Mind your LANGUAGE

MICHELE A’COURT TELLS HOW TE REO HAS ENRICHED HER LIFE

One of life’s many delights is that, no matter your age, you keep learning new things. It thrills me that my brain still has room, for example, to fit new words into its filing system. When I’m reading and I find a word that tickles or intrigues, I like to jot it down and wait for an opportunity to put it in a sentence. Current favourites are “farrago” (meaning “a medley or hotchpotch”) and “emetic” (something that causes vomiting).

Imagine my joy, then, when I heard fresh complaints from some grey corners of public discourse about the growing use of te reo Maori by broadcasters, public figures and national institutions, and found myself thinking, “Aue! What an emetic farrago of arguments.” Tick and tick.

It is true that in recent years there has been a swelling support of te reo – it’s one of the things returning Kiwis notice about us now, that you will hear Maori words and phrases in formal and informal settings from our Parliament and school events to sports games, news broadcasts and boarding planes.