Posts by Lucy Stewart
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I had a serious WTF? moment when he disclosed he was attending the House and caucus drunk. How could anyone not have noticed and done something?
There was a recent study (don't have a link ATM) which found that even bartenders - who see a lot of drunks - were pretty much useless at correctly identifying someone as drunk/sober unless the person was totally off their face. In a situation where no-one would reasonably expect their colleague to be drunk? Quite frankly, I'd be astonished if anyone had noticed.
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Is he really trying to rehabilitate the concept of dictatorship? That is quite priceless.
I think the last time I recall someone doing that was Anakin Skywalker in one of the unmentionable Star Wars prequels. And we all know how that turned out.
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For these students, this rebranding seems at least in part a deliberate language learning strategy, part of "thinking in English".
I think so; the ones I have known are quite vehement about being called by their English names, even in the face of well-intentioned and even reasonably correctly pronounced attempts to use their "real" names. You have to respect people's right to re-invent themselves.
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A name is a big choice. Letting the locals name you isn't a bad idea, at least they'll get it right, and it could be nicely personalized. Then again, it could be a cruel joke too. But there's almost as big a chance that you could accidentally have that just through your own choice.
A lot of Chinese in New Zealand take (often oddly old-fashioned, to my ears) English first names to save the rest of us from mangling theirs. I heard of one family who chose "Anthony" and "Tony" for their boys, having not been informed one was a nickname for the other.
Of course, when the risk of the locals mangling your name to something inappropriate or weird is that high, I'd probably pick a local name too. But I do remain curious as to why those in my generation of international students went for names like "Victoria" and "Patricia", when those I've met in America, who are the same age, have gone for more generationally-appropriate ones like "Isabel". Different groups going to different countries, maybe?
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Although I'm grateful Christchurch will never be accompanied by the chest-thumping uberpatriotism that still infects mentions of 9/11. Even some otherwise reasonable Americans maintaining that the whole world shares their teen angst..
The flag outside my house is the only one I have seen today not at half-mast - and, really, it would be more appropriate if it were; but it's the landlord's flag and I don't think anyone here knows how to lower it. Instead it just looks sort of like the international students don't care.
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Are we thanking Jemaine, Bret and Rhys for that? I feel like we should be
At least one person referenced them as the source of their understanding, so thanks are being mentally sent.
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I have been told that NZ was 'near Norway', and 'in Europe'; asked what language we usually speak at home; and was irritatedly asked why I was 'putting on an accent'. My mother was asked if we wore grass skirts around the house; an English friend was asked if they had *electricity* in England and (by the same people) told that they would love to visit England but 'couldn't live without peanut butter'.
So far I have been complimented on the quality of my English and asked what language I speak at home, but pinned as Australian only twice, English only once, and a really surprisingly high number of times correctly identified as a Kiwi. (Curse you, people who fail to conform to my bigoted expectations!)
What drives me bonkers is 'will not ship overseas' US companies (and they are LEGION). What, filling out a customs label is too much for you? I'll even pay a bit extra for that! But no. I have a feeling they all think it's Far Too Terribly Complicated, when it obviously isn't.
Oooh, it gets better; we have had to put off ordering a lot of terribly essential items (like turmeric and Netflix and a bed) because those same sites refuse to accept that someone could be living in the US and ordering items to be delivered to them in the US and not have a US credit card. The only people who didn't were the Economist (which, by the way, costs around $100NZ for a year's subscription, as opposed to closer to $400 in NZ - it does not cost that much extra to ship them to New Zealand, surely.)
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Admittedly it was a good nine years ago or so, but I'm pretty certain that I definitely wasn't allowed.
Internet Language Deficiency; no, you're not allowed, but they have no way to definitively tell whether you're telling the truth or not (or, as you say, whether you accurately know your partners' sexual histories.)
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Don't be so mean. Your average guy is just a standard deviant. A mere Student. T anyone?
Must you regress to that sort of humour?
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There are many thermal springs not associated with volcanoes ancient or modern – Morere hot springs for example near Gisborne, nothing significantly volcanic within 100 km.
Or, hey, Hanmer Springs - anyone worried about volcanoes there?
(Also, it's a curious inversion of priorities, volcano-wise, to make sceptical noises about Banks Peninsula when, well, Auckland.)