The other day a friend asked me if kiwis liked to be called kiwis, or if it was a derogatory term. Oh my, what do they teach them in schools these days? Of course, then they went on to explain how they loved to eat kiwi. I did the haka on the inside. . .
. . . but smiled on the outside. I explained that the fruit is called "kiwi fruit," that the bird is called the "kiwi" (after which NZers proudly name themselves) not the "kiwi bird" (any more than we glory in the "eagle bird" or stuff ourselves with the "turkey bird" at Thanksgiving). They were gracious in their response. And I almost hoped that my one-man crusade to correct this pervasive heresy might one day be achievable. Then I got real.
Kiwis, of course, have their own quirks. We have this thing we're quite proud of which we call "Kiwi ingenuity." Personally, I think it's our way of feeling better at being small and being the most geographically isolated country on earth.
Kiwi ingenuity reached new highs (or lows) in the last few days, however.
Headline: "Missing Trail Runner Found Alive, Survived on Her Own Breastmilk" http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11446422
Headline: "[NZ] Artificial Intelligence Experts are Building the World's Angriest Robot. Should You Be Scared?" https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=new%20zealand%20robot%20anger
Is this the old NZ I know and love and which I last visited five years ago? Time will tell.
