Linguistics and other bits and pieces

Language Notes:

Bedroom Miscommunication
Waking up one morning, I overheard two women commiserating about the sagging "wild wife" in their beds.
" I'm sorry. Did you just say what I think you said?" (And what did I miss by falling asleep at midnight?).
 Not quite. Actual phrase: "wire weave".   Translation: the bedsprings.

Oh yes, and watch out for the hot dogs. Order one and you get something that looks like a Pogo stick. Luckily, it tastes nothing like a pogo sticks we get in Canada. Quite edible, really. Still hardly gourmet fare. Then again, neither is the street meat we all know and (some) love in Toronto. What are expecting if you order something called a hot dog?

Occasionally in New Zealand, you'll find familiar products with slightly different trade names. This could be because a less popular product had already been trademarked, a name didn't have the same meaning, or sometimes, because the name actually had a negative connotation.  

Take, for example, Anna and Chris' breakfast cereal: Weet-Bix. What, not the more familiar Weet-a-bix?  My first thought was: Aha, Kiwis are too sophisticated, and find such cutesy names annoying. No, there's another, more likely explanation. One rainy day, trapped inside a Backpacker with little to do, I came across an interesting book of Kiwi flora and fauna.

Meet the giant weta. (Pronounced "weeta").  en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Image:Knights.weta .750pix.jpg
Ah. A kind of insect that 19th century farmers believed was responsible for the loss of sheep. (This was discredited because they never hunt in groups, but still...) Yum. How'd you like a box of those for breakfast?

Moral of this story is?

Other winter: Queenstown & christchurch skiing Naked rugby (rafting open. Tungahiro crossing: open)

The things I left behind: Milford Sound (In the Winter, huts unserviced, through- track closed, limited 1 night hikes recommended only to experienced hikers)

More of Malborough Sounds

Stewart Island

Gliding in Omarama

skydiving, bungee, caving, or any of the crazier kiwi adventure seeker activities

entire north island!!