New Zealand Listener

Weight of words

An early and enduring entry in the Essential Covid List of Clichés was “the new normal”. With its promiscuous relevance and trend-defining, zeitgeist-grabbing appeal, it instantly became the catch-all ironic phrase, fit for just about any social occasion. Everything that was abnormal was the new normal, and there was so much that was abnormal.

We’re now in a process of renormalisation in

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from New Zealand Listener

New Zealand Listener3 min read
Uncovering Our Past
There’s a Māori whakataukī (proverb) that says, “Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua. / I walk backwards into the future with my eyes fixed on the past.” The loop of past, present and future speaks to New Zealand Wars: Stories of Tauranga Moana, the la
New Zealand Listener6 min read
Weaving Welsh With Waiata
You probably saw it on the news. Last month, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ONZ, one of our most revered cultural figures, was honoured at Parliament. The occasion was Dame Kiri’s 80th birthday but this was a celebration of a life, not a day. There were speeche
New Zealand Listener5 min read
‘That German boy’
On the day after World War I began, my father, at 18, volunteered with enthusiasm to join the Bavarian Artillery. He survived the terrible Battle of the Somme, won two Iron Crosses and ended the war, defeated, in a military hospital in Alsace. Lieute

Related Books & Audiobooks