Listen Now: 
Download AudioThe author of a new book on Māori humour says it should probably be R-rated.
Hona Black says the idea of Te Reo Kapekape: Māori Wit and Humour is to make learning te reo fun, and also to give non-Maori a better understanding of what Maori find funny.
Kapekape means smart alec, and there are also lots of references to body parts and functions, reflecting the earthy side of Maori humour.
“Even little kiwaha like “o raho!” You know in English you’d probably translate that as your balls, but really it just means ‘stuff you’ in te reo Maori. So those types of little sayings that you just wouldn’t hear in English, but you always tend to say them in te reo Maori,” Mr Black says.
Te Reo Kapekape follows on from Hona Black’s He Iti te Kupu: Māori metaphors and similes, which is also published by Oratia Books
RELATED NEWS
