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Kiwi English is giving it heaps but why has there been no local dictionary in yonks?

By Paul Little
New Zealand Listener·
18 mins to read

First, some history. In 1997, Oxford University Press published The Dictionary of New Zealand English: A dictionary of New Zealandisms on historical principles – 2.6kg and 965 pages, edited by HW (Harry) Orsman. It recorded “the history of words and particular senses of words which are in some way distinctively or predominantly … ‘New Zealand’ in meaning or use.” Historical principles meant it gave examples of the earliest use of words and their developing shades of meaning over time.

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