Why don't you go flat out, sit down with a cuppa and take a squiz at our mean as list of Kiwi slang. No worries bro if it looks a bit munted, she’ll be right, it’s just the way Kiwis talk in En Zed. After reading this, blow me down if you won’t be stoaked when it comes to speaking here. But don’t go half pie, go all out eh, and earn yourself some Maori roast, a handle or some hokey pockey.
If you didn't understand the above, don't worry. We are here to help with exactly that.
The creation of Kiwi slang occurred at the same time as the creation of what would commonly be referred to as New Zealand English. The irreversible conglomeration of the mixing pot of tongues that melded to create the New Zealand accent and the words it utilizes are undeniably linked, and knowledge of one lends itself to understanding of the other. New Zealand English and the Kiwi slang it employs can be considered to be a dialect of English. In this light, the closest thing to New Zealand English is Australian English or even South African English. Yet while this may hold true in an academic sense, it is clear that New Zealand English draws its strongest bases and influences from the origins of the people who live there,in this case South England.
The terms used in Kiwi Slang draw themselves from a number of key factors. One of the biggest is the influence of the local Maori people, who inhabited the land before the arrival of the pakeha (Europeans). Countless words, sayings and colloquialisms were created when Europeans lived next to the Maori. To this day this influence asserts itself with words still persisting and modern day kiwi slang use. The natural surroundings of New Zealand and the Maori words for them played an incredibly important role also.
Vocation played another strong role in defining Kiwi Slang. Aspects of terms used throughout farming and livestock raising crept and stayed in the common Kiwi vernacular. This aspect New Zealand shares with Australia with a number of agricultural terms being shared between the neighbours.
In some cases Kiwi Slang has no real root beyond the fact that a work used by an immigrant took to being used by locals. Creek, as used in America, is a prime example of this. While it would seem logical for stream to be used in New Zealand, as per the British utilization, it somehow came to be picked up from an American settler.