Noel Kelly says he has taken a ''blanket approach'' to this compendium of slang used by Kiwis: ''If we currently speak it, write it, text it, tweet it, facebook it or blog it'' he has attempted to record it.
In doing so, he has compiled more than 32,000 entries, from Americanisations and Aussie adoptions to our own ''kosher Kiwi heritage'', which includes everything from ''A into G'', ''all hui and no doey'' and ''Benmore breakfasts'' to ''westies'', the ''wop wops'', ''wrinklies'', ''yeah nah'' and ''zoo doo''.
Offensive, entertaining and informative.
This is the fourth revision of this essential New Zealand reference book, which features 374 bird species.
It contains colour paintings, information about birds' size, distribution, habitat, population, geographical variation, conservation breeding, behaviour and feeding habits, as well as information about further specialised reading.
• Helen Speirs
