Kiwi Slang (part 4)

And here's the last part, covering S-Z

Sammie – sandwich

Scab – unlawfully demand somebody for food or money

Scarfie – university student

Scrogin – trail mix of nuts and raisins

Scull – to drink quickly

Sesh – a period of time when marijuana is smoked

Section – plot of land

Shake a leg – command to hurry up

Kiwi Slang (part 3)

This is taking longer than expected to complete... but here's the second to the last part! Covering L-R


Lamington – sponge cake cube, coated in icing, covered in dried coconut

Lift – elevator

Long drop – outdoor toilet built over a hole in the ground

Loo – toilet

Lolly – any sweet or confectionery

Local rag – local newspaper

Each Tagalog word costs 5c

I remember how it was like during "my time".  In grade school, English was the language of choice, and every Tagalog (now called Filipino) word spoken would cost you 5c.  It wasn't as horrible as it sounds, mind you; at times it was even fun as classmates occasionally forget to speak in English and kids attempt to calculate how much needs to be paid, and in their concentration forget the rule and speak in the local language too!

I had 6 years of grade school and 4 years of high school.  A total of 10 years (+ a year in kindergarten).

I started University in 1987.  At that year, the constitution was revised and Spanish was abolished as an official language, and was thus stopped from being taught in school.  I was among the first batch of students who did not have to study Spanish, and I was relieved because I heard it was a difficult subject.

At that time we had fewer letters to memorize from the alphabet (made even easier by Florante's song - below).  And even fewer years to graduate and move on to University study.



There have been lots of changes since then.  For one, the Filipino alphabet expanded to include more letters.  And the current school year will now have the K-12 year programme implemented.