Also, the recent netball champs have given an example of how environment can affect the speed at which one's accent changes. The star shooter for the NZ team is Irene van Dyk, who moved here from the RSA just 5 years ago. She is a teacher, so she has a great deal of exposure to Kiwi accents, and already her own accent is more Kiwi than Seth Effrican. As the number of children learning Maaori continues to grow, it will be interesting to see what effect that language, with its insistence on clear, non-diphthongal vowel sounds, will have on the evolution of the sweet sound that is Zild.


#108135 07/23/03 11:52 PM
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I worked with a speech therapist from NZ. Families wondered why having a stroke caused Zildian accents.


#108136 07/24/03 12:10 AM
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Carpal Tunnel
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> Families wondered why having a stroke caused Zildian accents.

LOL! My ex-convict neighbours across the ditch will no doubt have much fun with that one.


#108137 07/24/03 12:13 AM
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Not sure if this confusion was due to U.S. pronunciation or NZ hearing problems. I was entertaining a NZ government official and his wife here in Hawaii; and as we drove along the Ala Wai canal I commented that the State Sport of Hawaii is canoe racing. There was a long silence from the back seat. Finally, the NZ lady asked, "Nude racing?"
Not sure what goes on down there in NZ that would have caused her to leap to that mondegreen.


#108138 07/25/03 05:33 AM
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Sounds like she didn't quite hear the whole of the word "canoe", John. What part of the US are you from, originally?


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