Intrigued by cultural nuances, Civis thinks the observation may be accurate but remains unsure.
The Belgian had been invited to a dance and declined to commit because he thought he might not go. In the event he did attend, and was met with decidedly quizzical reactions.
He felt New Zealanders generally behaved the opposite way: if they thought they might attend, they would say "yes," even though they might fail to turn up.
Civis noticed the same pattern in an exercise class: several people who said they would come ultimately did not.
Of course, some situations require a firm "yes" or "no." But what should we do when there might appear to be leeway?
Each approach has clear advantages and disadvantages, yet in either case, hosts and organisers can be left uncertain.
Civis asks what lies behind this. Do we say "yes" to please others rather than decline? Do we like to keep options open?
And where do we fall on the spectrum from bluntness to avoidance?
Civis remembers meeting a forthright woman from the United States who was acutely frustrated by New Zealanders’ reluctance to speak plainly. It was much better, she said, to have issues out in the open so they could be tackled.
Do we go out of our way to avoid potential confrontation? Would we rather handle matters indirectly, resort to passive aggression, or simply ignore them?
Traditionally, the Dutch and Germans have reputations for calling a spade a spade, though personality often overlays cultural stereotype; individuals should be treated as individuals.
Notably, a strong reluctance to say "no" is common in some Pasifika communities.
Civis fights forlornly for New Zealand ways of saying things, as regular readers will know.
Mostly, the tide is inexorable. United States and other international terms usually triumph in the end. Sometimes, though, not all is lost.
When a fire swept Tongariro National Park early last week, Civis read that "hikers" had been evacuated. Hikers?
Time for a quick check to see whether the distinctive, descriptive and idiosyncratic Kiwi word "tramper" is over the hill.
The bad news: Stuff and TVNZ used "hikers" in reports Civis read. The New Zealand Herald and RNZ, however, used "trampers", as did an Otago Daily Times online heading.
Overseas trampers have been known to look up the word tramp with bewilderment.
The Collins Dictionary’s first definition is: "A person who has no home or job and very little money. Tramps go from place to place and get food or money by asking people or by doing casual work."
Tramping as a term for adventuring into the outdoors emerged strongly after World War 1. The Tararua Tramping Club, New Zealand’s first, adopted the word in its name in 1919; the Otago Tramping Club followed in 1923.
There were also "hiking" clubs in the 1920s and 1930s, although they did not endure.
The Mountain Safety Council examined Google search data for 2012 and 2022 and found that, despite the 2022 period coinciding with Covid-related travel restrictions, "hiking" had overtaken "tramping".
The council uses both terms and considers them interchangeable.
This month’s Google Trends results show that "hiking" (and "hike") is gaining further ground on "tramping" (and "tramp"), now three to four times more popular.
The gap is especially large for searches from the West Coast, where a high proportion of overseas visitors may explain the difference.
Hopefully, "tramping" remains so characteristic of New Zealand that it can keep putting its best foot forward. The term is part of our cultural tradition worth keeping on track.
