<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>2:47 one of my old friends said yesterday when i rang her up she says i'm eighty six you know wow had a birthday on the first of august so i'm eighty six i say i couldn't tell anyone <{><[>laughs <[>laughs no it's something to be proud of <&>3:00 but eighty <{><[>six <[>yeah but i'll never forget years ago er er a couple of <.>old well <.>th to me i was a kid they were old girls you see came out from england yeah and er one of them would never say how old she was i don't know if the other one ever did either but laughs i met her once she'd just turned eighty and she couldn't stop telling everyone that she was eighty <{><[>laughs <[>laughs and i've seen a lot <.>of lot of people since then once they turn eighty they're very busy telling you that i'm eighty and <{><[>you know <[>laughs and then once they get over eighty it's like oh i'm still eighty yes a <.>lot oh the smith girls would have been to be in their eighties they were all right <{1><[1>yeah don't know how much longer any of of them word <{2><[2>word <[1>yeah <[2>how old's auntie dot she must be quite old though <.>she oh no she'd be about eighty um six no she wouldn't be eighty six until august <{><[>i don't think <[>well she looks bloody old in that picture any rate i'm <{1><[1>i'm sorry about that nothing <{2><[2>to do with you the other side of the family <[1>yeah <[2><.>cos no she does look quite old in that <{><[>photo of you three girls and that's why i wondered because gran said <[>yeah oh no she'd only be about seven in those photos <&>4:00 yeah well how old was granny <,> was <.>she she must have been about <{><[>four or so <[>she <.>abou about eighteen months older than i am and she'd be about two years younger than dot <,> <{><[>word <[>well no i think <.>b dot looks older than that mm oh no she doesn't you know she <{1><[1>does <.>look <.>sh yeah in the photo she looks older <{2><[2>but apparently she's <{3><[3>not <[1>word <[2>yeah but <.>you <[3>and a good <{><[>catholic family <[><.>you <.>you <.>you you and mary look quite babyish but she looks a small girl yeah no dot would have been <{><[>about seven because she word <[>don't <.>ar don't argue with your great aunt it's typical you <.>shouldn't she was sitting like this and she <.>had probably had her two front teeth missing oh <{><[>really <[>who dot dot and at <{><[><.>se <[>why how did that happen and at <.>seven well you always lose them when you're old i mean <.>wh when you get old when you're young laughs laughs yeah no like did <.>she was that just because of an accident or what <{><[>oh no <[>i mean you wouldn't go losing your FRONT teeth yes you do no you don't well you lost yours you didn't have those ones when you were born <,> <{><[>you <.>are you are a funny little girl <[>no no exhales laughs now auntie dot would be about eighty six <,> she's <&>5:00 probably eighty seven <.>this er in <{><[>august <[>march have you ever seen auntie <{><[>dot <[>no you lose <.>your you lose your <{><[>molars <[>you lose all your teeth no you <.>d <.>w of course you <{><[>do <[>not when you're born you get your first set but <.>y you usually keep those ones <{><[>don't you <[>no you don't they don't <{><[>fall out <[>wherever have you been all your life i never remember pulling those ones out you don't pull them out they fall out by themselves yeah they fall out when someone gives <{><[>you a jolt <[>you put them under the pillow then you get a sixpence from the fairy for them laughs gawd you are old <{><[>sixpence <[><.>tha that's right do you know what a sixpence is <{><[>laughs <[>laughs <[>yeah i do actually it's a five cent coin well you had to have sixpence in those days <,> <{><[>yeah <[>but <.>i it's only a threepenny piece really <{><[>coughs coughs <[>you word want five cents only threepenny <{><[>piece <[>yeah really oh okay laughs and she'll believe you <{><[>she'd be about eighty seven i reckon <[>i said word auntie dot auntie dot yes and er tut but i never tell anyone how old i am laughs but auntie mary would <.>be er your grandmother would be eighteen months older than i am anyway <&>6:00 gee i say you've got to word a bit father was a busy daddy wasn't he <,> <{><[>sneezes <[>only had three kids but i mean after all though <.>th <.>th <.>y you were <.>o tut <,> enough said laughs now my mother was a good catholic you see at that stage and you had to have three children i thought you had to have more if you <{><[>were catholic <[>yeah <.>w <.>w <.>w <.>w when i was a young boy catholics had to have FOUR children no no no no three you know she's got irish ancestry you can't argue with her laughs so have i <{><[>laughs <[>good on you rachel dear <.>i'm <.>i'm i'm pleased i come from an intelligent family <{><[>laughs <[>oh what is he scottish or something <{><[>yeah <[>no i'm a scandinavian oh oh are you mm <.>what <.>why <.>what <.>what <.>hedi voc what heritage are you <{1><[1>well i can put it down on a list but i've got no idea <{2><[2>what a scandinavian that's the funny part about it you see <[1>see he <.>sai <[2><.>tha that is one or the other oh have this one here it's er it's very complicated for people that can't understand it cos my parents were swedish but they lived in finland <,,> <{><[>and <&>7:00 they speak swedish whereas i'm just reading a thing in er something just now but <.>only it's all about finland it's <.>in oh it's in the latest listener <[>word yeah and er only about eight percent of them finnish people still speak swedish but finland was a part of sweden up until the first world war or <.>some damn time or other oh really yeah no wait a tick it was before that the russians had it for the last hundred years the russians took it off napoleon no napoleon was in sweden <{><[>the king of sweden was someone that was appointed by old napoleon away back about the beginning of the <.>seven nineteenth century <[>yes so they would have been run by france i suppose you see dad reckons our name <.>was was originally french <{><[>laughs <[>chamberlin yeah you see er you take michelin and all those sort of names they <{><[>finish the same way you see <[><.>i it sounds more french <.>than yeah but it's a swedish name because the swedes know it straight away <{><[>but no one else does <[>yeah so did they speak swedish to you or not oh no well <.>h <{><[><.>how <[>we all spoke english <&>8:00 how old were they when they came here <,> like had they been born in sweden <.>themsel <{><[>in finland <[>no they were born in finland <{><[>you see <.>bu but <[>in <.>sw finland my father came out at the turn of the century aha as <.>a it's a long time ago <{><[>dear isn't it <[><.>young as a young man actually he <.>was he was going to america but er what the wrong way no er in hamburg he <.>got he was only a <.>young young chap you know about twenty tut and er he got mixed up i suppose with some bad characters <{1><[1>who finished up he didn't have any money i suppose they took him into a pub and <.>br oh i don't know voc so he had no money so he had to get a job on the first ship he could find and the first ship he could find was coming to new zealand <{2><[2>so he came to new zealand you see <[1>laughs <[2>new zealand of all places though he probably <.>thou he thought lyttelton was the most beautiful place he'd ever seen after being three months on a sailing ship coming yeah you would too so he was um tut what would be called an illegal <.>im cos he just <.>shu jumped ship he'd had enough of sailing ships by that time yeah so he jumped ship and er ran up into the country at canterbury laughs and worked in the country there for a long time <&>9:00 <.>and tut and after about five years he'd done quite well <.>i new zealand doing <.>v got friendly with lots of people and he went back with some people to england and he went back to helsinki see it used to be called helsingfors in those days and he was <{><[><.>a <[>and then he got mixed up with mum he was an electrician actually you see that's what his actual trade was and he got a job with an electrical company and my mother was an office girl there you see and er he was <.>a some sort of <.>minor minor boss tut any rate he decided he didn't like that he'd come back to new zealand so he asked her to marry him and they came back to new zealand and she thought this was the most horrible country she'd ever been in when <{1><[1>she arrived here she's oh all oldfashioned clothes they all had they were years behind the clothes <{2><[2>in europe and that sort of thing <[1>oh really <[2>fashion laughs still they were cheap she was very miserable she used to go and sit in the cemetery where she could cry without people wondering what was the matter with her <{><[>laughs <[>because one of the funny things i remember about poor old mum and er <.>sh she came out here <&>10:00 and they were <.>having we <.>use used to <.>have if anyone new like when sue came next door i had <.>a a party for her <.>y invite everyone round to meet her you see oh yeah and this is what happened at poor old mum's you see they gave her an afternoon tea and all at once the hostess said oh ingrid that was her name jane always used to say it as ingrit <{><[>laughs <[>but it's ingrid she said i didn't see you <.>come no i came in the back side she said <{1><[1>laughs well you see she didn't speak enough english <.>to to sort of have <.>w i came in the back <{2><[2>door <[1>laughs <[1>laughs <[2>back door i came in the back side laughs i always remember this <{><[>yeah <[>word <[>oh <,> so they never spoke um finnish to you or swedish they didn't speak finnish dad could speak finnish but my mother couldn't but but they never spoke <{><[>swedish to you <[>no no they never spoke <.>swe they spoke english we <.>were we were living in <.>engl in new zealand mum you know she said got to be very careful you know we're foreigners you've got to be very careful you've got to be careful <.>what what's happening you know when <{1><[1>foreigners oh that was <.>a it wasn't the same as it is today you see foreigners were pretty scarce in those days <&>11:00 <{2><[2>and er she was always very nervous of course and you know she wouldn't let people know that we were foreign word <[1>really oh that was a shame <[2>they were VERY scarce gosh yeah but i mean surely they'd be able to tell from her accent <{><[><.>if her english accent <[>oh yes mm but i mean er she didn't meet that many people i mean after all <.>the all <.>her her FRIENDS you know they all knew all about her but <{><[>er tut talking to foreigners god talking to strangers i mean you know it's a word but oh no er <,,> <[>yeah i can remember <.>when when er we <.>were not their family our family in new plymouth and we had some POMS that came to live next door yeah we <.>were it was wonderful they had a funny talk you <{><[>know didn't sound a bit like us you know of course since then well there's all <.>been well it's coronation street now but oh no <.>we we thought they were wonderful <&>11:50 <[>laughs