the weekend, ahhhhhh
Since it's Friday of Week 3 and by my standards it went well (meaning nothing went as planned and it was lots of spontaneous chaos - love it! Never a dull moment means no need to clock watch hooray!) and because this weekend I have serious work to do (maybe tomorrow since there'll be rain - I'll endeavour to stay home ALL DAY LONG on Saturday) and because I'm sitting in a sunny spot with the sun on my back, I thought I'd write some observations and things I've learnt since coming to NZ.
I guess like any other country there are ways of speaking that are local or colloquial. And of course, English is not the same everywhere so here's a list of phrases/words particular to kiwis and what they mean in sg english. Some of these I have unconsciously adopted but I'm sure I'll be able to codeswitch whenever necessary, like if/when we go back to Sg for a (well-defined period of) work stint.
"Do you want to...?" => "I'd like you to..."
"How're you going?" => "How are you doing?"
"You're alright" => "It's okay"
stoked => happy, excited
gutted => disappointed, upset
jandals => slippers
slippers => bedroom slippers
washing => laundry
tea => dinner
"..,aye." => "..,hor?"/"..,right?"/"..,ok?"/"..,you know?"
sweet as => any positive adjective. Note not a comparison, ie not "sweet as (anything)", just "sweet as (fullstop)".
awesome => any superlative adjective
whereabouts => where (ie. "Whereabouts is it?" rather than "Where is it?" I *never* hear "Where is it?")
stuffed => tired
lollies => sweets, candy
chook => chicken
crook => sick
Ok tired now. Dinnertime soon!
I guess like any other country there are ways of speaking that are local or colloquial. And of course, English is not the same everywhere so here's a list of phrases/words particular to kiwis and what they mean in sg english. Some of these I have unconsciously adopted but I'm sure I'll be able to codeswitch whenever necessary, like if/when we go back to Sg for a (well-defined period of) work stint.
"Do you want to...?" => "I'd like you to..."
"How're you going?" => "How are you doing?"
"You're alright" => "It's okay"
stoked => happy, excited
gutted => disappointed, upset
jandals => slippers
slippers => bedroom slippers
washing => laundry
tea => dinner
"..,aye." => "..,hor?"/"..,right?"/"..,ok?"/"..,you know?"
sweet as => any positive adjective. Note not a comparison, ie not "sweet as (anything)", just "sweet as (fullstop)".
awesome => any superlative adjective
whereabouts => where (ie. "Whereabouts is it?" rather than "Where is it?" I *never* hear "Where is it?")
stuffed => tired
lollies => sweets, candy
chook => chicken
crook => sick
Ok tired now. Dinnertime soon!