keep door close and off the light...

I read a post at "The Online Photographer" today which oddly enough reminded me of Fiji. This is unusual for a blog about photography (to remind me of Fiji), so I thought I would share why here: the writer asked if curmudge could possible be used as a verb, and the question was followed up by this cartoon...

How does that remind me of FIji? Well Fijians are exceptional linguists, with many of them speaking four or more languages (their dialect, standard (Bauan?) Fijian, English, Hindi...), so dumbo's like me who only speak one language fluently could never criticise; but they have some really cute language idiosyncrasies. One is that, like Calvin above, they like to "verb words". My favourite is "off". As in "could you off the light?". The classic at the buffet is when the waitress tells you "you can help yourself out". Also they use plural forms sort of backwards, like "don't worry about your luggages" and "are the childrens at school?" vs "please respect host privacy"... I think it's very cool (except when AK is using her full-on fiji english accent and I worry that it may be permanent); and I really enjoyed reading great examples here, choice Fiji Slang here,  and (if you're really brave) the label "rude" here...(very educational but nsfw: not suitable for work)...

Another laugh out loud moment was reading an interview on the same blog this morning with the writers of another of my faves fij blogs: "Lunch in Suva", the only food review site I have ever seen that suggests good curries must carry a cholesterol tax. But watch out, there is a little bit of bad language there. Not as bad as "Outrageous Fortune" but there. Certainly today's interview goes a little way towards explaining to me why "Lunch in Suva is such an entertaining read. They have not yet reviewed the Air Pacific fare, but I can report that our flight to Christchurch had excellent food (we had "the chicken with the gravy sauce")(waaaaay nicer food than Air NZ despite the odd title).

Finally as seen on other people's blogs is this funky little word generator. It takes the content of a piece of writing (or your blog) and analyses it to create a word collage with the more frequently used words larger. So I did it for my blog and my comment would have to be: really? I mean really?!!

So to final news: I am officially a dauveitaba (wedding photographer, commercial photographer, fiji photographer, yes I'm teasing the search engines...) over here: Isoa and Leilani Tokalautawa have hired me, and i have the stamp in my passport to prove it (small cheer!). If you are on facebook please! head on over to our page, and sign up as a fan, thanks! Website to come. as soon as I get over hating all my images...except the one above eh Danielle and John!

Comments

[nzm]

Congrats on becoming legal - and employed!

In Dubai, we called it "Hinglish". My favorites were "not coming in Dubai" for "it isn't available here", and "enter through backside" meaning "enter the building at the back".

And don't worry about AK's accent - mine only comes back when I get together with other Fiji people!

J is even funnier - as soon as she starts talking to anyone in Dubai, she switches from her German one into an Arab accent!

[Mands]

LOL, great post Meg! I love "verbisms"...is that a new word too??? ....they are what keep life interesting! and the word generator totally rocks! REALLY..it does! ...you need to post it on Beyond! Must go do my blog, but I'm scared what the main word will be!
Hugs to you friend! and congrats on the "Pro" title

[danno]

My favorite is when they are discussing something and its called a thing?
I spent so much time correcting John and Phillips finglish that i too now say 'off the light' and 'the thing' 'in the front' 'Thing bad' or 'man at work'! John can speak fijian, samoan, hindi. His mum french (Wallis and fortunan), fijian and samoan.

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