“Yeah, Nah.”
Otherwise said as, “Yes, No.”
One of the things, with being part of a world community and writing books for people who may or may not speak English as a second language, is I can’t ease Kiwi slang into the work without risking being misunderstood. So as we head into my quiet season (I get SAD) and I madly work on getting the temperament book out and the tantrum book finished, I thought I’d write a tiny post and share a couple of pieces great Kiwi slang. See if you can fit these into some of your conversations and watch the reactions of other people!
“Yeah, Nah” or “Yes, No” this means: Yes I have heard your point of view, but No you are wrong – usually followed by a sentence to explain why the other person is wrong.
“Box of Birds” – means full of energy, also could be “Box of Fluffy Ducks” or even a “Box of Fluffies.”
“Yeah, Right” - sarcasm that means either:
1. No, Wrong in every way.
2. As a dismissive statement implying no-one actually cares (as in when someone is trying to appear smart or more important than than actually are).
Now shortened to “Tui” (Tooo-eeee) due to a beer company marketing scheme. (http://www.tui.co.nz/Home/) You can check out some of these on my pinterest page (http://pinterest.com/kloppenmum/) - I tried embedding some, but I had a techo fail. Sigh. Again. Sigh.
Anyhoo, have a great day.
I’ll make an effort to use yeah, nah” today.
On ya! (Short for “good on you mate, that’t the way to go…
)
My degree is in creative writing, and it broke my heart to learn most of the time it was best to write formal. Unless you were working on a specific Voice. So I totally understand your frustration and I applaud your editing efforts. With that said, I heart “box of birds” and will use it to describe my boys from here on out.
From what you’ve told me via your blog, I think ‘Box of Birds’ is an excellent description of your boys.
Mine too, one at 5.30am most mornings..!