Tuesday, November 9, 2010

this is Maoriland

oh dear - this council has backed down to warriner who objected to the use of a macron in Kāpiti. Gutless and useless are they. warriner is in another catagory - guess which one?
From Dom Post
"Mr Warriner, an English immigrant living in Paraparaumu Beach, said using the macron was "offensive to the New Zealand language".
"At the end of the day, this is New Zealand it's not Maoriland. I didn't come to Maoriland, I came to New Zealand. I speak the New Zealand language, I'm a citizen of New Zealand."
If the small things that are "against democracy" are not sorted out then New Zealand can "forget the big ones", he said.
I'd prefer immigrants with this attitude to go away. We don't need antiquated ideas based on race hatred bought in by some immigrant - we have enough already thanks. So pack up and piss off mate - this is MAORILAND.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh if only it were true that this is Maoriland. I would much rather live in Maoriland!!

Mike said...

If it's this Martin Warriner (no guarantees), it looks from the online CV as if he's been in New Zealand since about 1994, so he's not a recent immigrant.

The changes come because the Local Government Act 2002 provides the legal names for all territorial and regional authorities, he said in the letter. "The name of the council is set out in ... that act as Kapiti Coast District Council without a macron."

So it sounds as if it's time for an amendment in parliament to this list, so as to more accurately reflect the "New Zealand Language", whatever that is.

I was coincidentally speaking to someone yesterday (a former English teacher) who pointed out that New Zealanders would probably have much-improved pronounciation of English if it were written with macrons.

Mike said...

Here's an interesting extra from TV3's report:

The Maori Language Commission supports Mr Warriner's argument. No one was available to appear on camera, but a spokeswoman told 3 News there is no record or reason to incorporate a macron, other than opinion.

Marty Mars said...

Kia ora korua

Yes anon - it's 'when' not 'if' now.

Good points Mike - I always get confused with dialect - probably should look it up - in relation to pronunciation. Down south we roll our rrrr's - if it was spelt out phonetically - it would look funny compared to normal spelling - but we pronounce the word we see written and spelt normally, not the phonetic spelling.

I like the macron and next year will be using it even more.

Marty Mars said...

Interesting - I wonder what manawhenua say.

Changing the Act is the way to go I suspect.

robertguyton said...

Marty!

http://robertguyton.blogspot.com/2010/11/iwi-leaders-say-mine.html

Marty Mars said...

Yes e hoa I have noticed that and a post is coming - I think i'll call it, "You're not mining my mum mate" - but I probably need to calm down a bit or I'll just be abusive.

robertguyton said...

Let her rip Marty!
Ko tenei te wa o te pakanga nui!