[craig1234564]

:)

My wife is from Dalmatia in Croatia and imagine our surprise when reading the rough guide to New Zealand we found a term in the glossary:

Dally- semi-derogatory name for descendants of dalmatian immigrants from the Balkans.


Why is this used do you know? is it still used?

Also the word pakeha (used by maoris meaning non-maori yes?) is also in there and it says it can be translated as 'flea' or 'pest'.

quite funny but not so nice yes?

[NikT]

Never heard of Dally!

Pakeha is commonly used.

Nick.:cheers

[JandM]

Also the word pakeha (used by maoris meaning non-maori yes?) is also in there and it says it can be translated as 'flea' or 'pest'.This reminds me of 'emmets', an alternative for 'grockles', words commonly used by year-round inhabitants of tourist areas of southern England when referring to visitors - 'emmets' is a dialect word for ants.

[ellenmelon]

Ah, my comment got swallowed by my crappy internet!

If I can remember correctly I said..

I haven't heard that term used before, but have heard of it. I would say older generations would be more familiar and remember when it was used and may use it themselves. I don't think it's in common usage any more really. I'm 24 and only know of its usage because of a doco that was on here and my Dad talking about them.

I know myself that Dalmation immigrants and their descendants have set up some lucrative businesses. Wine making seems to have been a particular industry where they flourish. Nobilo is one family that I can think of that is famous in the wine industry..Selak I think is one too? There is a passenger transport business around too I think.

I wouldn't worry about your wife being maligned because of where she's from..maybe from older people but old habits die hard!

[M-Squared]

Haven't heard of dally, personally wouldn't worry about it. Pakeha is in common use among Maori, PI and those of European descent. I've never heard of any negative connotations inferred with it. :)

[clairelouise]

My daughter had a homwork assignment to do over the easter hols and as part of it she had to research into the area her school is in (Ahipara) and reprt on the local history/interesting stories she could find out from people/museums/internet etc. Part of the info she dug up talked a lot of the dalmatians, and the work they did on the Gumfields in the far north. Aparantly they were also affectionately named the Tarara by the Maori of the Te rarawa tribe which translates as 'fast talkers'.

Useless info, I know, but I liked it!

The welcome to Kaitaia sign is in 3 languages too and says...Welcome, Haere Mai, Dobro Dosli which is pretty cool too, IMO :D

Pakeha is commonly used here too, but not in a negative way.

[TonnyTessa]

We had a workshop today on the Waitangi treaty today and the origin of the word Pakeha came up, so let me enlighten you :) The pake-pakeha are the little fairies from Maori stories, they were fair-skinned just like the early settlers, hence the term Pakeha for white people. Quite a nice story I thought :)

The flea story comes from the fact that pa is flea and keha means village (or the other way around I forgot). So some say that Pakeha could mean village flea, but I have been told that that meaning is grammatically incorrect.

Here is a link for a story about the faries

http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-TreRace-t1-body-d21-d2.html

[craig1234564]

My daughter had a homwork assignment to do over the easter hols and as part of it she had to research into the area her school is in (Ahipara) and reprt on the local history/interesting stories she could find out from people/museums/internet etc. Part of the info she dug up talked a lot of the dalmatians, and the work they did on the Gumfields in the far north. Aparantly they were also affectionately named the Tarara by the Maori of the Te rarawa tribe which translates as 'fast talkers'.

Useless info, I know, but I liked it!

The welcome to Kaitaia sign is in 3 languages too and says...Welcome, Haere Mai, Dobro Dosli which is pretty cool too, IMO :D

Pakeha is commonly used here too, but not in a negative way.

thanks thats very interesting :) especially cool about the sign ;)

[frootbat]

I've read somewhere that the area around Kumeu (if I remember correctly) is known as 'Dally Valley' because many of the wineries there were founded by Croatian families. I don't think it's in any way derogatory. I'm sure you and your wife will enjoy finding out about the Croatian links as you explore NZ.

[Flutterby]

i expect dally is used simple because they are too lazy to say "descendants of dalmatian immigrants from the Balkans." and not intended to be derogatory despite its apparent origin.
they have nicknames for many things and people (even their own) i think they just like a bit of slang.

[MaryMc]

Craig,
It's just a nick-name - I've been here 19 years and have NEVER heard it used in a derogatory way. Your wife will be fine :)

MaryMc