In an amazing turn of events, the veteran UK puppet-satire TV series has added New Zealand’s prime minister to their cast of characters. José Barbosa is surprised to find the sock puppet wags appear to know their Kiwi culture. Like many of you out there, I’ve been enjoying the Spitting Image sketch featuring Jacinda Ardern … Read more
Communication broke down in Britain’s parliament this week as a New Zealand-born MP struggled with another member’s Glaswegian accent. Sir Paul Beresford, MP for the Mole Valley in the British parliament, grew up in Levin and studied dentistry at Otago University before moving to the UK in the 70s to work in the NHS. “I’ve … Read more
Has there ever been a good pretend Kiwi accent on screen? Like, ever? Madeleine Chapman searches far and wide for one, just one, decent New Zealand accent. What’s in a name? Not a lot of vowels if the name is New Zealand and spoken with a New Zealand accent. The near absence of vowel sounds … Read more
New Zealanders sometimes like to claim that they are a classless society but anyone studying New Zealand English would know this isn’t true, writes NZ language expert Elizabeth Gordon In the early 1900s people were commenting on the newly developing New Zealand accent. They called it a “colonial twang” and they hated it. They said … Read more
The National MP’s leadership bid has put his broad Kiwi accent back in the spotlight. Henderson-Massey local board chair and ‘proud Westie’ Shane Henderson thinks we should all lay off the jokes. I can empathise a little with Simon Bridges. Not with his politics, but with his accent. Last week Bridges announced his intention to … Read more