# The New Zealand Accent
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 16, 2013, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449 "2013-12-16T09:52:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/1 "2013-12-16T09:52:10Z")
On many of my overseas trips, I have often been mistaken as South African, English, but mainly Australian. Which for a New Zealander is very offensive. For you Americans, how do you mistake us for Australians??? Do we not have a distinct accent?? I am proud when I am mistaken for British or South African, but the Australian accent is just to broad!
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/2 "2013-12-16T09:53:37Z")
I’m Canadian. You don’t.
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/3 "2013-12-16T10:02:09Z")
Assuming you do, I wouldn’t know what it was, and I certainly wouldn’t get offended about it. It’s like complaining about someone not knowing that your French has a Luxembourg accent rather than a Belgian one.
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### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/4 "2013-12-16T10:07:19Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Assuming you do, I wouldn’t know what it was, and I certainly wouldn’t get offended about it. It’s like complaining about someone not knowing that your French has a Luxembourg accent rather than a Belgian one.
I know the difference between canadian and american, although Canadian accent is very hard, but you have more of a distinction around your "o’s "
We do get offended because New Zealanders are so often lumped into Australia. We are not Australians. Alot of Americans think we are Australias, they even think we have Kangaroos we dont, we even speak two languages in New Zealand
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/5 "2013-12-16T10:12:06Z")
> [@Ben-wynyard](#):
>
> I know the difference between canadian and american, although Canadian accent is very hard, but you have more of a distinction around your "o’s "
You really think there’s just one American accent and one Canadian accent?
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/6 "2013-12-16T10:16:33Z")
> [@Ben-wynyard](#):
>
> I know the difference between canadian and american, although Canadian accent is very hard, but you have more of a distinction around your "o’s "
Pahden? Ah Cahn’t tell whatcha tahlken’ 'bout, up nor’east we have our own accent. Seriously, there’s probably more difference between the accent on a Maine fisherman and a Texas farmhand than between New Zealand and Australia.
> [@](#):
>
> We do get offended because New Zealanders are so often lumped into Australia. We are not Australians.
Well, to be fair, New Zealand is pretty small and most people don’t know anyone from there…
> [@](#):
>
> Alot of Americans think we are Australias, they even think we have Kangaroos we dont, we even speak two languages in New Zealand
Yes, but this is Americans we’re talking about. They can’t find half the countries they’ve bombed on the map. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/7 "2013-12-16T10:17:40Z")
It’s my understanding that Australians are “Ozzies” and New Zealanders are “Kiwis”, and even that level of knowledge of the cultural distinction puts me well ahead of the curve.
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### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/8 "2013-12-16T10:22:20Z")
Yes, but this is Americans we’re talking about. They can’t find half the countries they’ve bombed on the map. :rolleyes:
[/QUOTE]
ahahahahhahahahahaha at the above comment
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/9 "2013-12-16T10:23:59Z")
Quite right. People picking whether an accent is Australian or New Zealand are just guessing. They don’t hear enough of them to tell the difference. But no one down in the southern hemisphere has any problem because there are Kiwis everywhere, well in Australia at least.
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### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/10 "2013-12-16T10:27:32Z")
Well I will give you some little facts about New Zealand then.
A New Zealand man was the first to Climb Mt Everst Sir Edmound Hillary
A New Zealander created the Jet Boat
A New Zealander split the Atom - Lord Rutherford
We are taught that it was Richard Pearce, a New Zealander that created the first plane, we were so far south, the word couldnt get out fast enough.
We speak two languages Maori and English
Our health care is free and education is accessible
Social security for all persons - Solo mums benefit sometimes outweighs a Middle Class mans income- go figure???
World fastest Indians - New Zealand
Russle Crow is a Kiwi - but the aussies can have him
We were the first country to give women the right to vote back in the 1890s
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### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/11 "2013-12-16T10:29:23Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#):
>
> Quite right. People picking whether an accent is Australian or New Zealand are just guessing. They don’t hear enough of them to tell the difference. But no one down in the southern hemisphere has any problem because there are Kiwis everywhere, well in Australia at least.
But surely your taught in schools about different cultures? what do americans think of New Zealand?? how are we viewed??
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/12 "2013-12-16T10:36:00Z")
> [@Ben-wynyard](#):
>
> Well I will give you some little facts about New Zealand then.
>
> A New Zealand man was the first to Climb Mt Everst Sir Edmound Hillary
> A New Zealander created the Jet Boat
> A New Zealander split the Atom - Lord Rutherford
> We are taught that it was Richard Pearce, a New Zealander that created the first plane, we were so far south, the word couldnt get out fast enough.
> We speak two languages Maori and English
> Our health care is free and education is accessible
> Social security for all persons - Solo mums benefit sometimes outweighs a Middle Class mans income- go figure???
> World fastest Indians - New Zealand
> Russle Crow is a Kiwi - but the aussies can have him
> We were the first country to give women the right to vote back in the 1890s
Nobody cares.
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### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/13 "2013-12-16T10:39:08Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> Nobody cares.
I think what your referring to is, nobody cares about you!
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/14 "2013-12-16T11:05:58Z")
When I hear an Aussie and a Kiwi speaking together here in Bangkok, there is a noticeable difference in their accents. However, if I’m with only only one of you per occasion, I can’t tell a difference in the accents when trying to remember the other one.
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### Author:  [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/15 "2013-12-16T11:08:10Z")
> [@Ben-wynyard](#):
>
> I think what your referring to is, nobody cares about you!
:smack:
Look, pal, for most people, New Zealand is on their radar the same way Luxembourg or Papua New Guinea is - nothing particularly interesting going on, not a lot of huge cultural imports, far away from where most of the people on this forum live… We don’t particularly care. If pressed, I’m sure anyone could go on Google and look up some trivia, but just reciting all of that isn’t going to make us care. It’s going to make us bored, and wonder what bug got up your butt. You want to start a discussion on NZ? You might want to relate it to something the average user of this forum (who is likely to be American or European) would care about. I recall having a quite invigorating conversation about the pros and cons of NZ’s health care and social security systems, along with discussions of how they can get away with it and why we seem to be unable to do that elsewhere. But just random trivia? I repeat myself: nobody cares.
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### Author:  [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/16 "2013-12-16T11:14:46Z")
Sorry little Kiwi. New Zealand is just not a country that registers among cultures different enough, or a world power dominant enough, to learn about. As a private school kid many moons ago, where we did learn how to find places like New Zealand on a map, that was pretty much all we learned about NZ. Where it is on the map.
North American accents can be vastly different, from north to south and east to west. Sometimes we have a hard time with each other! If the OP can only tell a couple of them apart, well, then you should understand how hard it might be for us to tell the difference between other countries, too.
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### Author:  [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/17 "2013-12-16T11:25:43Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#):
>
> Sorry little Kiwi. New Zealand is just not a country that registers among cultures different enough, or a world power dominant enough, to learn about. As a private school kid many moons ago, where we did learn how to find places like New Zealand on a map, that was pretty much all we learned about NZ. Where it is on the map.
>
> North American accents can be vastly different, from north to south and east to west. Sometimes we have a hard time with each other! If the OP can only tell a couple of them apart, well, then you should understand how hard it might be for us to tell the difference between other countries, too.
Yes, I hate to break it to kiwiboy, but even in the UK we don’t know much about New Zealand beyond the All Blacks and lamb chops. Most Brits would struggle to tell the difference between an Ozzie and a Kiwi accent because, to outsiders, they really aren’t massively different, no matter what you may think. You really shouldn’t get offended by it. It’s not worth it.
Heck, Americans often confuse the London accent with Australian and we’re _thousands_ of miles apart (those convicts clearly had more of an impact that we care to admit).
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/18 "2013-12-16T11:30:24Z")
New Zealand has the Sumatran Rat Monkey, but no kangaroos. That much I know.
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### Author:  [@Ben-wynyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben-wynyard)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/19 "2013-12-16T11:35:28Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#):
>
> :smack:
>
> Look, pal, for most people, New Zealand is on their radar the same way Luxembourg or Papua New Guinea is - nothing particularly interesting going on, not a lot of huge cultural imports, far away from where most of the people on this forum live… We don’t particularly care. If pressed, I’m sure anyone could go on Google and look up some trivia, but just reciting all of that isn’t going to make us care. It’s going to make us bored, and wonder what bug got up your butt. You want to start a discussion on NZ? You might want to relate it to something the average user of this forum (who is likely to be American or European) would care about. I recall having a quite invigorating conversation about the pros and cons of NZ’s health care and social security systems, along with discussions of how they can get away with it and why we seem to be unable to do that elsewhere. But just random trivia? I repeat myself: nobody cares.
Why don’t you go eat arse you arrogant prick! I will discuss anything I like when I like, what authority do you have over this forum??! Oh that’s right NONE, if you don’t like the discussion then move on!! Nigger please , we live in paradise , we have half the social problems you have and our cops don’t even carry guns. Yeap I am proud to be from the greatest nation in the world and there ain’t nothing you can do about that! Your so arrogant and foolish!!
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### Author:  [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2013, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/20 "2013-12-16T11:40:07Z")
Ah. This will end well, I see.
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