Initially her diatribe targeted the state of journalism- a protestation at the poor level of reporting and the somewhat sensationalised language employed by the reporters. However it's true target was quickly revealed as the sloppy-tongued and inevitably "uneducated" sounding speech otherwise known as the kiwi vernacular. After enduring more than was necessary of Teryl-Leigh (or, as she might say it- Turrul-Leigh, mum of two from Souf Orckland) on New Zealand's Next Top Model (high quality programming, chur TVNZ) I will be the first to admit that I am not the biggest fan of the Noo Zuland Accunt.
Teryl Leigh. Pretty face, not so pretty on the talking front...
While I can ally with Deb's in her concern surrounding the inflection-laden, fast-paced, ill-enunciated speech that plagues our nation, the accusation that we are incapable of communicating in coherent sentences is rather (too use a distinctly toffy English word) far fetched. She, herself, reaches the point of sensationalism (something one had previously been led to believe was her chief peeve against New Zealand journalism) stating that we are potentially at risk of having Judges who cannot understand what lawyers are arguing in their courtrooms as a result of our beyond terrible mastery of the English language. In fact, one could go so far as to read that we may be on a collective downward spiral, prone to reverting to grunts and hand signals to communicate with one another at any given moment.
Sure, 'bro', 'chur', 'cuz' might feature a little too frequently in everyday speech. And six might sound like 'sucks', fridge as 'frudge', beached as 'buched", pillow as 'pullow', but I question the necessity of pointing this out to a nation that is home to the said manner of speaking in a national newspaper (I think New Zealander's may, perhaps, have noticed we talk like this (thus)). As far as I'm concerned this is only to be an attempt to feed the ego's of those who are most pleased (there's the toff in me again) with their own prowess in the fields of language acquisition and usage (and are determined to show such skills off) or who are in some kind of timewarp believing we should all speak following the example set by broadcasters in the 1970's. The nature of language and linguistics is that they are forever changing and adapting and that is precisely what they should do. I have no doubt that in the day of Chaucer and Willy Shakespeare that the use of language was a point of concern and debate as time passed and I for one am glad that I'm not prancing about looking into "thine eyes" or asking people "Where for art thou".
The worst manifestations of our accent can assault my poor little ear-drums just as they do Deborah's (think- Lynn of Tawa-esque characters here) but I think ultimately that our accent makes us who we are. I'd much rather sound the way I do then grate the unsuspecting ear drums of innocent parties with the high pitched, headache inducing, over-emphasised (heavy on the vowel, hold the consonant) diction that is the glorious Australian accent. Ew yuck (Ow/Aye/Chur)!
x
As you more than well know - fellow extreme 'Noo Zulland Eccent' hater right here my friend! Jesus, somebody throw them some voooooowels, already! Speak-eth the Queen's English already! (ah, joking, or am I? *dun dun dun*)
ReplyDeleteTrue, would much rather sound (not so distinctly) Kiwi than an aggravating Austraaayan anyday (you know the ones!), but a Kiwi who perhaps can, and does, enunciate properly (ok, at times), know when to hold the 'bro's' and 'churs' (it's all fun and games until you become unable to adapt your NZ slang to suit your verbal environment) and generally be able to speak without the listeners asking you to 'Say it again, please?' because the rapid-fire 'thungs' you just said just got lost in translation.
And because of this, I sound English, apparently. No, it's just because I choose not to sound like a stereotypical Noo Zullander. Chur.