Post
Observations from a Canadian visiting New Zealand:
-Making NZers say "Saskatchewan" is kind of hilarious
-Roundabouts work really really well when everyone is used to them
-Drip coffee apparently does not exist here (espresso-based coffee drinks only. Even at the one Dunkin Donuts I saw in a hideous mall I had to go inside in Auckland).
-NZ signs do not play around (see example below)
@sundogplanets Aw, poor Cliff. But yeah, it would be dangerous if he were to land on you.
@sundogplanets an all-time classic hard-core warning sign from my work !
@sundogplanets don't know if you're still around there, but i had excellent filter coffee at Daily Daily Coffeemakers when I was in Auckland
In the South of the US, we called the noontime main meal "dinner", and the main meal at 6pm was "supper". We drank a lot of tea, but did not have a customary time called "tea".
Outside the South, "lunch" is the noontime main meal, and "dinner" is the main meal at 6pm.
In Brazil, we once saw a small restaurant called "Lanches Makdonaldo", which I took to be "Lunches kinda like McDonald's", but I just learned "lanche" is kinda like NZ "tea".
Today I learned that New Zealand "supper" seems to be more like what I'd imagine hobbits eat for meal number 6 (cheese, crackers, fruit, cookies) than Saskatchewan supper (the full meal you eat at the end of the day after a lot of hard farm labour)
@sundogplanets Your idea of supper matches that of what we had at the end of the day. A.K.A. Dinner.
@sundogplanets Your idea of supper matches that of what we had at the end of the day. A.K.A. Dinner.
More NZ signs that are extremely honest
@sundogplanets reminds me of the deer signs in Nara.
@sundogplanets i don't know if you made it to Rotorua but at the Redwoods carpark there is a great sign...
If you're more confident during breeding season, good for you.
@sundogplanets Napier definitely does not muck around with earthquake prep. There's a reason all the art deco is there.
Maybe I am just really tired (ok yeah I'm definitely really tired) but learning that the options for mustard in a NZ grocery store are "hot English" or "mild American" made me giggle uncontrollably in the middle of a grocery store aisle
Today I learned that New Zealand employers are REQUIRED BY LAW to provide tea and coffee to their employees.
!!!
@sundogplanets reminds me of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “The machine produced a plastic cup, filled with a liquid that tasted almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea”.
I don’t think this is the case in the UK…but I equally have never worked anywhere where tea and coffee were not provided. Milk is usually provided too - no need to fill the work fridge with individual named bottles.
@sundogplanets they do EVERYTHING better in NZ.
@Heterokromia @sundogplanets Except if you're vegetarian. Travelling around 20 years ago with 3 vegetarian daughters. Nightmare. Met with scathing contempt everywhere. AirNZ was the worst. Blatant criticism that we were bad pushover parents. Better in big cities, but we're not city folk. Preferring the natural wonder that is Aotearoe. Hope it is better now @georgepenney ?
@sundogplanets absolute essentials, what's the problem?
@sundogplanets A most civilized nation, so unlike mine. I should move to New Zealand for this alone!
@sundogplanets
Interesting... our union contract says Tea, Coffee, AND Milo! 😂
@sundogplanets most civilized! I hope that the law specifies more than instant coffee.
@sundogplanets A US colleague some 3 decades ago was miffed that his preferred caffeine delivery method (coke) was not supplied free while he was here in NZ.
decaf and caf?
@sundogplanets that aligns pretty well with my memory of being asked if i wanted a tea approximately every 15 minutes of my stay there.
@sundogplanets protip - if you only have hot mustard, you can temper it down by mixing in marmite.
@sundogplanets have you figured out the difference between them? Is one just like the spicy mustard you get at the farmers market and one a standard French's? or is there some other cool distinction?
@sundogplanets HaHa! I laughed until I saw the "actually" responses.
For the benefit of all:
✅️ This post is meant to be humorous.
❌️ This post is meant to be taken as factually correct.
It's just a funny post.
@sundogplanets
Lol! I'd never seen "New York style" mustard, nor labeled "mild".
@sundogplanets that mild is funny but on point. Calling that yellow shit ‘New York style’ is kind of hurtful.
@cascheranno @sundogplanets yeah, Heinz is based in Pittsburgh, and was a source of national pride when I was at uni there. Don't let New York take credit for it.
That said, while non-Heinz ketchup is taboo in Pittsburgh, all the restaurants use French's mustard, and I still occasionally wonder why.
@WizardOfDocs @cascheranno @sundogplanets
I misread that as "a sauce of national pride". 😂
@sundogplanets New York style? there are no regional mustard variants in the US. I am an american condiment expert weighing in on this farce! outrageous!
@sundogplanets Kiwis, the masters of exotic and unimaginable spices 😄
@sundogplanets Really hot is
Düsseldorf Style
@sundogplanets Try Pak'N'Save or Woolies rather than New World. There are more options out there.
@sundogplanets The Heinz is in the "hot dog/yellow mustard" category here in the US and would be sitting on the shelf next to different brands of "Spicy Brown", "Dijon", "Stone Ground", "deli", etc., alongside boutique brands with all sorts of weird flavorings.
Coleman's is usually available for people who want that "hot English" taste. As far as I remember, the "hot" comes from horse radish, which would be an unwelcome surprise to most Americans.
@Corb_The_Lesser @sundogplanets most American wasabi is also horseradish-based
@sundogplanets Also giggles from France! 🤭
@sundogplanets
First glance at the image, I thought it said 'Not English'. 🤣
@sundogplanets 😂 Exhaustion really does make the simplest things incredibly funny.
“Hot English” and “Mild American” sound more like personality types than mustard!
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Sooo… “Mustard” vs. “Turmeric coloured vinegar paste”?
@sundogplanets New York style mustard is mild? I think not.
New York mustard, last I remember it, was Gulden's brown mustard with horseradish. You put it on your hot dog or pretzel from the cart on the street and you can *taste* it.
Midwestern or California mustard is the yellow tasteless American stuff.
@sundogplanets Where is the winy mustard from France, NZ?!?
@sundogplanets They used to stock "overpowering American" but people's sandwiches kept trolling shoppers on Twitter and trying to get all the other condiments in the fridge deported to Australia.
@sundogplanets I'm still sad that DOC removed the platform with "do not jump from this platform" engraved in it from the side of the Pelorus River Bridge (near Nelson). Likely because the swimming hole beneath it filled up with gravel.
The Department of Conservation has the best signs.
@sundogplanets
The do not swim here posters at Napier are also fun. We didn't see the tsunami posters there but we did as Kaikoura.
@sundogplanets Our motel welcome folder in Whitianga had instructions for actions after a tsunami warning. "Drive north out of town, then uphill. We will see you there, we will not be staying."
@sundogplanets have you met Bas yet? He's everywhere around Mt Taranaki
@sundogplanets
If you like the signs, there are also some classic TV adverts you should check out.
For example 'blazed', by the incomparable Taika Waititi:
https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/blazed-drug-driving-2013
@sundogplanets the dumping one is epic
@sundogplanets The precautionary ones just make sense. The clearer the better!
(Honestly, the same goes for the rubbish one - if you can’t think of that yourself you obviously got kind of a thick skull)
@sundogplanets I imagine you can reuse the "Don't be a tosser" sign in your presentations
@sundogplanets "tosser" is a nice piece of wordplay.
@sundogplanets I love the rubbish dumping one. Actually I thought of doing something like that autonomously but insulting litterers in rhyme.
Honesty is certainly the best policy. 👍
@sundogplanets As a French person, I can’t tell you how funny it is to read “big bite” and “breeding season” on the same poster.
@sundogplanets Have you heard slip-slop-slap? Not as funny as "don't be a tosser" but another bit of local culture.
@sundogplanets I love so much the dumping rubbish one! 😆
@sundogplanets Love the ambiguity of "do not encourage feeding … on anyone"
@sundogplanets Quick question - do you know if the lecture tomorrow night in New Plymouth needs an advanced booking? Very keen to attend
@Ali Sorry I have no idea how it works, it's organized by the local group.
@sundogplanets
The best type of supper is the Scottish version when you go to the chippy and anything with chips is called a supper as in a fish supper, a sausage supper, a chicken supper etc.
@sundogplanets
Sounds about as confusing as
the different French meal names
between Québec and France
@sundogplanets Sask supper sounds like 'tea' in NZ.
@sundogplanets If that is supper, what is a later night snack pre-bed called?
@sundogplanets can confirm we call the main evening meal dinner or maaaaybe "tea" but that's far less common.
"Kia ora!" Dying to share a clip here that convinced me Aerotera/NZ is paradise, esp for foodies. May I?
@TheEddieShow Saving to my "soothing food-making videos" stash!!
In-flight, fond memories of your new favorite place. :)
I wonder if they eat a full dinner at lunchtime? 🤔
@sundogplanets Oh no, I hope you have emergency rations to save you from getting hangry!
@sundogplanets dinner? Or tea? For the evening meal?
@sundogplanets I don't know if you know who Zorak is (from Space Ghost Coast to Coast) but his attempt to pronounce "Saskatchewan" lives rent-free in my head. ("Skas watch a wan or whatever.")
@sundogplanets Somehow I can't see a sign like that and not think of one particular scene in The Young Ones.
As another Canadian in NZ, while hiking the Routeburn track, our pretty young guide told us, when you get to the junction, take the lift.
@sundogplanets Drip coffee exists here!
I worked in a building, an old telecommunications building, which had signs posted warning about asbestos. There we had a drip coffee maker and a microwave.
OH! And you'll sometimes find them in small town motels (though I think most of them have switched to the same 2 brands of instant coffee. One of them doesn't smell like urine so that's the better of the two).
@sundogplanets I’m guessing Seeskeetcheeweeen 🎶
@sundogplanets
I like that the important sign warning about the danger of the cliff is held up with tape.
Really weird that I believe the US invented Roundabouts then abandoned them.
In the UK they also work when people follow the signs and road markings. Which stupid people cannot do.
@sundogplanets Does Cliff have any relatives that can pick him up?
My favourite danger sign used in the UK:
@sundogplanets @at I’m impressed every time a European nails my ancestral “Massachusetts” on the first try.
@sundogplanets you should see our road safety ads!
@sundogplanets New Zealand Road Safety adverts are also in another league and do not play around either (see also Aussie ones too).
@sundogplanets New Zealand Road Safety adverts are also in another league and do not play around either (see also Aussie ones too).
@sundogplanets Here’s a little experiment (for science, you know?): can you sing “Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi” to them and tell me what their reaction is? Thank you. 😁
@sundogplanets With you on the drip coffee thing. Went through a whole expensive dilettante coffee thing. Found out I lack the early morning patience for pourovers and such. What I like is strong unadorned 10-oz cup of coffee I make for myself at home in a drip aka filter machine that heats the water to the right temperature. (Most machines do not and those that do have ridiculously inflated prices.)
@sundogplanets Sas-kwatch-wan? Is even a real word?
@sundogplanets I sincerely hope you are enjoying your time in our country. Welcome.
@sundogplanets No drip coffee... might be a problem.
@sundogplanets Roundabouts are useful, but you can have too many of them. NZ hasn't reached that stage yet.
https://youtu.be/eYuNAle69Ws?si=k1_fjrihJzxQkDWn
@sundogplanets
Let me chip in as a fairly recently immigrated kiwi who lived in Milton Keynes, UK which is basically made of roundabouts held together with electrical tape: kiwis are crap at them.
(Ducks)
@Hedgewizard Hahaha well, they're WAY better at it than the flatlanders in Saskatchewan who only know how to navigate perfect right angles.
@sundogplanets
But then how will they know the magic of Swindon?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Roundabout_(Swindon)
@sundogplanets @Hedgewizard there's also an exit to a car park between the top two roundabouts just for more lols. (I panicked, missed it, and ended up somewhere else!)
@sundogplanets regarding the road signs - I still vividly remember the road signs saying " the faster you go, the bigger the mess" - are those still around?
@sundogplanets
Guess what SIX means in NZ? 😲😳🤣😂🤣
@sundogplanets wellingtonians are incredibly proud of their coffee. I’d be careful with them there drip coffee words down there
@sundogplanets in Australia we change that sign to "party cliff" by adding bottles and a boombox
@sundogplanets To be fair, there is genuinely good specialty filter/drip coffee these days (keywords: "pourover", "V60"). But if you mean the cheap over-boiled and continuously reheated stuff, yeah no thanks.
@sundogplanets Why would you want drip (filter) coffee when you can have a Long Black?
@sundogplanets Wow, this could be a great advertisement for moving to NZ. No drip coffee and competent drivers? Sign me the hell up.
@sundogplanets wait, if you are in NZ... who il caring the goats?
@sundogplanets
Fun observations! Look forward to some more. 😁
@sundogplanets OK, but why would you want drip coffee when you could have espresso? I don't understand.
@sundogplanets Fun to follow your progress through our country.
@sundogplanets
Wait until you hit Australia.
@sundogplanets btw nice pic of Mr Ngauruhoe
Why would you want drip "coffee" when you could have coffee as intended?
@sundogplanets “I know the difference between margarine and butter,
I can say Saskatchewan without starting to stutter…”
TIL what drip coffee is! (Thank you Wikipedia.)
Not sure what we call it here in UK... percolated coffee?
Not sure why anyone does drip coffee or Nescafe.🤷
Please don't mention International Roast 🤢
@sundogplanets Federal Delicatessen in Auckland has good proper brewed coffee. Owned by Al Brown and uses coffee from a roaster in Wellington
@sundogplanets
That Cliff guy really is a bastard, isn't he.
@sundogplanets there's a cafe in Newtown Wellington calked "Black Coffee" and they serve good drip coffee if you need a hit
@sundogplanets I thought New Zealand was a paradise until I heard about the coffee thing. Wow.
@sundogplanets I get that. I’ve done that myself, but not in a public forum.
Go well
You might like to rethink how it sounds, surprise at a person of colour being up with modern trends.
@sundogplanets when you said “hand gestures” I had a vivid image for a moment of kids doing a 6 7 haka at boomers and Gen Xers.
