100 Words That Make Us Kiwi

Have you ever wondered about the things we say here in Aotearoa New Zealand that aren’t common parlance for the rest of the world? It’s more than them just not understanding our accent – there are a great number of words and phrases that only exist in godzone. So many words and sayings are intrinsically Kiwi. From egg to hua, ghost chips to she’ll be right, think big to gone by lunchtime, some things are undeniably, quintessentially ours and ours alone. Mark Broatch takes us on a deep dive into the meanings behind some of the quirkiest expressions in our nation’s vocabulary, offering fascinating insights into how each linguistic gem came about, and how they’ve evolved over the years. Whether we stole them from the Aussies (yeah, nah!) or they stole them from us. Do we really have two degrees of separation, are we per capita brilliant, or do we suffer from cultural cringe? Seriously, Bro?

Author Biography

Mark Broatch is a journalist and critic of three decades and is the author of three books, two on language, In a Word and Word to the Wise. A longtime literary editor, he is a trustee of the Matatuhi Foundation and has been an Ockham New Zealand Book Awards fiction judge, a peer assessor at Creative NZ Toi Aotearoa, a Buddle Findlay Sargaseon fellow and a resident at the Michael King Writers Centre.