New Zealand vs. America

New Zealand vs. America. So. Many. Differences. I get that their official language is English, but let’s be real – New Zealand English is a whole new language to us. So many things are not what they seem! This goes beyond the lingo. They use the metric system here, they drive on the left, Celsius is used to measure temperature, weight is measured in grams, and clothing and shoe sizes are…confusing. Kiwis have funny taste, too. You’d be surprised what we’ve found in our local grocery store! Our personal [not] favorite: Mint Sauce. Mmmmmm 😉

Okay so let’s start with the differences in NZ English vs. American English. We say tomato while Kiwis say tomato (you read those two differently and you know it, ha!) A little preface: the lists in this post aren’t all-inclusive. It’s what we’ve come across so-far that comes to mind at the moment; I’m sure there are hundreds more. Check it out:

• Afternoon: Arvo
• Awesome: Choice
• Band-aid: Plaster
• Bathroom: Toilet/Dunny
• Bell Peppers: Capsicum
• Candy: Lolly
• Cash Back: Cash Out
• Chips: Crisps
• College: Uni
• Cookies: Biscuits
• Cooler: Chilly Bin
• Cotton Candy: Candy Floss
• Crib: Cot
• Cuppa: Cup of tea
• Debit/Credit: EFTPOS
• Diaper: Nappy
• Diaper Cream: Nappy Balm
• Dish Soap: Dish Liquid
• Elementary/Middle School: Primary School
• Elevator: Lift
• Expensive: Dear
• Flip Flops: Jandals
• Formal/Dressed Nicely: Smart
• Fries: Chips
• Gas: Petrol
• High School: College/Secondary School
• Hoodie: Jersey
• Ice Pop/Popsicle: Ice block
• Ketchup: Tomato Sauce
• Laundry Detergent: Laundry Liquid
• Lots/A bunch: Heaps. I.e. Kiwis use this term heaps
• Mail: Post/Courier
• Mailbox: Letterbox
• Middle of Nowhere: Wop Wops
• Mince: Ground Beef
• Napkins: Serviettes
• Rain Boots: Gumboots
• Sunglasses: Sunnies
• Takeout: Takeaways
• Tasty: Nice
• Tea: Any meal of the day (morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner)
• Thank you: Chur/Ta
• Tired: Knackered
• Trunk of a Car: Boot/Hood of a Car: Bonnet
• Zucchini: Courgette

Next are Kiwi-isms. I’ll include Maori (pronounced mŏw-ree or moldy) phrases that are used regularly. This is a fun one because Kiwis have all kinds of fun sayings that we hadn’t heard of before we moved here. Took us a while to figure out what some of these meant, while others are a little more obvious.

• Kia Ora (pronounced key-ode-ah): Greeting in Maori, means hi, hello, welcome, etc.
• Whanau (pronounced fahn-oh): Family in Maori (in the Maori language, wh is pronounced f as in fish)
• Sweet as: It basically means sweet, cool, awesome, etc. If you add “as” to the end of any word, it emphasizes it like a spoken “!”
• Yeah, naw (means no)/Naw, yeah (means yes)
• Bugger: Dang it! or “That cheeky bugger”
• Cheeky: Smart Alec, someone who’s sarcastic in a humorous way
• Cheers: Thanks or casual goodbye between friends
• Keen: Eager/enthusiastic about doing something. I.e. I’m keen to join you for tea today.
• She’ll be ‘right: Means it’ll be fine or he/she will be fine
• We say: Shoot me an email. They say: Flick me an email.
• We say: A boy named Archie. They say: A boy called Archie
• We say: I’ll give you a call. They say: I’ll give you a ring
• Pack a sad: To be moody
• Suss it out: Figure it out. My neighbor asked me, “Did you suss out the oven yet?” when I was still learning how to use my oven. Little backstory – it took us a whole week to figure out that the oven temp was in Celsius. We may or may not have burnt all our food that first week…and gotten endlessly made fun of for it.
• Stubbies: REALLY short shorts for men
• Aye: Kiwis say this after everything. Pretty cool, aye? Isn’t that right, aye? Never really thought about that, aye.

One last category: foods/drinks that we’re just now discovering that don’t exist in the US. And now that we know about them, we’re a bit obsessed with them.

• Kumara: It’s a sweet potato, but in the US I loathed sweet potatoes. Here? I absolutely LOVE them. There are different types of Kumara, my favorite being Red Kumara.
• Pavlova (Pav for short, since Kiwis shorten everything): It’s a Christmas staple here. It’s basically made of egg whites and sugar and baked to perfection. Kiwis typically top their Pav with whipping cream, fruit, and chocolate shavings.
• Pies. Now I’m not talking about your typical apple pie. Kiwis make these hand-held savory pies. They’re everywhere. You can buy them in the grocery store freezer section, the bakery section if you want fresh ones, and local cafes and bakeries also have them ready-to-go. They come in all different flavors: Mince, mince and cheese, steak and mushroom, potato top, chicken and cranberry, etc. They’re delicious but they’re not the healthiest.
• L&P: Lemon & Paeroa fizzy drink. Tastes like lemon and…paeroa. I know, not super helpful. But I don’t have a good way to describe it. You’ll have to come here and try it for yourself. Matt drinks it like it’s going out of style; I tried it once and thought it was interesting, but I’ll stick with water.
• Lolly Cake: This one isn’t gluten free so I haven’t tried it. Matt loves it though. It’s basically cake with lollies in it. Per Matt – “It is wonderful”.
• Lamington: This one is a cake, but I have only had it in ice cream form. It’s chocolaty with coconut flakes and absolutely melts in your mouth.
• Hokey Pokey Ice Cream: This is easily my favorite flavor of ice cream. It’s a cotton candy tasting ice cream with little hokey pokey (we know it as honeycomb) pieces throughout. DELISH. In fact, New Zealand ice cream is next-level. New Zealand is known for its landscape, which is breathtaking; but the ice cream deserves more recognition than it gets.
• Cheerios/Sausage Sizzle/General New Zealand BBQ: First off, New Zealand BBQ is not what you’re thinking. It’s not Sonny’s. There’s no pulled pork. It’s actually its own unique thing. BBQ is something that can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ll start with sausage sizzle. It’s these delicious sausages that Kiwis everywhere grill and sell for various fundraisers. You buy them in these big bags at the grocery store. The taste and texture is unlike anything you’ve experienced. It’s not like American sausage at all. In fact, I like it so much better. But Matt doesn’t like it that much. Hot dog bun technology hasn’t made its way to New Zealand yet, so Kiwis butter their bread and stick the sausage right in it. Next are cheerios (not to be confused with the cereal). These are red-cased mini sausages that are popular at birthday parties. They have the same texture as regular sausages, but their taste is a little more bland. Kiwis prefer to eat them with tomato sauce. As for the rest of New Zealand BBQ, they cook up delicious burgers and potato salads and all the usual grill-out foods you’d expect at a 4th of July celebration. Honestly, I could eat it all the time!

New Zealand is a funny place. We’re feeling more accustomed to it now that we’ve been here for a few months. I’d say we’re catching on pretty quickly. We’re experiencing a whole new world; it’s definitely a learning curve. We are loving trying all these new foods, and at the same time we’d be lying if we said we didn’t miss the staples from back home that are no longer available to us. There is a silver lining: as many of the processed foods aren’t as readily available (think: canned pumpkin), we end up making things from scratch, which is not only better for you – it’s also way more flavorful! This year our pumpkin pie was totally from scratch and it was the best dang thing I’ve ever tasted.

P.S. here’s a funny video by How to Dad on the differences between the US and NZ. Enjoy!

Cheers y’all,

The Cullums