NZ usage of "bro"

Simon Greenhill s.greenhill at AUCKLAND.AC.NZ
Fri Jan 22 22:18:30 UTC 2010 

Kia ora,

As a young(-ish) NZ male, I can confirm that "bro" is quite common. 

It is used in the same way Australians use "mate" by mainly lower-class young males (both Maori/Polynesian and NZ Europeans). It is seen by other subgroups as a very lower-class speech pattern. This groups use of it is not derogative or racist. However, 'bro' is often seen as a marker of "kiwi-english" and is mocked as such (particularly by Australians), but this is probably not intended as racist.

This video here is a nice example of how Australians view NZ-English usage of bro:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdVHZwI8pcA

Simon

On 22/01/2010, at 3:10 PM, Bill and Donna Davis wrote:

> Wolfgang and all..
> 
> It would be interesting to get more documentation of that use of
> English "bro" you have heard in NZ. It is used elsewhere? Is this an
> emerging sense which is different from the more widely-known usage or
> casual intimacy? Is it restricted at all (e.g. age-related or
> regional)? Is it specifically racist in some way? I also wonder if the
> word "bro" itself is derogatory even in that situation or is the
> negatively more in the implicit attitude of the speaker? For example,
> someone might make the same statement about the homeless in Los
> Angeles, saying, "Look at those dudes," but the word "dude" would not
> necessarily be derogatory.
> 
> -Bill
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 22, 2010, at 9:00 AM, an-lang-request at anu.edu.au wrote:
> 
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>> Today's Topics:
>> 
>>  1. Re: connotation of English "bro" (Wolfgang Sperlich)
>> 
>> 
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:57:34 +0000
>> From: Wolfgang Sperlich <wsperlich at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: Re: [An-lang] connotation of English "bro"
>> To: <bill-donna_davis at ntm.org>, <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
>> Message-ID: <BAY112-W123685BEFBC071C1F2B913A2630 at phx.gbl>
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>> 
>> 
>> Greetings to all yo bros out there
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Never has a saying been more true in this context than Firth's "you
>> know a word by the company it keeps". On my way to work I pass a
>> City Mission (in Auckland, NZ) where homeless people congregate, and
>> on more than one ocasion I have heard the highly respectable passers-
>> by say "look at those bros" - definitely in a derogatory manner. QED.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Wolfgang Sperlich
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: bill-donna_davis at ntm.org
>>> To: an-lang at anu.edu.au
>>> Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:55:03 +0800
>>> Subject: Re: [An-lang] connotation of English "bro"
>>> 
>>> Greetings all,
>>> 
>>> Waruno,
>>> 
>>> I question the idea of _bro_ in English being either derogatory or
>>> mening "white trash male." I have never heard it used in either of
>>> those ways, but rather it is used extensively among males of a
>>> certain
>>> generation (mine, in fact... i.e. baby boomers, I am 54). It is very
>>> much analogous to Australian "mate." It shows a casual intimacy, and
>>> it not derogatory at all. The younger generations, such as my
>>> daughters and their peers, tend to prefer _dude_ (which
>>> interestingly,
>>> is now gender NON-specific! my son-in-law calls my daughter "dude").
>>> Others use _bra_ which is cultural imitation of Jamaican/reggae
>>> version of _bro_.
>>> 
>>> Also, among the Batak of Palawan island, Philippines, _mistir_ is
>>> used
>>> as an English borrowing with the sense of "sir."
>>> 
>>> -Bill
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Jan 15, 2010, at 9:00 AM, an-lang-request at anu.edu.au wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Send An-lang mailing list submissions to
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>>>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>>>> than "Re: Contents of An-lang digest..."
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>>>> 
>>>> Today's Topics:
>>>> 
>>>> 1. FW: Linguistic Contact in East Timor (Elizabeth Pearce)
>>>> 2. Re: FW: Linguistic Contact in East Timor (David Gil)
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> Message: 1
>>>> Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:17:43 +1300
>>>> From: Elizabeth Pearce <Elizabeth.Pearce at vuw.ac.nz>
>>>> Subject: [An-lang] FW: Linguistic Contact in East Timor
>>>> To: "an-lang at anu.edu.au" <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
>>>> Message-ID: <C774F427.F9EA%elizabeth.pearce at vuw.ac.nz>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>>> 
>>>> And bro is used as a term of address among whites as well as among
>>>> Maori in New Zealand. (And I imagine in Australia also).
>>>> Liz Pearce
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ------ Forwarded Message
>>>> From: Waruno Mahdi <mahdi at fhi-berlin.mpg.de>
>>>> Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:48:16 +1300
>>>> To: Austronesian languages <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
>>>> Conversation: [An-lang] Linguistic Contact in East Timor
>>>> Subject: Re: [An-lang] Linguistic Contact in East Timor
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks David. Yes, this funny use of _mister_ is interesting indeed,
>>>> though I haven't heard it yet among Indonesians abroad. The funny
>>>> thing about it is, that there had been a Javanese herbal-medicine
>>>> (_jamu_) brand since the early 20th century, known as _jamu cap
>>>> Nyonya-Meneer_ (lit. 'missus-&-mister brand herbal-medicine').
>>>> On the package there was a picture of a Dutch couple, the word
>>>> _meneer_ being Dutch (also spelled _mijnheer_) for 'mister'. The
>>>> loanword in colloquial Indonesian Malay, _menir_, is/was gender
>>>> specific (masculine).
>>>> 
>>>> Also the earlier Portuguese loan _sinyor_ (attested since 17th
>>>> cent.)
>>>> was gender specific. Both (_sinyor_ and _menir_) were only used with
>>>> regard to white persons. I did not mention either of them earlier,
>>>> because they are no longer commonly used in the modern language.
>>>> 
>>>> But the process of borrowing can sometimes have unexpected, or no
>>>> longer apparent loopholes. The word _bro_ (short for _brother_)
>>>> began to be used some years ago in Malaysia as gender-specific term
>>>> of address to a (male) friend. I noticed recently that it has also
>>>> started to be used by some young Indonesians.
>>>> 
>>>> In view of the fact, that _bro_ in (American) English has a quite
>>>> pronounced derogatory meaning (something like "white-trash male"),
>>>> it seems very unlikely that the Malay word was a direct borrowing
>>>> from English. I tentatively suspect, therefore, that the original
>>>> precursor was _brother_ as term of address amongst Afro-Americans,
>>>> and that Malay _bro_ was shortened from _brother_ in Malay itself,
>>>> independently of the shortening to _bro_ in English. Does that
>>>> sound likely?
>>>> 
>>>> I forgot to mention in my former input that Malay borrowed a number
>>>> of adjectives from Arabic, some with masculine ending (e.g. _hakiki_
>>>> 'essential'), some with feminine (_alamiah_ 'natural'), but the
>>>> loanwords were/are free of any gender connotation in Malay.
>>>> 
>>>> Aloha,
>>>> Waruno
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> Just a footnote to Waruno's excellent summary ...
>>>>> 
>>>>> Any white person who has spent any time in Indonesia will be more
>>>>> than familiar with the recent Indonesian loan from English
>>>>> "mister",
>>>>> whose denotation is, simply 'white person', and is unmarked not
>>>>> just
>>>>> for number but also for gender ...
>>>>> 
>>>>> David
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> An-lang mailing list
>>>> An-lang at anu.edu.au
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>>>> 
>>>> ------ End of Forwarded Message
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> 
>>>> Message: 2
>>>> Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:26:38 +0700
>>>> From: David Gil <gil at eva.mpg.de>
>>>> Subject: Re: [An-lang] FW: Linguistic Contact in East Timor
>>>> To: "an-lang at anu.edu.au" <an-lang at anu.edu.au>
>>>> Message-ID: <4B4EAB0E.7000408 at eva.mpg.de>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>>> 
>>>> Waruno Mahdi wrote:
>>>>> But the process of borrowing can sometimes have unexpected, or no
>>>>> longer apparent loopholes. The word _bro_ (short for _brother_)
>>>>> began to be used some years ago in Malaysia as gender-specific term
>>>>> of address to a (male) friend. I noticed recently that it has also
>>>>> started to be used by some young Indonesians.
>>>>> 
>>>>> In view of the fact, that _bro_ in (American) English has a quite
>>>>> pronounced derogatory meaning (something like "white-trash male"),
>>>>> it seems very unlikely that the Malay word was a direct borrowing
>>>>> from English. I tentatively suspect, therefore, that the original
>>>>> precursor was _brother_ as term of address amongst Afro-Americans,
>>>>> and that Malay _bro_ was shortened from _brother_ in Malay itself,
>>>>> independently of the shortening to _bro_ in English. Does that
>>>>> sound likely?
>>>>> 
>>>> Well I'm not sure, but here are three reasons to suppose that it was
>>>> the
>>>> shortened form _bro_ in English that was directly borrowed ...
>>>> 
>>>> (a) In western Nusantara dialects of Malay/Indonesian, truncation
>>>> to a
>>>> monosyllable usually (if not always) retains the final syllable,
>>>> rather
>>>> than the penultimate, eg. _abang_ > _bang_, _mister_ > _ster_,
>>>> _Dapit_ >
>>>> _pit_.
>>>> 
>>>> (b) In eastern Nusantara dialects, eg. Papuan Malay, there is no
>>>> productive rule of truncation to monosyllabic forms, eg. _kaka_ >
>>>> *_ka_
>>>> -- and in fact, in Papuan Malay, _bro_ has recently become very
>>>> widespread.
>>>> 
>>>> (c) In Papua at least, my impression is that people -- mostly trendy
>>>> teenagers -- who use _bro_ are also likely to associate with other
>>>> artifacts of African-American culture, eg. rap music, shoulder bags
>>>> with
>>>> rasta colours, etc., which suggests to me that they borrowed the
>>>> form
>>>> directly from African-American English. (Which is consistent with
>>>> other
>>>> comments that have been made in recent postings on this subject.)
>>>> 
>>>> David
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> David Gil
>>>> 
>>>> Department of Linguistics
>>>> Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
>>>> Deutscher Platz 6, D-04103 Leipzig, Germany
>>>> 
>>>> Telephone: 49-341-3550321 Fax: 49-341-3550119
>>>> Email: gil at eva.mpg.de
>>>> Webpage: http://www.eva.mpg.de/~gil/
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> 
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>>>> 
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