New Zealand is a country in the south-western Pacific Ocean consisting of two large islands-the North Island and South Island and many much smaller islands.  It is called Aotearoa in the Maori language which translates into Land of the Long White Cloud.  The population is mostly of European descent, with Maori being the largest minority.  Non-Maori Polynesian and Asian peoples are also significant minorities, especially in the cities.  Elizabeth II (of Great Britain) as the Queen of New Zealand, is the Head of State and is represented, in her absence, by a non-partisan Governor-General; the Queen 'reigns but does not rule' - political power is held by the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government in a democratically-elected Parliament. 

Kiwi (bird) logos are often associated with New Zealand military forces and New Zealand goods. The association probably originated during WWI when the ANZACS of Australia and New Zealand introduced Kiwi shoe polish to the allied trenches - this was widely used by British and American armies at that time.  The New Zealand dollar is often called the Kiwi dollar (or just the Kiwi) and the bird's image appears on the one dollar coin. 

English is the official  (and most widely spoken) language de facto.  Maori and Sign Language (New Zealand is the first country in the world to adopt sign as an official language) are official de jure (legal) languages.  But the English speaking population have a few little "Kiwisms' of their own.

No matter where in the world you are from, when you spend time in this sub-tropical, colourful, friendly, multi-cultural country, you will blend in comfortably and fully enjoy your time there if you are aware of  “kiwisms” which are not obvious to outsiders.  My husband, daughter and I moved to Auckland, New Zealand four years ago from the U.S. and have (and  still do) come across interesting experiences with the language.

Soon after landing in the country, we were given a book of common Kiwi words because we were planning on staying at least a year or two.  That book enlightened us - we learned that besides some unique words, the New Zealanders have a speech style all of their own.  I remember many situations when first arriving that left us with raised eyebrows and a mental questioning of 'what?'.  One chilly day we were asked if we had a jumper.   'A what?'- a jumper is a person who jumps, isn’t it? Well, not in New Zealand where it is the word for 'sweater'.  Then there was the statement, “the book is in my boot” which  left the same response.  Isn’t a boot a strange place to put a book?  'Boot' being 'trunk' in our world. 

My husband  was told one day that one of his co-workers wasn’t at work because he had enjoyed too much piss over the weekend.  When he asked what that meant he was met with much laughter and was told the guy had drunk too much beer and had a hangover.  My daughter was asked at school if she  wanted to wag the next class.  Wag a class?  Skip the class is what was meant.

I was helping in a second grade reading class one day when a question came from an innocent looking youngster.  “ Do you have a rubber I can use?”  Well, in America, a rubber is a condom.  Being the professional, retired speech therapist that I am, I calmly  asked, “Do I have a what?”   When he answered with, “I made a mistake on my paper and need to rub it off.” my mind quickly replaced the word rubber with eraser and I proceeded  to locate the required object.  We had countless amusing situations similar to these during our early days and worked hard to learn the idiosyncrasies quickly!-though it did make social occasions doubly funny.
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