The meaning of "whakate"

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Giles Turnbull

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Jul 28, 2008, 11:31:43 AM7/28/08
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A friend of mine who lives in New Zealand decided to investigate the
"whakate" thing in more detail, and had a chat with a Maori friend of
his to find out more. The conversation went like this...

<aaaa> hello?

<bbbb> heya

<aaaa> are you familiar with the word whakate?

<bbbb> hmmm nope

<aaaa> www.whakate.com

<aaaa> someone said that it was of nz maori origin and pronounced "war-KAH-tee"

<aaaa> can't find the word as used in ngata dictionary either

<aaaa> although whakatetere(tia) definition certainly suggests common root

<bbbb> yeah taranaki drop their h

<bbbb> so whanganui is pronounced wanganui.. so whakate could be
pronounced wakate

<bbbb> but only by people from taranaki

<aaaa> even so, wouldn't it be wa-ka-tay

<bbbb> everyone else would say far ka tay

<bbbb> yep

<aaaa> without particular stress on any syllable

<bbbb> yeah no macrons

<bbbb> no stress

<aaaa> http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?dictionaryKeywords=whakate&search.x=0&search.y=0&search=search&n=1&idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=

<aaaa> seems there's a macron on the e, if that's right

<bbbb> that would make sense

<bbbb> whaka is an actioning thingy

<bbbb> to convert a noun to a verb

<aaaa> tē

<aaaa> 1. (verb) to make a sharp explosive sound, break wind, fart.

<aaaa> 2. (stative) crack, fart.

<aaaa> so, whakatē: web site that causes you to fart?

* aaaa decides not to sign up

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