# The New Zealand Accent **URL:** \ **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:** 5
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/81 "2013-12-16T21:06:13Z")
I don’t know how popular it is in the U.S. but I can buy Kiwi brand boot polish in Quebec and it’s pretty much the standard for shining military boots, in my experience. The low-gloss boot paste the army issues us for free is meant to waterproof the new all-season combat boot. It’s brand name is… Emu? Seriously? I just noticed this for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/82 "2013-12-16T21:15:49Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Eh. I’m a born and bred Cantab 😕 You got nabbed by a cat? . . . . Oh! . . . . [sub]Never mind.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/83 "2013-12-16T21:29:07Z")
> [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > Isn’t New Zealand about the size of one of our fifty states? You mean it’s _not_ one of the fifty states? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/84 "2013-12-16T21:53:29Z")
> [@Ben-wynyard](#): > > Nigger please , Is this a common expression in NZ? How does it sound with a Kiwi accent? I imagine not so authentic. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/85 "2013-12-16T22:24:18Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Is this a common expression in NZ? > > How does it sound with a Kiwi accent? I imagine not so authentic. “Nugger plus” would be close. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/86 "2013-12-16T22:42:44Z")
Wouldn’t it be “n’ggeh, pliz”? ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/87 "2013-12-16T22:50:40Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > To tell a Kiwi from an Aussie: Ask him to say “fish”. New Zealand is where I learned that I might not be good with accents. I met a ton of incredibly lovely people. And when it came up (not often, but from time to time it did), they’d all use the example “We say ‘fish and chips’ and Australians say ‘fish and chips’” and because they were really great, kind, nice people, I’d nod and smile and change the subject and not point out to them that so far as I could tell, they’d said it the exact same way both times. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/88 "2013-12-16T22:56:14Z")
I’ve been watching a TV show made in New Zealand, with all NZ actors. They all still sound Australian to me. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/89 "2013-12-16T23:11:00Z")
I have seen all The Lord of the Rings movies. That is not an obviously different accent. You’re awfully angry for a hobbit, aren’t you? I kid, I kid. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/90 "2013-12-16T23:47:57Z")
Nasty, nasty hobbitses ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/91 "2013-12-17T00:03:00Z")
From _Flight of the Conchords:_ > [@](#): > > ``` > Bret: Did she sound Australian? Australian accent? > Jemaine: Yes, yes. > Bret: What did it sound like? > Jemaine: Kind of like an evil version of our accent. > > ``` Of course, he was talking about Lucy Lawless, so it was a Kiwi faking an Australian accent. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/92 "2013-12-17T00:17:11Z")
As a New Zealander living in Australia, I disavow all connections with this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/93 "2013-12-17T00:31:22Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > **Hal Briston**. No, that’s ovineaphilia, not ovineaphobia. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/94 "2013-12-17T00:36:33Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Nasty, nasty hobbitses Goddamnit! I’ve been patiently scrolling, all the while thinking “Please nobody have said ‘Hobbits’.” and there you go. Hobbiton ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/95 "2013-12-17T00:37:58Z")
I had help! post 89 ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/96 "2013-12-17T01:58:16Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I had help! > > post 89 Yeah, but you really can’t have an OP spewing stuff about New Zealand at the SAME FRICKING TIME that a new Hobbit movie is in theaters, and expect me to NOT go there. And, let’s be honest, it makes the OP seem cuter to picture him all indignant, but looking like [this.](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02410/hobbit_2410019b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/97 "2013-12-17T02:29:59Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > And, let’s be honest, it makes the OP seem cuter to picture him all indignant, but looking like [this.](http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02410/hobbit_2410019b.jpg) But holding his breath and stamping his big hobbit feet. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/98 "2013-12-17T02:42:03Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > On behalf of the 4.4m New Zealanders in existence, I’d just like to apologise for this bloke. Clearly he’s a few sheep short of a paddock! Could the blood be rushing to his head from being upside down on the other side there? ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/99 "2013-12-17T02:44:23Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > That’s one hull of a chup on your shoulder you’ve got there Trev. Wonder if he’s got any fush to go with it? He’d better keep those in his chully bun. I couldn’t tell the difference in Kiwi and Aussie accents for the first three or four years I lived in Australia. It took working with a girl from the South Island with a very, very pronounced Kiwi accent to make me hear the difference. Now I can spot it easily - everywhere all the time, because I think they all live here. For the benefit of our histrionic friend, I am an American with two passports who lives in Australia and has been to New Zealand and still doesn’t care. What do I win? Kiwis always want to say my accent is Irish, anyway. What the actual fuck? American is nothing like Irish (although granted, American with 11 years of Australian on top might be something like that, in that I pronounce my ‘r’s’.) ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449/100 "2013-12-17T02:46:03Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > “Nugger plus” would be close. This made me laugh harder than it should have. I keep muttering it to myself under my breath - because, yanno, rude and out of context - and giggling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-zealand-accent/676449.md?page=6)