Kiwi English

We have noticed a lot of things in New Zealand have different names than back home and Kiwi's use a lot of slang words. We seem to have picked up the new lingo pretty quickly, but last week I made my first newbie mistake. Back home, ketchup is ketchup and tomato sauce is tomato sauce. Well apparently in New Zealand, ketchup is called tomato sauce and tomato sauce is called tomato puree. I know, confusing. So when I went to make a lasagna for dinner for a dinner we were hosting, I used a whole can of "tomato sauce" thinking nothing of it. Well, it wasn't until I assembled the lasagna and tasted it did I realize the mistake I had just made. Worst lasagne ever. Of course I made something different for dinner and I put the lasagne in the freezer because Tyler said he would eat it later as he thought it would taste like sloppy joe's, haha.

Other phrases Kiwi's use:

Tea - every meal is called tea. Morning tea, afternoon tea, evening tea. Not breakfast, lunch or dinner.  Oh, there is "brekkie" which is breakfast. And if you want an actual cup of tea, it's called a "cuppa". This one I still think is weird.

Sweet as - if something is cool or really good, it is sweet as. I've also heard other variations, ie. cute as, lazy as.

Bring a plate - if someone invites you to dinner and tells you to "bring a plate" you are supposed to bring a plate of food. Not just a plate. I'm glad I found out about this!

Takeaway - if you want something to go (like a coffee) you ask for it to be takeaway. If you say you want it "to go", you will get a blank look.

There are lots of other words you will only hear in New Zealand, but these are a few of my favorites:

chippies (chips)
bickies (biscuits)
wheelie bin (garbage bin)
chilly bin (cooler)
batch (holiday home)
jandals (sandals) - I swear I will never call my sandals, jandals.
togs (bathing suit)
jumper (sweater) - it took me forever to figure out what this was.
fizzy drink (pop) - why just not pop, or soda?!
ice block (popsicle) - sounds appetizing!
lolly (candy)
mince (ground beef)
mozzie (mosquito)
pressie (present)
rock melon (canteloupe) - what?!
beet root (beet) - you have to say the whole thing: beet root. If you ask for just beets, they don't understand.
sickie - (sick day at work)

Although there are a lot of things that are the same as back home, little things like "kiwi words" are what makes New Zealand unique and adds to our experience here. I think it's too early to tell if these words have made it into our permanent vocabulary yet :)