Fun facts about Norfolk Island … Seriously. Fun!
I 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?
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….
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…
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