Letters to the Editor

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Te Reo transformation
OMG, who is Mitch Morgan (Letters to the Editor, Dec 5) and does he live under a rock?

Probably three of those new Maori words would be for gorse, pests and diseases. All languages evolve, it works hand in hand with progress (and sometimes regress).

Quote: English is a West Germanic language that originated from Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Britain in the 5th to 7th centuries AD by Germanic invaders and settlers from what is now northwest Germany, West Denmark and the Netherlands.

Late Modern English accumulated many more words as a result of two main historical factors: the Industrial Revolution, which necessitated new words for things and ideas that had not previously existed; and the rise of the British Empire, during which time English adopted many foreign words and made them its own.

The industrial and scientific advances of the Industrial Revolution created a need for neologisms to describe the new creations and discoveries. To a large extent, this relied on the classical languages, Latin and Greek.

Please read: thehistoryofenglish.com.

Just had to get that off my chest, am I wrong?

Name & address supplied


Te Vino?
Now here is something hard to swallow – wine. Yes, you heard right - wine.

Our guilt-ridden race-orientated legislators have issued a Wine & Spirits Amendment Bill that allows Maori special rights to control the proposed names of wine.

No doubt this is a “right” bestowed upon todays part-Maori by the imaginary “Principles of the Treaty” invented by Sir Geoffrey Palmer.

(Mr Palmer must have seen a different Treaty from the one that I have read, as the only obvious principles that I could see were that Maori ceded sovereignty to the Queen in return for the rights of British citizenship and that all NZ’ers were now united as one people under one law.)

But really! Maori approval having to be sought to name a wine?

I had thought that our appeasers had reached the ultimate heights in insanity, but apparently I was wrong.

So what might the future hold?

Parents beware – if you want to name your child other than Rangi or Moana you may have to appear before a Maori select committee to seek their okay.

James and John, Janet and Jacqueline may no longer be politically correct.

Winston – please get the balance of power in the next election. I think I am going to throw up.

Mitch Morgan
Kaipara