Kiwi (people)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kiwi is the nickname used internationally for people from New Zealand. The name derives from the flightless bird native to New Zealand, the national bird.

The first New Zealanders to be widely known as Kiwis were the military. The Regimental Signs for all New Zealand Regiments feature the kiwi, including those which fought in the Second Boer War then with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in World War I. Much of the interaction between Regiments and between regiments and locals was done under the respective Regimental Sign, and the kiwi came to mean first the men of regiments and then all New Zealanders. Due to the relative isolation of New Zealand, many troops stayed in Europe (particularly at Beacon Hill, near Bulford on the Salisbury Plain, where they carved a chalk kiwi into the hill in 1918^[1]) for months or years until transport home could be arranged. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the first use of the Kiwi to mean New Zealand in 1918, in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Chronicles.

In World War I, the British Army ordered several tons of Kiwi brand polish to be used by the soldiers on their boots, belts, saddles and other horse tack.^{[citation needed]} The polish was popular and in the postwar era the company enjoyed growing sales worldwide. Kiwi polish was used even more widely in World War II.^{[citation needed]}

The nickname Kiwis for New Zealand servicemen eventually became common usage in all war theatres.^{[citation needed]} Following World War II it was gradually attributed to all New Zealanders and today, throughout the world they are referred to as Kiwis.^{[citation needed]}

The word Kiwi, used to describe people, is often capitalised, and takes the plural form Kiwis. The bird's name is spelt with a lower-case k (except, of course, when the rules of grammar state otherwise) and, being a word of Māori origin, normally stays as kiwi when a plural is formed. Thus, two Kiwis = two people, whereas two kiwi = two birds.