About half-pie: the word, the site, and me
The term “half-pie” is a piece of New Zealand slang. Here’s the entry from Harry Orsman’s excellent A Dictionary of Modern New Zealand Slang:
half-pie , adjective Possibly from Māori pai ‘good’: compare PIE ON. Half-and-half; neither one thing nor the other; imperfect; incomplete or incompletely realised; unsatisfactory. 1911 e.g. It was a sort of half-pie gate made of iron bed-ends. As an adverb, in some way; partly; half-heartedly. 1949 e.g. Simon was only half-pie simple.
I like this word for several reasons. Firstly, it’s a good New Zealand word that is in use nowhere else. Secondly, it is useful for that kiwi ironic self-deprecation that we seem to be so good at as a nation. And thirdly, it’s partly a borrowing from Māori, so in a way the use of it is a small nod to towards the only unique cultural strand New Zealand has. In fact when you think about it the very word itself describes its own condition, a proud mongrel adjective that we could apply to the whole country.
It is also a good label for my utterly banal and unremarkable efforts in attempting to write a weblog.
About me
I live in a Wellington suburb and am married to the wonderful Rebecca. We have two girls: Bella and Rosa. Here’s a picture of our wee family:
About this site
It’s just a blog, for slightly longer stuff, there’s an associated tumblog for shorter stuff. Over time, I’ve used a couple different Content Management Systems / Weblog Systems and I’m currently using TextPattern and Tumblr.
Contact me
Use this form to contact me.
