YES!!! The "I'm So Happy!" thread - 2011

[Anthony Darby]

Remuera has had a long history of human occupation, starting back in the early 14th century when the Maori came to the area. They named the place O-hine-rangi - the place of Hinerangi (girl of the sky). It wasn't until some four hundred years later that it was named Remuwera or Remu-wera. Eventually the Wai-o-hua (the first tribe to live in Auckland) gave way to the Ngāti Whātua who are now considered the local iwi (tribe).

When early European settlers moved into Remuera it quickly became one of the most exclusive places to live. The first shops opened in Remuera in 1890. St Mark's Church was founded in 1847.
The infamous Bassett Road machine gun murders took place in Remuera in 1963.
Remu-wera literally translates to "burnt buttocks", commemorating a cannibal feast where a chieftainess of Hauraki was captured and eaten. Although the most common definition in reference literature, the accuracy of this definition has been described as "highly doubtful". An alternative, less common definition of Remuera has it meaning "burnt hem of a garment". Sir Edmund Hillary used to live in Remuera.

[David Nicholson]

In my bottom drawer I have a little tin box in which I put any spare foreign money when I return from a holiday. I just had a look and found 15 Drachma maybe I could save Greece

[ranunculus]

In my bottom drawer I have a little tin box in which I put any spare foreign money when I return from a holiday. I just had a look and found 15 Drachma maybe I could save Greece

By Zeus, are you athens a laugh?

[Maggi Young]

Steady, David, they might sell you the whole country for that sum...... be good for a bulb garden though.....

[angie]

In my bottom drawer I have a little tin box in which I put any spare foreign money when I return from a holiday. I just had a look and found 15 Drachma maybe I could save Greece

David I am killing myself laughing, I just love the way your brain works 

Angie

[Anthony Darby]

The thing is, David's fortune in Drachma wouldn't even buy him a drachm!

[David Nicholson]

In my bottom drawer I have a little tin box in which I put any spare foreign money when I return from a holiday. I just had a look and found 15 Drachma maybe I could save Greece

David I am killing myself laughing, I just love the way your brain works 

Angie

What brain

[jomowi]

'Remuera' was the name Brian and Maureen Wilson gave to their house in Aberdeen, to remind them of their Down Under adventures!  Small world, isn't it?
[/quote]

Sorry Maggi your comment is not correct - the house was already named 'Remuera' when we bought it.  We suspected it was named by the first owners whom we assume had connections with NZ.  I have to say that while we had no issue with the name, it was a relief when we finally got a number, as no one could either spell or pronounce it!

Maureen

[Maggi Young]

Fancy that...... though I did always wonder why, having lived in Australia, you'd given the house a NZ name!! Now I know the answer.

[Lesley Cox]

So many people from out of NZ have trouble with Maori words. In general, they are pronounced phonetically. Rem oo era. wh is pronounced NOT QUITE as an f, and there is little in the way of emphasis on any syllable. Remember Maori was not a written language until the Europeans attacked it.

The Maori themselves and because of it, the Govt and their agencies, especially TV and radio broadcasters, insist that EVERYONE pronounces Maori correctly to the extent that the weather people talk about Taw paw for Taupo (largest lake in NZ) and sometimes it just sounds damn silly. Besides, there's no move towards correct pronumciation of other languages. No way could they cope (as Dave T couldn't) with Kirkcudbright or Craigellachie!

[Lesley Cox]

Knowing nothing whatsoever about politics as applied to financial matters, I have wondered recently whether, had the European countries stuck with their original currencies, would the whole present debacle cum meltdown have happened? If Greece still had the drachma (even lacking David's), France the franc, etc etc, would it all be different now. GB, having refused to join the Eurozone, seems, to the outside observer at least, to be reasonably stable. So far.

A simple "yes" or "no" would do in reply.

[angie]

Maureen I am glad you said people have problems pronouncing the name Remuera, friends of mine bought Maureens house ( lucky folks ) and I find it hard to say the name so i just say the number and road name.
No news of baby yet, Maureen is soon to be a grandma again.

Angie

[t00lie]

No way could they cope (as Dave T couldn't) with Kirkcudbright or Craigellachie!

Quite true Lesley ,however i am trying .........currently learning Nepali .....

Cheers dave.

[ranunculus]

No way could they cope (as Dave T couldn't) with Kirkcudbright or Craigellachie!

Quite true Lesley ,however i am trying .........currently learning Nepali .....

Is that near Glasgow, Dave? 

[Anthony Darby]

Remuera is just pronounced as it looks Re(h)-moo-er-(as in err)-ah. The trouble is, people pronounce many words here in New Zealand as they look. I don't mind accents, and there are many here, but I'm a bit fed up with some words being reinvented (no, I'm not thinking of inventing of words like 'burglarised' when the perfectly good word 'burgled' is already in the dictionary). It's the example where the wallahs on the TV and radio mis-pronounce words such as tonne saying t'on. For goodness sake ton is pronounced tun. Putting "ne" at the end doesn't change that!