Blog Archives

Naughty bits, A K Grant

A Dictionary of Modern New Zealand Slang ed Harry Orsman Oxford University Press, $24.95, ISBN 0 19 558408 2 Harry Orsman achieved semi-divine status among New Zealand scholars with the publication of his highly-acclaimed Dictionary of New Zealand English. But…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

Mapping the citadel, Lydia Wevers

The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature in English Roger Robinson and Nelson Wattie (eds) Oxford University Press, $79.95 ISBN 0 19558348 5 The publication of this book should have been timed for the millennium. If there is going to…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

Culling the China disease, Chris Elder

The Foreign Expert: A New Zealand Journalist in China Mervyn Cull Hazard Press $24.95 ISBN 1 877161 03 9 China’s English-language press is full of the unexpected. It ranges from unlooked-for revelations (my favourite is a story which read, from…
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Posted in Language, Media, Non-fiction, Review

Signing on, Rachel Locker McKee

A Dictionary of New Zealand Sign Language Graeme Kennedy (ed) Auckland University Press with Bridget Williams Books $99.95 ISBN 1 86940164 6 A national taonga has been quietly hidden from most people’s view until the recent arrival on booksellers’ shelves…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

When the conversation lollies run out, Patrick Evans

The Dictionary of New Zealand English: New Zealand words and their origins ed H W Orsman Oxford University Press, $150.00, ISBN 0 19 558347 7 It is nearly 20 years since I and a number of fellow conference-goers spent an…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

The logology of aa to zz, Howard Warner

The Dictionary of Two‑Letter Words in English Jeff Grant Glenda Foster, no price given, no ISBN Available from the author, Waipatu Settlement Road, RD2, Hastings Did you know that the American spelling “ax” existed in English long before “axe” did?…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

Exploding the myths of newzilnspeak, David Britain

Kiwitalk: Sociolinguistics and New Zealand Society Donn Bayard Dunmore Press, $39.95 ISBN 0 86469 220 X Among the many revolutions that took place in New Zealand in the 1980s, one was sociolinguistic. Twenty years ago, very little had been written…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology

Keeping the specs clean, Janet Holmes

Every researcher has a responsibility to the wider community, although the best way of meeting that responsibility will vary. It may mean illuminating our teaching with information from our research, it may involve sharing the intellectual excitement of the research…
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Posted in Comment, Language

Wincing and reading on, Barbara Mabbett

Style Book: a guide for New Zealand writers and editors Derek Wallace and Janet Hughes, (revised and expanded) GP Publications, $29.95 ISBN 1 86956 123 6 The word “style”, occupying as it does several columns of the Big Oxford, can…
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Posted in Language, Non-fiction, Review

Kei Te Mātāwai Te Tikanga, Charles Royal

Te Mātāwai, Nā Hepora Young o Te Arawā ēnei pukapuka i whakahaere Hepora Young Tuatahi: Te Tira Ahu Iwi/ Daphne Brasell Associates, $12.95, Tuarua: Te Tira Ahu Iwi/ Huia, $14.95, Tuatoru: Te Puni Kōkiri/ Huia, $14.95, Tuawhā: Te Puni Kōkiri/…
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Posted in Language, Māori, Non-fiction, Review
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