We have challenges in New Zealand these days as to what is correct spelling, because we were once part of the British Empire and out spelling reflected that, but now English English and American English are acceptable.
We share many sayings with our cobbers from across the ditch, in the vast wasteland across from Aotearoa which many factions are lobbying to change the name of our country to, meaning land of the long white cloud by our indigenous Maori.
We share many sayings with the Aussies. I spent 7 years traveling to Japan on business about 4 times a year, and my Japanese friends loved learning our colloqualisms.
An Aussie one I like for someone who is scatterbrained says "He has a roo loose in the top paddock." One we share for the same comment, is "He is a sandwhich short of a picnic."
Common sayings here are "Chur Bro", which can mean anything from thanks mate, to that's cool.
You're a manus, means you're a dick.
Nek minit is common. Like, I was standing on the side of the road and nek minit a cop comes along.
We use quite a few Maori words intermingled with English, like whanau, which means extended family, and mahi which means work.
I love that you mentioned being buggered. My late father gave me a number of hidings for saying bugger, or singing a song I appear to have made up when I was 4 or 5, which went something like bugger, bugger, bullshit. For some reason he had to explain to me exactly what bugger meant. I also got told off for repeating a common saying, I can't be blowed, meaning I can't be bothered, which refers to fly blown, or eggs that flies lay on the backs of sheep, where they may have cut themselves on a barbed wire fence.
Anyway, I could go on for ages mate (we call everyone mate, male or female), but this is your post, which is a shit hot topic btw.
'A sandwich short of a picnic' is such a classic. I love how all the languages and cultures infiltrate each other and get jumbled up its a beautiful thing! Thanks for sharing Luigi.
Ha! I used to have a book of French slang, I hope I can find it. Thanks for this timely reminder. The bachelor’s handbag is a newie to me too. Wonderful hot mess of words, Lo.
Oh Lo , I laughed so much reading this . . it brought me to tears 😂 Such brilliant choice of words used, and the first picture of those pastries with the signage instructions 👍
Jan 15, 2023·edited Jan 15, 2023Liked by Lo Carmen
Thanks, Lo, for another excellent post.
I love the idea of words which are not able to be completely translated into English. Human beings are complex entities and we need complexities in our language to describe accurately our many facets.
The German language has many wonderful words to describe phenomena, an emotional state or a way of being which all of us are familiar with in some way, but perhaps we'd never thought of applying a single word to describe such states. For instance:
Verschlimmbessern: To make something worse by trying to improve it.
Weltschmerz: Mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state.
Torschlusspanik: As one gets older, the feeling that time is running out and important opportunities are slipping away.
Years ago I did a tour supporting a German blues band. They were nice, lacked any feel whatsoever but had with them a security guy who was a six foot five biker from the Hardcore bike group. I asked what the Hardcore represented and he stated with some aggrieved and incredulous tone "PORNO". I muttered that it wasn't very subtle. Now Rolf the Hardcore biker guy had the habit of picking people up with one hand and asking them to leave venues which no doubt would have become less polite quite quickly had anyone refused although I didn't witness this. Rolf's response to my dismissal of the name was to enquire as to what subtle meant. It turns out there is no German word for subtle and he was intrigued. I'm not sure he was intrigued enough to change the insignia on their jackets but we talked the rest of the tour about words and phrases. He particularly liked "I hope your chooks turn to emus and kick your dunny door down". xx
We have challenges in New Zealand these days as to what is correct spelling, because we were once part of the British Empire and out spelling reflected that, but now English English and American English are acceptable.
We share many sayings with our cobbers from across the ditch, in the vast wasteland across from Aotearoa which many factions are lobbying to change the name of our country to, meaning land of the long white cloud by our indigenous Maori.
We share many sayings with the Aussies. I spent 7 years traveling to Japan on business about 4 times a year, and my Japanese friends loved learning our colloqualisms.
An Aussie one I like for someone who is scatterbrained says "He has a roo loose in the top paddock." One we share for the same comment, is "He is a sandwhich short of a picnic."
Common sayings here are "Chur Bro", which can mean anything from thanks mate, to that's cool.
You're a manus, means you're a dick.
Nek minit is common. Like, I was standing on the side of the road and nek minit a cop comes along.
We use quite a few Maori words intermingled with English, like whanau, which means extended family, and mahi which means work.
I love that you mentioned being buggered. My late father gave me a number of hidings for saying bugger, or singing a song I appear to have made up when I was 4 or 5, which went something like bugger, bugger, bullshit. For some reason he had to explain to me exactly what bugger meant. I also got told off for repeating a common saying, I can't be blowed, meaning I can't be bothered, which refers to fly blown, or eggs that flies lay on the backs of sheep, where they may have cut themselves on a barbed wire fence.
Anyway, I could go on for ages mate (we call everyone mate, male or female), but this is your post, which is a shit hot topic btw.
'A sandwich short of a picnic' is such a classic. I love how all the languages and cultures infiltrate each other and get jumbled up its a beautiful thing! Thanks for sharing Luigi.
Ha! I used to have a book of French slang, I hope I can find it. Thanks for this timely reminder. The bachelor’s handbag is a newie to me too. Wonderful hot mess of words, Lo.
Oooh, I have found it.
“Musiquer, to complain.
Exemple: Tu vas encore longtemps musiquer? = how long will you be playing your violin?“
Revised Ed. 2009, so may be out of date. But I’ll have fun revisiting it anyway. Thanks for the prompt !!
Ooh la la I love it! Sounds like a very handy guide to keep in your pocket.
Oh Lo , I laughed so much reading this . . it brought me to tears 😂 Such brilliant choice of words used, and the first picture of those pastries with the signage instructions 👍
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this !
Thanks so much, Lo 👌
ally x
Thanks so much for reading Ally! It makes me happy to make you laugh.
Thanks, Lo, for another excellent post.
I love the idea of words which are not able to be completely translated into English. Human beings are complex entities and we need complexities in our language to describe accurately our many facets.
The German language has many wonderful words to describe phenomena, an emotional state or a way of being which all of us are familiar with in some way, but perhaps we'd never thought of applying a single word to describe such states. For instance:
Verschlimmbessern: To make something worse by trying to improve it.
Weltschmerz: Mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state.
Torschlusspanik: As one gets older, the feeling that time is running out and important opportunities are slipping away.
Years ago I did a tour supporting a German blues band. They were nice, lacked any feel whatsoever but had with them a security guy who was a six foot five biker from the Hardcore bike group. I asked what the Hardcore represented and he stated with some aggrieved and incredulous tone "PORNO". I muttered that it wasn't very subtle. Now Rolf the Hardcore biker guy had the habit of picking people up with one hand and asking them to leave venues which no doubt would have become less polite quite quickly had anyone refused although I didn't witness this. Rolf's response to my dismissal of the name was to enquire as to what subtle meant. It turns out there is no German word for subtle and he was intrigued. I'm not sure he was intrigued enough to change the insignia on their jackets but we talked the rest of the tour about words and phrases. He particularly liked "I hope your chooks turn to emus and kick your dunny door down". xx
I love that there is no word for 'subtle' in German! Thanks Simon!
They are fantastic words, I love them! Cant wait to try and slip them into a sentence some time, thank you Anthony.