6 LISTENER SEPTEMBER 14 2019
LETTERS
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“In New Zealand, you have
to say, ‘Just these, thanks’, as
you place your items on the
counter, otherwise they will
not serve you and assume
you are requiring many
more items.” – comedian
Lauren Mabbett“Word of the day: Boris-
Noris (19th century) – to
go on blindly, without any
thought of risk or decency.”- QI’s Twitter account
“There are different ways
to win the mayoral race:
there’s your John Tamihere,
which is overpromise,
underdeliver; Phil Goff’s
underpromise, overdeliver;
or the Len Brown – over the
couch, under the desk.”
– Jeremy Corbett on 7 Days“In my newspaper office,
there used to be a sub-editor
who kept disappearing from
his desk. He was nicknamed
Red October. We knew he
was a sub but no one had a
clue where the hell he was.”- NZ Herald Sideswipe columnist
Ana Samways
“Remember that rugby is
a team game: all 14 of you
make sure you pass the
ball to Jonah.” – fax to the All
Blacks at 1995 Rugby World Cup,
quoted in Rugby Folklore“Animal cruelty is wrong,
until it results in a tasty
meal.” – seen on animal-rights
T-shirt“The Brits maybe need a bit
of sun sometimes!” – Swiss
tennis player Roger Federer“Our war on nature must
end.” – climate activist Greta
Thunberg“Arrsum overe titium, as we
say in Latin.” – UK broadcaster
Andrew Neil on falling off a bikeQuips&
Quotes
The terraces were not simply
drowned by the new lake, they
and everything around them
ceased to exist, although some
think that fragments remain.
Graeme Easte
(Mt Albert, Auckland)ACCENTUATE THE DIFFERENCE
“Speaking our language”
(August 31) missed a distinc-
tive trend in recent years,
more noticeable in the North
Island than the South, for
verbs ending in “-ing” to be
pronounced – “een”. At risk
of a REE-PEAT, here are some
examples: pain for paying,
sane for saying and bean for
being. It can cause confusion.
Neville Peat
(Dunedin)Australians love mimicking
our accent (quite often incor-
rectly – it’s hard to imitate).
On my first day at the ABC, a
woman held up six fingers and
asked, “How many is this?”
Fortunately, I had the wit
to answer, “Half a dozen”. She
was disappointed.
John Stewart
(Auckland)I haven’t done any formal
study in linguistics since I
was an undergraduate in
the 1980s, but, undeterred
by my lack of any actual
expertise, I would posit that
the mispronunciation of
“Reinga” highlighted by Max
Cryer (Letters, September 7) isOver the next week, restaurants
will be throwing up all sorts of
treats including pies, dump-
lings, high teas, cocktails, and
beer and food matches.
Dominion Post, 24/8/[He] is the first person in
Taranaki to have dual black
belts in marital arts.
Taranaki Daily News, 26/8/A poem expresses perfectly the
things we feel deeply, but may
not be able to put into words.
stuff.co.nz, 22/8/The Sky Waka will only be open
to access for sightseeing and
not for skiing & boarding due to
zero visibility.
mtruapehu.com, 24/8/More work is needed to
understand the cost of sex
for the Scilly females and the
benefit of sex in Wellington.
Waikato Times, 26/8/Dessen’s latest story doesn’t
fail to disappoint fans of her
gripping and relatable stories.
NZ Herald, 27/7/Life in New Zealand
LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND: Entries must describe New Zealand events. The first sender
of those accepted will receive a $5 Booksellers voucher. Enclose name, address and
source/date; TV and radio entries must also include specific time. No correspondence
will be entered into. SEND TO: Life in NZ, Listener, Private Bag 92512, Wellesley St,
Auckland 1141. Picture files only can be emailed to: [email protected]of the Pink and White Terraces
having survived the cataclys-
mic eruption of 1886. The
total destruction of the famous
terraces was known 133
years ago when the Surveyor-
General reported to Parliament
that “the ground around the
terraces and under them had
been blown out for several
hundred feet”. I found his
report in 2004, while research-
ing maps for a reprint of A
Canoe in the Mist, Elsie Locke’s
book about the eruption.
The terraces and the
original very shallow LakeRotomahana between them
had vanished in the midst of
an enormous steam explosion
that occurred several hours
after the Mt Tarawera eruption,
blowing about 500,000,000cu
m of rock into the sky and
over the surrounding district.
Replacing the lake and terraces
was the giant Rotomahana
Crater, 5.5km long and about
160m deep. A much larger
Lake Rotomahana soon
formed in the crater, with its
surface 10m higher than the
original lake and its bottom
about 150m lower.The Editor, Listener, Private Bag
92512, Wellesley St, Auckland 1141.Letters to the editor
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not acceptable. ● We reserve
the right to edit or decline
letters without explanation, or
to post them to our website.“And this was me yesterday, showing you the
pictures I’d taken of myself the day before.”