Max Cryer Tracking the Vernacular
Appearing at Going West in 2002, Max Cryer talks about New Zealand\u2019s vernacular English and its origins. As he notes, \u201cWe live in New Zealand. We speak a language of our own. We think we speak English, but then so do the people in Texas.\u201d
An inimitable lover of language and a writer, columnist, linguist, singer, and entertainer, Max takes the audience a wry tour of our New Zealand English dialect. He tells us why we say cuzzie, kindy and mozzie (hypocorism), why our inflection goes up at the end of our sentences (terminal lift), and why we can\u2019t pronounce \u2018colonisation\u2019 correctly (metathesis).
In his decades-long career, Max has been a household name in New Zealand as everything from an entertainer to an expert etymologist. His books on words and phrases are best sellers, some in their second editions including in 2020\u2019s The Godzone Dictionary of favourite New Zealand words and phrases.