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cultivation is also a major
source of methane emissions.
It is also true that animals
lead to higher emissions of
nitrous oxide, but mainly
when the nitrogenous material
is not managed properly, so
it can be handled. Crops usu-
ally have significant nitrogen
fertiliser added to increase
yields, and this also leads to
nitrous oxide. The manufac-
ture of nitrogen fertiliser is a
major source of CO 2 emis-
sions, and crops, if you desire
a high yield, tend to have a lot
of pesticides, herbicides and
other materials added, all of
which have led to a lot of CO 2
emissions. There are also those
from the fuel burnt by tractors.
It would be much more
helpful if these “experts” could
advocate something positive
rather than demanding those
who are easier targets stop
doing something. The heavy
industries are far worse emit-
ters, but the “experts” tend to
rely on their support for their
income.
Ian Miller
(Lower Hutt)
LETTER OF THE WEEK
The story about the future of
food seemed hellbent on tell-
ing people it is hard to go to a
whole-food plant-based diet,
citing melodramatic cases of
failed vegan attempts. It’s not
that hard.
Speaking of which
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Jane Clifton and Mark
Broatch’s first-class examina-
tion of the New Zealand accent
(“Speaking our language”,
August 31) could well have
included the contribution
made by John Key. The former
PM couldn’t (or wouldn’t)
pronounce “women” – and
constantly referred to “the
men and woman of New Zea-
land”. This is now commonly
heard.
As is also the academically
named metathesis – in which
New Zealanders reverse the
middle of words. A promi-
nent TV personality recently
admitted that she’d always
said “eck-cetre” and didn’t
know there was any other
way. Her newsreading col-
leagues look at their script, but
then announce something
is “vun-lerable”. Even Māori
place names aren’t spared:
Manurewa becomes Manu-
wera and the buses of a tourist
firm announce trips to Cape
Rienga. Its name is Rēinga.
Another speech/accent
development is the frequent
use of “baby talk”, academi-
cally known as hypocorism:
drinkies and rellies, for exam-
ple. This recently reached a
high point when a senior TV
weather presenter described
the day’s various weather
events and then said, “We’ve
got piccies to show you.”
The “emerging distinctive
culture” that the story suggests
our “ixcent” is part of may
have already materialised.
Max Cryer
(Three Kings, Auckland)
Poor Grandpapa! Arnold Wall,
who lived from 1869 to 1966,
was a professor of English and,
through his radio programmes
and newspaper columns, for
decades a font of wisdom and
knowledge for New Zealand-
ers interested in written and
spoken English. Ironically,
not only was the brass plaque
commemorating him in the
Christchurch Botanic Gardens
misspelt, but also the Listener
referred to him as “Arthur”.
I’m sure he would have
been amused by the latter,
but he would frown at the
increasingly nasal quality of
our speech and be completely
bewildered and appalled by
the language and intonation
patterns of young New Zea-
landers, which, like, mimics
that of American sitcoms.
I recall from my childhood
the only firm and repeated
correction he would make
was to the mispronunciation
of “manooka” (mānuka),
impressing on me the need to
treat Māori syllables equally,
with a slight emphasis on the
first. If alive now, he would
be delighted by the beautiful,
fluent te reo spoken by many
broadcasters, but wince at
their mangling of such simple
English words as “pitcher” for
“picture”. In his view, the qual-
ity and attention given both
languages mattered equally:
he would wonder why no one
in broadcasting now cared
enough to correct the English
mispronunciations.
Mattie Wall
(Westmere, Auckland)
Apologies for the error. And
thanks, too, to those readers who
pointed out that a merkin is a
pubic wig, not a public one. As
correspondent David Barber aptly
quipped, “What the L!” – Ed
On the subject of pronun-
ciation, a British author
was doing a book-signing
in Sydney. When a young
woman bearing a copy of the
book approached her, she (the
author) asked her name. The
woman responded by asking
what the price of the book
was. The author duly signed
the book “To my dear Emma
Chissit”.
Bernard Redshaw
(Nelson)
FEEDING THE PLANET
One of the more depressing
facts about climate change
is that the emphasis is on
giving up something – usually
advocated by those who want
someone else to give up some-
thing, not themselves (“What’s
for dinner?”, August 24).
Those wanting to require
meat to be given up for crop-
ping should recall that much
of the land animals graze
is unsuitable for crops. The
carbon that animals that feed
on pasture emit all came from
the atmosphere. It is true that
methane is a worse greenhouse
gas than carbon dioxide, but it
has a relatively short life before
it reverts to CO 2.
As it happens, rice
The winner
receives
immunity
and vision
supplements
from Mānuka
Health.
Letter of the week