HARRY ORSMAN

AN ADDRESS GIVEN BY STUART JOHNSTON AT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST TERESA, NZWORDS KARORI, , 13 JUNE 2002

It is a privilege to have years on, Harry would still convulse been asked to speak himself with mirth recalling his exploits about Harry Orsman. I with those unwieldy early tape-recorders have been trying to as he travelled the country collecting— bring some order to the and then sometimes erasing—oral thoughts and feelings evidence for his study of New Zealand that crowded in on language. How much would need to be learning of his death, by reflecting on packed into a sketch, inspired by Harry, AUGUST 2002 some of the meanings of the word entitled A Patient Scholar, or one NUMBER 6 ‘character’, as one might find them set capturing the essence of A Glad Teacher, PUBLISHED ANNUALLY out by a dictionary-maker like Harry. alive with the spirit of Chaucer’s Clerk: ‘gladly would he learn and gladly teach’. EDITORIAL In the literature curriculum that Behind the sketch of A Compleat Editor We dedicate this issue to the memory of Harry and I studied, an interesting by-way could lie Harry’s careful crafting of the New Zealand’s most accomplished, most was an unfamiliar 17th-century genre, reports of five royal commissions chaired durable, and most loved lexicographer, Dr Harold William Orsman CNZM that of the Character books: -collections by his good friend Thaddy McCarthy. (1928–2002), known to many simply as of brief sketches of various types of ‘Harry O’. person. At their best these Characters How fully Harry exemplified the The inaugural NZWords included the text were crisp, witty, single paragraphs, full of character of An Oral Historian. Or that of of an address by Stuart Johnston at a insights from the writer’s knowledge of A Prodigious Reader. Many of his Victoria University function marking the publication of Harry Orsman’s Dictionary particularly memorable individuals. I can students and colleagues could flesh out of New Zealand English in 1997. Here just a think of so many titles under which a the sketch of A Wise Mentor. He had a few years on in sadder times we print present-day writer could evoke the multi- remarkable gift for helping students who Professor Johnston’s warm and eloquent tribute to his friend and colleague, faceted, multi-talented personality of had got themselves into seemingly delivered at the Requiem Mass for Harry in Harry Orsman. Some of the 17th-century hopeless academic and administrative Wellington on 13 June this year. titles look promising: A Down-right tangles. There was no stylised tableau like In his regular contribution ‘From the Scholar, A Modest Man, A Good Old that of a kindly passer-by helping a lame Centre’ Graeme Kennedy also writes of Man. How easy it would be to fashion the dog slide over a stile; Harry’s way was to Orsman’s generous and invaluable legacy to New Zealand lexicography and to the paragraph on A Family Man. Or the lift them well clear of the obstacle, then New Zealand Dictionary Centre Character of a True Friend. For me the give the impediment a good kick or two specifically. latter would be triggered by memories for being in the way. Behind the sketch of As editor both of the first New Zealand from 45 years ago, when we were both A Generous Collaborator could lie dictionary (the Heinemann in 1979) and new householders, breaking in raw Harry’s unstinted assistance to the of the colossal work on historical principles sections in Upper Hutt, and sharing the editors of the supplements to the OED, that brought such deserved acclaim in his final years, Harry O’s own place in history frustrations of the do-it-yourself and of the Australian National Dictionary, as pre-eminent recorder of New challenged, and the hazards of getting and to many others. Think what could be Zealanders’ ways with words is assured. into town in time to take 8 a.m. tutorials. glanced at in the character sketch of A Much interesting work on New Zealand I can think of so many acts of generosity Mocker of Vanities. What rich memories vocabulary and vocabularies continues to and support from Harry over the years. would surface in recalling Harry as An be done, as evidenced by the three other contributions in this issue, all of which we He had so many friends who could say Organiser of Conferences! can be sure Harry would have read with the same. much pleasure. For all who venture into I could go on nominating such titles the field of New Zealand words Harry Orsman’s lexicographical endeavours will Many other Character sketches could for Character sketches illuminated by our be an inspiration and a reflect our experience of Harry—A knowledge of Harry, and you would note profound influence for a very long time to Storyteller, for instance, although a the paradoxes and striking contrasts come. further sketch would be needed, that of A between them. I would simply enlist on Teller of Inconclusive Stories, given the Harry’s behalf Walt Whitman’s famous Tony Deverson Editor, NZWords way Harry was prone to interrupt himself words: Associate Director, with uproarious asides that swept him off NZDC track. You all have your favourite Harry Do I contradict myself? stories, and will have a chance to share Very well then I contradict myself, them after Mass. I loved the way that, fifty (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

THE NEW ZEALAND DICTIONARY CENTRE A joint project between VICTORIA UNIVERSITY OF WELLINGTON 1 and OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Turning to another richly evocative selves. That volume of essays and poems Hardie Boys at Government House. A sense of the word, I reflect on the ways by twenty-eight of his colleagues and few months later there was the public in which Harry was ‘a bit of a character’. former students—the Festschrift Of installing of Harry as Doctor of Or, in the vernacular he delighted in, a Pavlova, Poetry and Paradigms—is Literature at the university’s graduation real dag of a joker. There was something testimony of a rare kind to the hold he ceremony (marked, very unusually, by a inescapably roguish in his personality. had taken on their minds and hearts. standing ovation from the large We can all vividly recall encounters with assembly of his academic colleagues), his overflowing zest for life, his I like one dictionary’s definition of followed a few weeks later by his irrepressible sense of fun, his reluctance the final sense of ‘character’ that shapes appointment as a Companion of the to conform to the bland pieties of social my regard for Harry. ‘Character: moral New Zealand Order of Merit. We know decorum, his impeccable sense of strength, especially if highly developed how much Harry enjoyed this mark of wrong—or right—timing on formal or evident.’ My focus in reflecting on recognition—as he told a reporter, he occasions, for choosing to share, too this aspect is here—Harry’s great was not only rapt, he was glad-wrapped. loudly for comfort, some subversive Dictionary of New Zealand English. I do not Then in 1998 he was awarded the insight. need to traverse the whole story of his Montana Medal for the non-fiction book journey towards this high point of his of the year. The more I came to know Harry over scholarly career—it has become so well almost fifty years—and I defer to Des known. The dictionary itself in so many He leaves a rich legacy, here in this Hurley, Maurice McIntyre, and Felix of its citations traces the growth of his volume, which will continue to inform, Kane, who knew Harry at St Pat’s, fascination with New Zealand English entertain, stimulate, and challenge for Silverstream; to Alistair Campbell, who from his childhood, ‘down Havelock’, many decades to come. Harry’s gifting met him at Weir House; and to others onwards. As Harry was fond of saying, of his intellectual property rights in the here who knew him for longer—the the project that began as a PhD thesis in dictionary and the transferring of his more I realised that what he had done 1951 rather got out of hand, and took rich store of research evidence—far was to create a highly colourful persona, the next forty-six years to complete. more than could be directly used in the a ‘character’, also confusingly called volume—have become the basis of the Harry Orsman, which he played hard It has been praised and honoured as ongoing collaboration between Harry’s whenever he was sufficiently provoked— a triumph of learning, as a masterwork publishers, OUP, and Victoria by the crassness of some figures in of scholarship. I want to honour and University, in the New Zealand authority, by the dullness of complacent praise it today as a triumph of character, Dictionary Centre, which is responsible conformity, or, most of all, by his finely of determination, of moral strength for maintaining and updating the DNZE tuned detection of unfairness or highly developed and plainly evident. database and for future revisions of it, injustice. Those who saw Harry only in How easy it would have been through for conducting research on New one of his more extravagant moments as those long years for him to let go of the Zealand language, and for preparing a lord of misrule could make the grave vision, to have found any number of other dictionaries and related mistake of thinking that this was the only reasons for abandoning the project and educational materials. Harry. letting the accumulated materials gather dust. What character there was in his He leaves another legacy, intangible As age and declining health took sense of responsibility to his material, to but immensely pervasive: the memories their toll he put aside that rumbustious the discipline he served, to those who his friends, colleagues, and students will character. Perhaps the provocations just had helped him, to the university he be buoyed up by as they have occasion to receded—so that everyone saw, all the loved. I remain in awe of the way, in the reflect, with enduring respect and time, the gentler Harry whom those latter stages of his work on the gratitude, on all that Harry meant in closest to him had known, had admired, dictionary, that Harry took hold of the their lives. Already messages are coming and had loved for many years. What was shifts in computer technology, seized in from Harry’s international colleagues it they had known? If I may venture to funding opportunities, recruited at the headquarters of the Oxford English speak for his colleagues, it was surely an excellent assistants, and turned his Dictionary and elsewhere that movingly extraordinary gift for friendship, a largely solo endeavour into a large-scale express the loss they feel. constantly enlivening wit, a remarkable team project, led with flair and sensitivity to the needs and difficulties of executive brilliance. I have spoken of Harry as friends and others, and unfailingly generous interest colleagues have known him. I cannot in and support for their work. That How marvellous it is that in the past hope to draw close to what his death breadth of interest and encouragement nine years, from the year of Harry’s must mean to Elizabeth and her reached out to people working in other retirement from the university, there children and their families. May I simply fields, and not just in academic circles. have been so many festive occasions on offer them, on behalf of you all, and of which we have been able to see Harry’s many more in many other places in New In the volume of essays assembled in delight, both at the completion of his Zealand and in other countries, our love honour of Harry I pointed to one of his heroic task and at the recognition he and sympathy; and the hope that our greatest qualities: ‘his gift for putting the had received. There was the launching uniting with them and accompanying decisions and ideas of others to the test of Of Pavlova, Poetry and Paradigms in them in this Requiem liturgy will help to of common sense and humanity’, for 1993, then in July 1997 the formal comfort and sustain them. saving us sometimes from our worst launching of the DNZE by Sir Michael

PAGE 2 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002 MAORI LOANWORDS AND NEW ZEALAND HUMOUR JOHN MACALISTER

It is the borrowings from te reo Maori that Certainly, humour is something more formation processes when attempting this most obviously distinguish the New Zealand than the generator of a belly laugh—or an form of humour. Possibly the most common English vocabulary from that of other unappreciative groan. Diana Witchel, writing method of creating a humorous word is varieties of the language. Although the in the Listener in 1992, commented on one through hybridisation; that is, creating a term majority of these borrowings are used in a such failed attempt at humour. that contains an English-language element straightforward, literal sense, there is also a and a Maori-language component, with the subversive undercurrent of use that draws on At least everyone else looked professional new term being analogous to either a Maori the Maori language to create a uniquely New beside Bert, whose idea of a Kiwi joke is to or an English model. Zealand humour. Quite possibly this say: ‘Kia Ora, Heinz and Worcestershire to Examples of hybrids created by analogy undercurrent emerged early in New Zealand’s you all!’ Seeing what passes for light with a Maori original are the place names post-contact history. This article discusses that entertainment in the rest of the world Poofanui (for the up-market resort of use, and groups examples according to the makes you grateful we don’t have any Pauanui) and Tigertigerumu (for word formation process used. here. Paraparaumu during the 2002 New Zealand Humour is, of course, very much in the Golf Open, which featured Tiger Woods). eye of the beholder. Dictionary makers may Despite Witchel’s gloomy assessment of There is a potato variety called Waitangy, and fudge the issue of defining humour by the situation, there is plenty of evidence that in Otago the locals are alleged to practise applying the descriptive label joc. In this humorous word play is alive and well in New Scottytanga, the key component of which discussion, the term will be taken to Zealand. In New Zealand English, both Maori appears to be the free borrowing of other encompass the wry, the clever, and the and Pakeha speakers use borrowings from the people’s possessions. Not all such creations creative. Sometimes, it needs to be noted, Maori language with humorous intent, and are proper nouns. A farmer’s march on attempts at humour can be offensive. What the examples used in this article derive from Parliament was labelled a cock-oi (cf. hikoi), may be acceptable intra-group is not both. Indeed, with examples drawn from and from the Porirua area come reports of acceptable inter-group. A Maori comedian written sources it is often impossible to the weather being makachilly (after makariri). such as Billy T. James could be celebrated for identify the author. Analogies with English-language originals his linguistic humour, but similar jokes could Creating Hybrids are also to be found. One trouble-plagued be deemed offensive and racist when used by inter-island ferry was rechristened the The available data suggests that New non-Maori. Aratanic by Wellingtonians, Waiouru’s climate Zealanders principally rely on two word is celebrated in the moniker Waiberia, and Own the World’s Greatest Dictionary...

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PAGE 3 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002 there are no prizes for guessing the location Both of these jokes originated with Maori Minister of Youth. His appointment … was of Rotovegas. Another interesting creation is speakers, but become less acceptable when announced by the leader of the new Nice Maussie: repeated by non-Maori. Another example, Government, Mr Happy Smiles … which was almost certainly a Pakeha creation ‘I call myself a Maussie—a Maori Aussie. and which would today be regarded as in Another place name borrowed from I’ve got a big moko tattooed on my chest.’ dubious taste, is this riddle from the Taranaki Maori and sometimes used to humorous Punch of 1861. effect is that of the Auckland suburb Other examples are Whetugate, Tukugate, Remuera, as in the nickname for the suburb’s and that Auckland institution, the Kai Cart. Why is the Maori like a dutiful son? allegedly ubiquitous four-wheel-drive vehicles, The same process was at work in the Because he is fond of his pa. the Remuera tractor or the Remuera taxi. creation of a list of the Top Five Maori Films At a different end of the socio-economic of All Time, circulated by e-mail, that Sound similarities also explain pairings scale, Porirua has also acquired certain included Four Hangis and a Tangi and Fear such as hui-ing and fro-ing, too much hui and connotations, as in Porirua briefcase, a and Loathing in Rotovegas. not enough do-ey, and the hoo-ha over puha, possibly offensive term for that 1980s A slightly different method of as well as new creations along the lines of phenomenon, the ghettoblaster. hybridisation is illustrated by such terms as koru-tastrophe and, another personal Further examples might include Lynn of kina-cut, hui-hopper, mana-muncher, and the favourite, Te Ware Whare (where everyone Tawa, the imaginary Waikikamukau, and the fashionable shoe, the pipi-picker. In these gets a bargain). bad taste Waiouru blonde, which, in addition examples, the first three of which appear to One-Off Humour to the meaning provided by Harry Orsman’s be of Maori invention, a new compound word Dictionary of Modern New Zealand Slang, is also Many of the examples of humour arising from is created from existing lexical items, one reputed to be a sheep. the interaction of te reo Maori and English drawn from each of the two contributing share one or more of the following Ngati languages. characteristics, characteristics that might limit The second well-accepted method is the use Playing With Sound an item’s potential for assimilation into the of the iwi prefix Ngati to convey a community New coinings other than those arising through New Zealand English lexicon: they are of interest, as in Ngati Cappucino, Ngati Koru the hybridisation process appear to be generally found in spoken New Zealand Club, Ngati Nimby, and Ngati We-Were-Here- infrequent contributors to the lexicon of New English rather than written; they are nonce Firsts, described as ‘the holidaymakers who’ve Zealand humour; tukus as a synonym for formations; they are specific to particular been trekking over the hills for years’ to Piha. ‘underpants’, for instance, does not appear to events; they are regional; and often their Other examples, placed in a Maori military have caught on. A second process, homophony, intention appears to be to disparage, to make context, are Ngati Walkabout and Ngati however, contributes substantially to the fun of someone or something or somewhere. Kaupois, a rendering of ‘cowboys’. corpus of examples, although it must be A considerable number of the examples Adapting Idioms admitted that the sound similarity is often cited above are therefore likely to be The third process that is likely to produce loose. Thus, another of the invented film ephemeral creations, and not to become a additions to the lexicon is that of substituting titles, There’s Something About Maui, permanent feature of the New Zealand a Maori element for an English element in an Taranaki’s inter-iwi sports competition, Pa English lexicon. There are, on the other English-language idiom, particularly when Wars, and a shop named Moazark. Similarly, hand, certain methods of lexical generation that idiom is fixed. For instance, ‘to put the the opera singer ’s name has that appear to be well utilised means of cat among the pigeons’ becomes to put the given rise to some creative, perhaps adding humour to the lexicon. Often, but not cat among the kereru, or ‘as dead as a dodo’ apocryphal, restaurant dishes—Curry Te always, they result in the creation of further as dead as a moa. Knock me down with a Kanawa, Kiri Te Kumara, and Kiwi Te Kanawa, humorous hybrids. mere, on the other hand, is likely to have been a kiwifuit mousse. Productive Place Names a one-off, as is kapa haka to Seatoun’s ears. The similarity between paua and ‘power’ The first is the connotations attached to a Other examples of the adaptation of fixed has also provided opportunities for such word handful of place names sometimes used to idioms are to suck the kumara, trying play, with The Paua and the Glory by A.K. humorous effect. Place names are, of course, someone in a kumara court, and describing Grant and Tom Scott being one example and the most commonly encountered borrowing someone as being either a pain in the puku or the pseudo-protest slogan paua to the people from te reo Maori into New Zealand English. a couple of kumara short of a hangi. another. Perhaps the most productive among them, for Not all idioms are fixed, however, and A personal favourite has to be the humorous purposes, is Taranaki, which, in those that are not also have the opportunity to suggestion that Wellington’s stadium situated The Dictionary of New Zealand English, provides be adapted to humorous effect, although beside the railway lines be named Te Kapa, for ten such collocations, including Taranaki these have less likelihood of entering the ‘with appropriate decoration (a thin line bedside light, Taranaki salute, Taranaki lexicon. One such example is the newspaper drawn round it near the top), the stadium sunshine, Taranaki topdressing, Taranaki headline Have taiaha, will travel. could be reminiscent of the old railways violin, and Taranaki wool, as well as the iconic teacup’. Te Kapa would have provided an Looking Ahead Taranaki gate. To these could be added the ironic counterbalance to the gravitas of Te This type of humour can operate successfully more recent Taranaki wind (i.e. natural gas). Papa. only in a New Zealand context. The fact that The abbreviated form the ’naki would also be In this same category can be included a it exists and that it is appreciated is an a candidate for the descriptive label joc. joke that went around some years ago. The indication of the degree to which borrowings Eketahuna (sometimes spelt Ekatahuna) is joke works, at least in part, because New from te reo Maori have entered New Zealand another place name often used to raise a Zealanders have an awareness that syllable- English and the degree to which New smile, evoking as it does both quintessential timing is a feature of the Maori language. Zealanders have at least a passive knowledge rural middle-New Zealandness and the urban of the Maori language. What the effect on notion of the ultimate in backblockedness. What’s Maori for a car radio aerial? New Zealand humour of these characteristics Te kotanga. of the language situation will be in the future The huge response when Richard [Long] is impossible to predict, but it is safe to assume was dropped … Mr and Mrs Eketahuna A similar example, included in a recent that there will be many more occasions to saw it as a divorce in the family. television documentary, The Last Laugh, was: smile, to laugh, and, inevitably, to groan. Dateline 1972: Arthur Hoggins, a 21-year- What did the Maoris say to Captain Cook? John Macalister is a PhD research fellow at the New old plumber’s mate from Eketahuna, was Park here (pronounced he-ah). Zealand Dictionary Centre at Victoria University of last night named the country’s first Wellington.

PAGE 4 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002 FROM The New Zealand Dictionary MAILBAG Centre is jointly funded by Oxford University Press and Victoria University of Wellington to The Editor of NZWords welcomes readers’ THE letters and other contributions on their research all aspects of New Zealand English and to publish recent observations of New Zealand usage, New Zealand dictionaries and both positive and negative. CENTRE Please write to: other works. Tony Deverson, Editor, NZWords Department of English, University of Canterbury Private Bag 4800, Christchurch Fax: (03) 364 2065 Graeme Kennedy, Director Email: [email protected] New Zealand Dictionary Centre

Harry Orsman, doyen of lexicographers of Zealand Dictionary Centre. It is no Graeme Kennedy New Zealand English, died on 10 June 2002, exaggeration to say that the Centre would not Director, New Zealand in his seventy-fourth year. For those who had exist today, as a joint venture between Victoria Dictionary Centre the privilege of working closely with him, University of Wellington and Oxford School of Linguistics and Harry was a loyal, generous, intelligent, and University Press, if it had not been for the Applied Language Studies, witty colleague who was the life and soul of foundation that he laid by generously giving Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600 Wellington any discussion, whether it involved just a to the university the intellectual property Email: [email protected] couple of people or a couple of dozen. This rights to his lexicographical data, the product Fax: (03) 463 5604 life and character were movingly portrayed in of almost fifty years study of the vocabulary of the eulogy read at Harry’s funeral by New Zealand English, and the basis from Professor Stuart Johnston, which is included which he compiled the DNZE. Since 1997 this he shared the priceless information he had elsewhere in this issue of NZWords. material has been incorporated into a collected over the decades with other More widely, Harry Orsman will be digitised relational database, and it is being lexicographers. The introduction to Volume I remembered as the scholar who was so in constantly updated, thus providing the basis of the Supplement to the OED (1972) touch with New Zealand, its landscape, for future editions and new dictionaries. acknowledges that ‘Mr H. W. Orsman history, and people that through his Harry Orsman was one of a line of presented to us his unique collection of some lexicographical work he has helped to define Victoria alumni who carved out distinguished 12,000 quotations from the New Zealand what it means to be a New Zealander. Most careers in what might have appeared at the works of the period from the rediscovery of particularly he recorded the development and time to be the unpromising field of New Zealand by James Cook until about use of English in this country, and brought lexicography. Sidney Baker, Robert 1950’. This was twenty-five years before he this scholarly work together in the publication Burchfield, Grahame Johnston, Bill Ramson, could publish the material himself in the of his monumental Dictionary of New Zealand and George Turner, some of whom had been DNZE. Similarly, when the Australian National English, published by Oxford University Press mentored by Professors Ian Gordon or Pip Dictionary was published in 1988, Harry in 1997. Ardern in Wellington, all had notable Orsman’s contribution was acknowledged no Reflecting New Zeland lexicographical careers. Robert Burchfield fewer than three times in the introduction. Society was appointed editor of what became the He was also a consulting editor to other four-volume Supplement to the OED works, including the Macquarie and Penguin Much has been written about the DNZE, how (1972–86). He also edited the New Zealand dictionaries. His interest in the influence of it developed through fifteen drafts to reflect Pocket Oxford Dictionary (1986). Grahame Maori on New Zealand English was repaid New Zealand institutions, social history, and Johnston edited the Australian Pocket Oxford when he served as a technical consultant to sense of identity, and how it emerged as a Dictionary (1976), and George Turner was the Ngata English–Maori Dictionary project product of Harry’s engagement with an responsible for the second edition (1984). Bill (1993). Harry Orsman’s legendary scholarly increasingly bicultural and multifaceted Ramson compiled the Australian National generosity was returned by academic friends society. The DNZE is astonishing for its level of Dictionary (1988). It was Harry Orsman, who trusted not only his judgement on the detail, ranging from a coverage of natural however, who through a lifetime of astute origin and use of words but also the use to history, which included forty-six kinds of grass listening and reading did most to capture the which he put the data they shared with each underpinning a rural economy, to the fifteen distinctive New Zealand voice in the English other. It is noteworthy that over the weeks columns of the dictionary devoted to fern or lexicon. before his death Harry was at work advising a the sixteen pages devoted to bush. The social The story is now well known of Harry, as a recent PhD graduate on how to revise her history was treated just as thoroughly. His boy of 13 from the small town of Havelock in lexicographical work for possible publication. marvellous instinct for New Zealandisms the Marlborough Sounds, coming to After a lifetime of scholarly hard graft, the encompassed not only colourful slang but also Wellington for his secondary education; of his honours came to Harry Orsman in the ordinary. One of my favourites is his time as a student at Victoria; of the several retirement, among them the LittD from discovery that the use of carry in the sense of years he spent as a public servant in the Forest Victoria University, the Montana Medal for land carrying a certain number of animals to Service with a promising career in the year’s outstanding work of non-fiction, the acre could be first attested in New administration ahead of him, before he and the appointment as a Companion of the Zealand. returned to lecture at his old university. Over New Zealand Order of Merit. Finally, there Although the DNZE was the culmination the next four decades he became a much- was the recognition from his lexicographical of Harry Orsman’s work as a lexicographer, loved teacher of Old and Middle English peers around the world. When news of his his scholarship had earlier found an audience language and literature to several generations death reached colleagues at Oxford, Penny in a series of smaller popular works. These of students, all the while collecting material Silva, director of the OED project, eloquently included his two editions of the Heinemann on New Zealand English, which was to find its summed up Harry’s achievement as a New Zealand Dictionary (1979, 1989) and the way eventually into the great dictionary that lexicographer: ‘Harry’s contribution to New New Zealand Dictionary edited jointly with became a fitting memorial to his scholarly life Zealand English was huge, but the effects of Elizabeth Orsman (1994). Later there was the and work. his work extended far beyond the national Dictionary of Modern New Zealand Slang borders.’ Colleagues at the New Zealand published by Oxford in 1999. The Generous Scholar Dictionary Centre record our sorrow at A revealing insight into the scope and Making Of The Centre Harry’s death and extend our sympathy to significance of his scholarship, and into the Another of Harry’s legacies is the New Elizabeth and to all their family. nature of the man, is to be found in the way

PAGE 5 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002 UTU: A BIT OF GIVE AND TAKE? MARIA BARTLETT

In July and August 2001 a total of 120 people wave of lexical transfer include those that fell then no further questions were asked, aside were interviewed in four Christchurch malls into disuse after the first wave and were from the gathering of demographic and asked the question ‘Have you ever heard revived. If ‘utu’ can be included in the second information. The second question was a of the word “utu”?’ Their initial reaction, wave, then it is under that subset of words request for the subjects’ personal definition of almost certainly, was to wonder why anyone given new life as a result of the Maori the word, and the full response was written would spend their weekends asking people Renaissance. down, in order to test the second hypothesis. such a question, which is a fair enough The next five questions were designed to find response. To understand why the particular Visual media played a crucial role in the out when and where the subjects last heard or word ‘utu’ might be of interest, it is necessary ‘reawakening’ process of the Maori saw the word, in reference to what situation, to revisit some assumptions about lexical Renaissance, with images of the Maori appeal whether they considered the word to be used transfer from Te Reo Maori (TRM) to New for justice and New Zealand’s cultural more or less now than in the past, and how Zealand English (NZE). struggle, such as Dame Whina Cooper’s they would use the word themselves. historic 1975 land march and the 1981 It has been suggested that lexical transfer, Springbok Tour, having a lasting effect on Not until question 8 were the first and ‘loaning’ or ‘borrowing’, has occurred from national identity. During this era, film-making third hypotheses approached. The eighth TRM to NZE in two waves. The first wave in New Zealand experienced a significant question was optimistically included and occurred in the early years of European upsurge, helped in large part by the efforts of asked whether subjects could remember the settlement (the colonial intake), and the Geoff Murphy and . first time they had ever heard the word. It was second as a result of the Maori cultural expected that a great number of responses renaissance of the final quarter of the Geoff Murphy’s film Utu was released in would be negative, simply because twentieth century (a ‘koha Maori’, as it were). 1983 and had the distinction of being the remembering the first occurrence of a word is The colonial intake primarily involved words most expensive film ever produced in New not something that people are often called on taken by the European settlers to describe Zealand at the time, the second biggest box to do, but the results for this question, as will Maori society, native flora and fauna, and office success (behind ), and be seen below, proved surprising. place names, for which there were often no the first to be included in the main English equivalents (a receiver-oriented programme at the Cannes Film Festival. As a The ninth question asked which setting transfer). The more recent intake, triggered consequence, it received significant media had the greatest influence on respondents’ by the Maori Renaissance, involves words given attention—the ‘talkability’ factor that personal definition of the word (e.g. family to the language, as a means for NZE speakers advertisers, marketers, and PR professionals and friends, education, television, etc.), and to better understand Maori society and the covet. In terms of an entry point into the NZE the tenth, a multiple choice question, asked New Zealand cultural landscape (a donor- lexicon as a part of the second wave, the film whether they had heard of the word ‘utu’ oriented transfer). Utu is a strong candidate as a vehicle for before hearing of the film Utu. This question revival of the word ‘utu’. was left until near the end to allow An important question arises from the information to come out with as little assumption that there have been two waves of The word ‘utu’ is interesting, then, prodding as possible earlier in the lexical transfer from TRM to NZE; namely, because it represents an opportunity for questionnaire. The final question asked how is a word identified as part of the first or exploring the possible link between a whether the subjects could speak Maori the second wave? In the same way that significant media event and lexical fluently; this received no responses in the Orsman’s Dictionary of New Zealand English uses development. Furthermore, ‘utu’ might be a affirmative. early texts to identify the first written usage of part of both the give and take phases of lexical a word as part of NZE, it ought to be possible transfer from TRM to NZE, neatly fitting with While interviewing, a screening question to identify how more recent transfers the reciprocity aspect of utu itself. With this in was used to establish whether respondents had occurred and at what point they entered the mind, the question ‘Have you ever heard of been born in New Zealand or had lived here NZE lexicon. the word “utu”?’ was a good starting point for since the age of five. Attempts were made to exploration of the hypotheses. balance the sample in terms of age and Certainly, during the flurry of reporting gender, but the final count was 65 females and that accompanied the sacking of Dover Measuring Utu 55 males, and there were varying numbers of Samuels as Maori Affairs Minister in June people in each of the six decade-divided age An eleven-point questionnaire was developed 2000, and the subsequent police investigation categories (from younger than 20 to older to investigate the following hypotheses: (1) into allegations of sexual misconduct, the utu than 60), totalling 19, 25, 17, 20, 19, and 20 that before the Maori Renaissance the term angle provided great media fodder. All the respectively. Although the age categories were ‘utu’ was not commonly used or understood major metropolitan papers and TV news not perfectly balanced, at least six of each by native NZE speakers; (2) that the term is programmes carried the story of Mr Samuels’ gender were included in each age range. now in mainstream use by native NZE supposed desire for utu. As far as exposure speakers as a synonym for ‘revenge’; and (3) goes, the word ‘utu’ could have had no better that the film Utu was responsible for drawing The Return publicity, and it is fair to say that the word had national attention to the word and facilitating Besides age and gender, other characteristics reached a level of mass use in NZE at this its journey into current mainstream use. of the sample included a weighting in favour point. Clearly the second is the easiest of the three of people raised in the South Island, elements to test, and care had to be taken to constituting 80 per cent of the total. In terms There can be no doubt that ‘utu’ was part avoid leading questions with regard to the of ethnicity, 81 per cent of respondents were of the first wave of transfers, of interest to the third. NZ European/Pakeha, 8 per cent identified as colonials due to its specific relation to warfare being at least part Maori, 3 per cent as Pacific practices, but Gordon and Deverson in New If subjects answered ‘no’ to the first Island, and the remainder considered Zealand English and English in New Zealand question about awareness of the word ‘utu’, themselves either Kiwis or New Zealanders. (1998) acknowledge that words in the second

PAGE 6 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002 More than a third of subjects (36 per cent) European/Pakeha raised in close association ‘utu’, the tide of knowledge is almost had an education level of fifth form or less, 23 with Maori and who had fond recollections of completely out as far as the younger per cent had reached sixth or seventh form, the word, describing it warmly as having a generation is concerned. 21 per cent had undertaken some kind of humorous and friendly connotation. further training other than university, and 20 Seeking Utu per cent had a university degree or higher. In answer to question 8, which asked The survey results very clearly showed that the directly about the first time subjects had heard word ‘utu’ is not one that most NZE speakers The first striking result of the survey was to of the word ‘utu’, a great number said they are likely to use, even though around a the first question. More than a third of the couldn’t remember (41 per cent), but an quarter have the capacity to use it. Looking at sample (35 per cent) had never heard of the equally high number said that the film had a database of INL newspaper articles dating word ‘utu’. It rang no bells and meant introduced them to the word (36 per cent), back to 1995, ninety instances of the word absolutely nothing to them, which instantly which was a strong result for such a difficult ‘utu’ were found in the text (not including the makes the second hypothesis a little shaky. question to answer. The next greatest number sixty-nine instances that mentioned the film Checking across the age range, all but one of mentioned education (15 per cent), with or named a person or place). In other words, the nineteen subjects younger than 20 some mentioning television (4 per cent), ninety articles out of the 1.4 million in the answered ‘no’ to this question, including childhood (3 per cent), and the air force database included an active textual use of the three young Maori males. The best awareness specifically (1 per cent). Again, hypothesis 3 word ‘utu’, which gives a fairly graphic of the word was among the 30–60-year-olds, appears to have some credence. indication of just how rare the word is. Even who had a higher level of awareness than so, the majority of these articles (fifty-five) did those younger than 30 and older than 60. In terms of influences, more than half of not feel the need to include a definition the seventy-eight people who knew of the alongside the word in text. When it came to giving a definition for the word cited New Zealand film and television as word, of the seventy-eighty people who said having the greatest influence on their Most of the articles using the word ‘utu’ they had heard of the word, only a third could understanding of the word, with fourteen were talking about either Maori politics, New cite a working definition. Many identified the people choosing education and the rest Zealand history, or Maori society, but some word as being of Maori origin, but five choosing a smattering of other sources, covered wider politics, sport, and general thought it was African. Twelve people including six people who mentioned family topics. ‘Utu’ in its abstract sense was variously automatically mentioned the film, but as many and friends. It comes as no surprise, then, described as a concept, notion, principle, law, as nineteen admitted directly that they did not given the preceding results, that 60 per cent of or tradition, but the more interesting textual know what its title meant. The most creative subjects who knew of the word claimed that uses of the word related to the ‘act of utu’ or response would have to be ‘somewhere near they had never heard of the word until they to a sense of vengeance. Many of the uses were Taihape’. Clearly, hypothesis 2 can claim to heard of the film, whereas 26 per cent had direct substitutions for the word ‘revenge’, as apply to only around a quarter of the either at least heard of the word before they the following examples indicate: ‘savouring a sample—a far lower proportion than was heard of the film, or were somewhat familiar side dish of utu’; ‘Samuels seeks utu’; ‘getting originally expected. with the word, or had known it since utu on the Taniwhas’; ‘as Winston takes his childhood. The rest knew of the word, but not utu’; ‘I want utu against my enemy’; ‘East When subjects were asked how long it had of the film, which is interesting in itself. Coast exerted [presumably meaning been since they had last heard or seen the ‘exacted’] some utu’. word used, two-thirds (68 per cent) said that it Give And Take? was more than a year ago. As far as identifying As far as fitting the idea of a role in the take As far the act of utu was concerned, where it was that they had heard or seen the phase of lexical transfer, followed by a phrases related either to the initiator of utu or word, 37 per cent cited the movie, even renewed role in the give phase, the evidence the receiver of utu. The above examples relate though this was not one of the multiple-choice could be considered supportive to some to the initiator of utu, who may seek, desire, options. The next most popular choice was degree. The over-60 age group did not seem get or take utu. Phrases describing utu television (13 per cent). When asked to to have as high a degree of awareness as the frequently had violent or fearful overtones, explain the situation the word was used to 30–60 age group, which seems to indicate a with articles talking about ‘the fury of utu’, describe, around 40 per cent could not give an rise in awareness in the middle-aged group ‘the threat of utu’, ‘the stench of utu’, ‘the answer, but nineteen people said that it had that would correspond with the time of the fear of utu’, and the ‘feeling of utu’— something to do with the film, ahead of the Maori Renaissance. A closer look at the over- something like foreboding. Utu was related to thirteen people who said it had something to 60 age group showed that only a quarter of killing, maiming, and assault in the most do with Maori or something to do with them were familiar with the word before extreme cases but also included public revenge. Already, support emerges for release of the film. humiliation, political retaliation, and legal hypothesis 3. redress or compensation. As well as a As has already been stated, only a quarter reference to traditional tribal utu, in a In terms of frequency of use, exactly half of the total number of subjects had a working modern context it was possible for the articles of the people who had heard of the word ‘utu’ definition of the word. This low level of direct to talk of ‘union utu’ and even ‘office utu’, believed that the word is used less now than it knowledge could simply reflect the fact that which constituted a sort of mischievous was in the past. Only 10 per cent agreed that it ‘utu’ is not a very common word and is justice. was used more, and the rest thought that use applicable only in specific circumstances. The was about the same (26 per cent) or were evidence linking the film with first knowledge The reciprocal and continual nature of unsure (14 per cent). An overwhelming of the word is fairly strong, indicating that the utu was captured in such phrases as ‘cyclic number (85 per cent) said that they would film Utu created a ‘spike’ of awareness among utu’, ‘endless cycles of utu’, and ‘the never be likely to use the word themselves, a particular generation of New Zealanders but pernicious cycle of utu’. Utu was also referred whereas 7 per cent said that they might use it has not facilitated an increase in its general use. to as a calculation, in terms of the ‘utu when talking specifically about things Maori equation’. All of these examples demonstrate or with regard to current events. Seven people The fact that some awareness of the word that although the word is infrequently used, it out of seventy-eight claimed that they would existed among the older population shows still has some vitality as part of New Zealand use the word in general conversation, and that ‘utu’ had not completely lapsed from the English and, in some cases, captures more only three of those understood the word NZE lexicon after the first wave. The film than the limited notion of revenge. sufficiently to do so, given the definitions they boosted awareness of the word around the supplied in question 2. The three subjects time of the second wave, but the effects have Maria Bartlett is doing postgraduate work in were all male, two of whom were New Zealand certainly waned, and in fact, with regard to political science at the University of Canterbury.

PAGE 7 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002 ANYONE FOR MARBLES? LAURIE BAUER AND WINIFRED BAUER

As part of an investigation into the playground (South Island only), emperor (North Island only), that reported friendsies also reported keepsies, but not language of children funded by the Royal Society of grandad (grandaddy, grandfather, grandpa), giant, vice versa. New Zealand through the Marsden Fund, year 7 and 8 godfather, jumbo, king, queenie, titanic. children (forms 1 and 2, 11 or 12 years old) were The Games interviewed in thirty-three schools right around New Marbles By Pattern The number of recurrent names that were offered Zealand. One of the questions they were asked The difficulty in a publication that does not provide turned out to be small, in some cases no doubt because concerned marbles. We were primarily concerned with colour photographs is to describe each of the relevant games were described rather than named. Holes two matters: the names of individual marble types, and patterns in a way that can be understood. There were (holies, holesies), tic-tac-toe, and clicks (clickies) were the words used for the difference between a game in several basic patterns, with a number of names each. the most commonly named games. One minor which the winner keeps all the marbles they have won The default marble is clear glass with a twist of variation of interest is that an eye-drop (when you get and a game in which all the players walk away with their coloured material in the centre. This type is usually very close to an opponent marble, instead of firing at it own marbles. Although we also asked about games called a cat’s eye, although this label was not used in on the ground, you pick up your marble and attempt to played with marbles, we were given very few details, and Northland where budget was sometimes given instead, drop it on the opponent from eye-height) turned up in general our survey cannot compete with that carried and the term leafie was provided as an alternative only elsewhere as an eagle-drop. We cannot say how out by Brian Sutton-Smith (The Folkgames of Children, in the Nelson–Marlborough area. Another alternative widespread either of these terms is. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972). provided sporadically was dummy. The interviewer carried a bag of assorted marbles, The next most obvious pattern is one in which the Laurie and Winifred Bauer are linguists at Victoria selected from those available from our children’s marble has a single background colour, but has three University of Wellington. collection and a visit to some toy shops. Children or four stripes (usually of different colours) running (usually boys, but occasionally girls) were asked from pole to pole. This was most frequently termed a whether they played marbles, and if they said that they beachball, and sometimes a candy. did or that they used to, they were asked about the A marble with a particularly shiny coloured surface names for the marbles in the bag, and then asked for is called a pearl if it is white, although pearl is other names for marbles and the games they played. submodified by a colour term in other cases. ADDRESS FOR ARTICLES AND LETTERS The methodology had its advantages and its drawbacks. A ballbearing used as a marble is, for obvious The advantages lay in providing a fixed set of stimuli to reasons, called a steelie. Tony Deverson which the children could respond. The drawbacks A marble whose surface provides the same optical Editor, NZWords turned out to be rather more important. impression of a rainbow that a pool of spilt oil provides Department of English is called an oily. This label was sometimes extended to University of Canterbury Because the marbles in the bag were virtually a Private Bag 4800, Christchurch random selection, some common types were not marbles whose surface pattern showed two or more Fax: (03) 364 2065 carried and some rare types were. Moreover, some colours mixed through each other. Email: [email protected] A marble on whose surface there are a number of types were carried in two slightly contrasting DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 31 MARCH 2003 exemplars. Because the marbles in the bag were lines intertwined in a random manner is called a randomly selected, they were not necessarily spaghetti. Similarly patterned marbles were sometimes Payment: The publisher reserves the right to edit or not to publish letters and articles submitted. There is no payment for prototypical examples of any particular type; this meant called swirlies, although no single school reported the letters. Payment for articles accepted for publication is by that children argued about whether a particular marble two names as synonyms. credit note from Oxford University Press for books from its list was or was not a member of category X, or would give A transparent marble made out of coloured glass to the value of NZ$100. two labels for the same marble if it had aspects of two has a number of possible names. The ones in the MEDIA ENQUIRIES prototypes. interviewer’s bag were made of brown glass and were The result is an often confusing plethora of labels called smokies or coca-colas (cokes, colas). These were Joanna Black for the researcher to wade through. Matters have been occasionally also called clearies, a name that apparently Dictionary Marketing Co-ordinator Oxford University Press simplified here by not discussing names that were given applies to marbles of other colours as well. This term was also used occasionally for a marble with only a small PHONE: +61-3-9934 9173 in only one school (these might have wider currency, Fax: +61-3-9934 9100 but we have no way of knowing) and by attempting to amount of superficial colour, otherwise known as a Email: [email protected] sort out the features to which the children were bird’s cage. responding in giving different names; this, of course, There were two speckled marbles in the SUBSCRIPTIONS & BACK ISSUES presupposes the interviewer’s proper understanding, interviewer’s sample bag, one showing coloured NZWords is published annually and subscription is free. which is probably a dangerous assumption to make. speckles on a white background, the other showing the To subscribe please send your name and postal details to: The students who answered the question ranged same speckles on a black background. Usually these NZWords Subscription Manager were both included under the term galaxy, although PO Box 5636, Wellesley Street, Auckland 1131, from those who (like the interviewer) thought that they Toll free Fax: 0800 442 503 Email: [email protected] were all just marbles (although some were bigger than the name speckled egg was sometimes applied to either Back issues: Back issues currently available in hardcopy others) to those who provided a quarter-hour lecture colour. Sporadic, less polite names were used for the (upon request): October 1999, August 2000, August 2001. on the niceties of the various games, the histories of the white one. All back issues are available as pdf files at various types of marble, and the sociology of marble- Black and white marbles were termed dalmatians, http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/nzdc playing in the relevant school. although there were occasional references to other NZWORDS Words such as alley and taw/tor are mentioned by black and white animals, including pandas. Sutton-Smith as general names for marbles. These Some children reported knowing about Chinese NZWords is published by terms did not arise in our data. However, it would be marbles, which are flat on one side, although the Oxford University Press premature to presume that they are obsolete, since our interviewer had none of these. 253 Normanby Road South Melbourne VIC 3205 methodology led to our asking about marbles and did Finally, a marble that was opaque, as if made of Website: www.oup.com.au not give the opportunity for these other terms to come frosted glass, was referred to as a frostie or a Email: [email protected] up. champagne. Free–Phone: 1300 650 616 A few other labels were recurrent, although they Publisher: Heather Fawcett Marbles By Size did not refer to marbles in the interviewer’s bag or in partnership with Marbles come in different sizes. The default marble their reference was not clear: there were various The New Zealand Dictionary Centre Victoria University of Wellington size is occasionally called a normal or a shooter, and a alternative kinds of eye, including pirate’s eye, as well Phone: (04) 472 1000 smaller size is called a peewee. The larger sizes have a as genie, milk shake, red devil, and toothpaste (this last Fax: (04) 463 5604 wide range of names, but the names do not always refer possibly an alternative name for a beachball). Email: [email protected] to the same size of marble. Thus two large marbles of Website: http://www.vuw.ac.nz/lals/nzdc To Keep Or Not To Keep? Director of the New Zealand Dictionary Centre: different sizes were both referred to as bonkers and Graeme Kennedy donks (the word donk was restricted to Northland in If you keep the marbles you win, children Editor: Tony Deverson our data), and one large marble was referred to by as overwhelmingly speak of playing for keeps or just © Copyright 2002 Oxford University Press many as fourteen different names. When different keepsies (sometimes both names were given from the Photocopying of this newsletter is permitted provided that all names for sizes were reported, it was not always possible same school). Only in the south of the South Island was copies include the name of the newsletter (which appears at to gather what the hierarchy of sizes was or whether the the term keepers an alternative. Some children had no the foot of each page) as an acknowledgment of source. All other forms of storage and reproduction are restricted under same hierarchy applied in all schools. As well as the term for the other state of affairs, although friendlies the normal terms of copyright law. names already mentioned, the following were used for and friendsies were the most common terms, with ISSN 1440-9909 various kinds of large marble: bonk (rare), conker funsies a long way behind numerically. All the schools

PAGE 8 NZWORDS AUGUST 2002