The rest of you: Let’s rein in the attacks on the kiwis, too. No sense returning rudeness with rudeness.
Why is this thread in Great Debates?
Exactly.
Yes.
Based on the OP’s OP, posts, and attitude, even The Pit might be a good place. At least IMHO.
One word
Ovineaphobia
25 internet points to anyone who gets it
For the record, I have a passport and if I have a Kiwi, an Aussie and a South African in the same room I can tell the difference in the accents and know which is which but if they are solo I might mistake the SA with the Kiwi.
Capt
I take it you mean the very English South African English accent, not the Afrikaans Souff Effrikun English accent? Don’t hear it, myself.
I’m English. If I was asked to describe a (typical) New Zealand accent, I’d probably say: It’s a bit similar to some Australian accents, but softer/lighter with some different vowel sounds.
I’m certain that to a citizen of either Australia or New Zealand, the difference seems far greater than it does to me, but that’s the way it always seems to work - as a Briton, my perception is that there is greater diversity of accent in spoken English within the British Isles than there is in the rest of the English-speaking world put together - it always boggles my mind when I encounter people who think there’s just one ‘British’ accent.
Easy to tell Kiwis and Aussies apart. Kiwis eat epples, Aussies eat apples.
To tell a Canadian from an American: Ask him to say “about”.
To tell a Kiwi from an Aussie: Ask him to say “fish”.
Mostly because I was cogitating on IMHO or the Pit (due to language).
IMHO it is.
My rule is, if it’s English and I don’t recognize the accent, it’s Kiwi. This works at least 15% of the time.
We don’t get taught about New Zealand, we have little experience in the US with the Kiwi accent and if it wasn’t for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies we would no even less about NZ then we do now.
In High School History, NZ when mentioned is usually only in terms of being part of the forces lumped in with Australia fighting in the 2 world wars and maybe for shipping meat for sheep all over the world and thus early refrigeration on cargo ships.
I’m sure you get better coverage in Britain but NZ is a small minor country far away from the US and far from where things important to the US happened. Sadly my countryman are lucky is they can identify minor Latin American countries and European Countries and those are much more important to the US. When I was in the Navy I was appalled by how few of my fellow sailors knew where even Iran was and this in the mid-80s.
So as to accents, there is little hope of the average American having a clue.
Pretty sure that Kiwi shoe polish is actually an Australian product… and I had no idea it was popular, or even known, in the US!
I think there really is greater diversity of accent in spoken English within the British Isles than there is in the rest of the English-speaking world put together. I mean the US has some very distinct accents but the number of really distinct accents in the British Isles is amazing.
Most haven’t yet figured out where the Geico gecko comes from.
Preferably from a distance. Or kept safely in cages. One of my friends in college was a Kiwi. I speak from painful experience.
L.A. area. Somewhere near San Gabriel.
I’m not buying it. To me they all sound like Dick van Dyke in “Mary Poppins.”
He’s clearly a species of Day Gecko, so I must presume he is native to one of the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean.
(but that could just be where his family was from originally)
Isn’t New Zealand about the size of one of our fifty states? We have a dozen accent in our own country to keep up with. Why would we be expected to tell the difference between NZ and any other English language accent?
I know one person in NZ. Jamie Frater from Listverse. He seems like a nice enough guy.
Don’t suppose you know him do ya? 