terms and phraseology

Hi All,
How about a topic/thread where people ask about, or explain, the obscure phrases and terms used in NZ? The real estate adverts I read have me scrambling for translations everytime. Maybe there could be a list?

For example: rates. What does this term mean? It is not the same as your mortgage lender rate. It is usually given in a dollar amount. I think it has to do with fees charged by communities based on occupancy capabiltity of the property, but I'm not sure. Help!

Terms from all walks of life could be published on this thread... Whaddaya say? :icon_question:

Cheers,
Tom

Hi

people from the UK will be familiar with rates (council tax) but for those of you not from Uk, it is a form of local taxation and the amount stated is a yearly cost, it can be paid annually or quarterly.

I'm sure Steve's got a list somewhere on his site giving translations of estate agents jargon (he's got practically everything else on there :icon_biggrin: ) and if he hasnt already, I'm sure he'll do one and put a link up here to it!

But here's a few for those who dont know:

PBN - Price By Negotiation - you'll have to negotiate with the vendor, occaisionally there'll be a negotiation range published on the details, but not often

MWP - Marketed Without Price - Basically only want serious buyers to enquire and are out to get what they can for the property.

Rumpus room - Family room or den (can also be used as a bedroom, but will probably not have built in wardrobes and quite often downstairs linked with the garage

Lifestyle - house with a bit of land for hobby farming

Dairy - General store, usually with ice-cream counter

Here's a few more for you....

BEO - buyer's enquiry over $x

A car park - this means one parking space, not a whole car park to your self! :icon_lol:

Car pad - normally a deck area on the opposite sode of the road to park your car on

Stunning views - in Welly this means that you'll be pounded by the wind whenever it gets above 20 mph cos your exposed! :icon_wink:

Tucked away - built in nextdoor's garden!

I'll post some more when I come across them!

Jodie

Here's another one that a Kiwi expat just used on me... Not sure of the spelling... "SMOKE-O."

He says it means "Break Time," as in, when you've been busting your hump and coffee/tea time comes along, someone in the workshop would yell "Smoke-O" and everyone would stop work and take 10-15 minutes.

Keep 'em coming.

Tom

selected 29 September with 105 and No job offer... almost ready to move South and start looking in earnest.

nell m,
You're very kind, but unless I'm loosing my brain (which after what I've just been doing I might - Javascript in German !), I haven't got any translations for things like that.
I can offer you a Maori to English site :icon_rolleyes:

If I get time !

I must admit, some of these estate agent terms are bit obscure !

Jodie - that's so funny :icon_lol:

Cheers
Steve

I'll put it on my to-do list for the site...

I've got a whole heap of new things planned for the site, now I'm actually here! There are a great deal of things that could do with explaining as I'm sure most of you here will agree, kiwi-isms are plentyful and some are hard to understand!

Keep posting your kiwi-isms here, and i'll compile a proper list for them soon :icon_biggrin:

[quote:5adf56ac3d="bugeyeguy"]Here's another one that a Kiwi expat just used on me... Not sure of the spelling... "SMOKE-O."[/quote:5adf56ac3d]

Ahhh... smoko...

It's the Kiwi equivalent to the american "smoke 'em if you got 'em" but predominantly used in an employment environment for the purposes of relaxation...

::):