Fun facts about Norfolk Island … Seriously. Fun!

fun-facts-seriously-funI just found out that Norfolk Island has it’s own language!

It’s called Norfolk (unsurprisingly) and it’s a mixture of platt Deutsch (whatever the hell that is), 18th Century English and Tahitian.

This has been reappropriated aka stolen directly from the Norfolk Island website.

Seriously, who knew?!

Norfolk English
Whutta-waye? How are you?
All yorlye gwen? How are you all?
Come yorlye look orn. Come and have a look, everyone.
I gut ar hillie. I’m in a lazy mood.
He arta orn hissel. He admires himself too much.
Car do far dorg et. Not good enough even for a dog’s meal.
Es stolle. It’s a lie.
I car foot. I don’t know.
hui-hui appallingly dirty and smelly
tye-tye tasteless, unappetising
daffy here
deffy there

More fun facts –

  • You must give way to cows on Norfolk Island
  • Only 1800 people live there
  • You must buy property in order to live on the island
  • You have to fly to Norfolk Island from an International Airport even though it’s technically under NSW governance
  • It’s on the same latitude as Byron Bay
  • There are direct descendants of Fletcher Christianson (the leader of the mutiny on The Bounty) living on the island
  • There are 40 unique plant species and 20 species of bird life
  • They don’t call it fishing; they call it ‘catching’ because you don’t have to try very hard – there are so many fish!

Maybe I am getting a little over-enthusiastic here but who knew that Norfolk Island was such a weird place.

I like the sound of it.

Has anyone been there? Care to share?

 

3 comments on “Fun facts about Norfolk Island … Seriously. Fun!

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plattdeutsch

    When JoAnn and I were first married, we were so poor that our first Christmas tree was a Norfolk pine–about 50 cm tall! (See their flag!) Nope, never been there. Actually, I thought all the Bounty’s mutineers ended up on Pitcairn, whose stamps I collected as a little boy. Guess I’ll have to spend more time reading….

  2. My mother’s maternal grandfather was the Governor of Norfolk Island – in ye olden days – and we have a great photograph of Mum’s mother as a small child, with the whole family, and their genuine black servant. Guess that’s what every Governor had…

  3. Well, I’m busy doing a destination branding for the island and it is so multifaceted with such a rich history. Got to love the weirdness

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