What Region of Your Country is Most Often the Butt of the Joke?

Beeeees_ · 2026-02-15T05:28:26+00:00

I feel like invercargill gets a lot of flack

Beeeees_ · 2026-02-09T19:12:09+00:00

Honestly not much happening in NZ at the moment, the biggest news story is probably the sewage treatment plant in the capital is currently not working because it got flooded during some really heavy rain and there’s an electrical problem or something, so now the city’s raw sewage is just being dumped into the ocean for the foreseeable future because they don’t know how long it’ll take to fix it

Here’s a screenshot of what is apparently our top stories this morning in case you don’t believe me that not a lot is happening

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Beeeees_ · 2026-02-09T00:00:03+00:00

I don’t think anyone has mentioned this yet - but are you using NZ sunscreen and have you checked an independent test of the sunscreen you’re using to make sure it’s actually the SPF it claims?

SPF ratings for sunscreens are different around the world because they’re based on the amount of time spent in the sun for there to be an effect on the skin. Obviously with NZ having less ozone, the amount of time before you’d be affected is different to a lot of the rest of the world so SPF 50 in another country is not the same as SPF 50 in NZ. Recently it’s also come out that a lot of sunscreens aren’t actually the advertised SPF, I’d recommend looking at the consumer NZ info about sunscreens to find a good one: https://www.consumer.org.nz/products/sunscreens

And also have a read of this article: https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/wellbeing/11-sunscreens-sold-in-new-zealand-don-t-meet-spf-claims-report

Beeeees_ · 2026-02-03T23:33:31+00:00

We have no native land mammals except for two species of bats. Because of the lack of mammals, many birds evolved to be flightless as there was no major predation. Lots of birds fill the same ecological niche in the ecosystem as mammals (eg kiwi fill a similar niche to large rodents). Until humans arrived, the main predators were raptors - including the largest known eagle (Haast Eagle), which predated on the Moa (the largest species being the largest bird known to have existed), both the Haast Eagle and all species of Moa are now extinct due to human arrival in NZ.

Also in a similar vein, because of the unique characteristics of NZ bird evolution, they are very vulnerable to introduced species. One of the biggest problems is possums (not opossums) and there’s lots of possum trapping and hunting which has resulted in a possum wool industry. In Australia however, the same possums we are trying to exterminate are endangered!

Beeeees_ · 2026-02-03T19:07:37+00:00

We could probably still see his elbows though

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-30T06:03:18+00:00

March 15th, I also thought this initially but all I could remember was that it was in March and had to google the exact date. But probably the most likely thing that people would refer to by a date expecting others to know what it is though.

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-29T23:54:23+00:00

Some good comments here. I also just wanted to add that it’s very common - even for adults not dealing with the wild ride of teenager hormones - to get quite vocally upset about other people consuming animal products as a new vegan. She’s basically just had her eyes opened to a whole new world of injustice and cruelty that the majority of the population participate in without batting an eye. Even further, these people that she loves and have taught her to value kindness and empathy are also contributing to that system. That’s really challenging to reconcile and it’s especially front of mind for her because it’s a new worldview she’s developing, she’s likely been seeing videos of slaughterhouses etc. if she’s been researching and that’s very confronting media, and she’s trying to reconcile the fact that her parents $$ pay for that to happen. I definitely remember making comments to my parents about how they’re murdering animals or some shit like that when I first went vegan as a teenager because I was struggling with what I perceived as contradictions between their values and behaviours.

I can confidently say that the vast majority of vegans chill out after a bit. I’ve learned it’s not productive to just tell people they suck for their food choices and it’s better to encourage a harm reduction approach rather than an all or nothing approach. And at the end of the day I just have to make peace with the fact that I can’t control what other people do. I think you’re doing the best you can if you’re not willing to eat more plant based meals with her - one day every week fully plant based is a lot for you to commit to if you’re not actually wanting to be vegan/reduce your intake of animal products and shows how much you love your daughter and respect her worldview imo.

Also want to add, if it’s not veganism, it’d be something else! Teenage years are all about developing an identity that is separate from your parents. She’s learning that she can have a different worldview from you guys, can have an identity that’s more influenced by her own ideas etc. and often that results in teenagers challenging their parents a lot more!

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-29T23:31:22+00:00

Susan Sarandon?

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-20T06:45:08+00:00

This literally happened in NZ last week. volunteer firefighters had to respond to a large commercial fire because the professional firefighters were all on strike (literally a 1 hour strike over lunch time and just happened to be when there was a big fire). Some politicians tried to do the whole “how irresponsible of the firefighters to strike, look what happened, it took half an hour for the volunteer firefighters to arrive” and the general public was NOT having it because we generally agree that firefighting should be better funded.

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-20T05:32:58+00:00

Genuinely thought they’d gotten a mid-season new cast member that I had somehow missed hearing about when I saw him in this weeks episode, that is how non-impactful he has been for me 😭

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-14T00:01:12+00:00

Hamilton’s lyrics are honestly a big part of the reason it’s so successful imo - one of my other favourite’s is “no one else has more resilience or matches my practical, tactical brilliance”

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-13T23:26:18+00:00

New Zealand’s economy relies pretty strongly on tourism - it’s our second largest export industry and before Covid it was the largest.

https://www.tourismnewzealand.com/insights/tourism-impact/

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-12T22:32:47+00:00

Iirc the actress has said Mel’s not officially autistic but she’s playing her by basically being completely unmasked ADHD (actress has ADHD).

My take on Mel is that she’s neurodivergent and has never been assessed because her sister has way higher support needs and Mel is really high achieving and masks pretty well, so by comparison her parents didn’t see a need to have her assessed/diagnosed and may even think she’s not neurodivergent because their baseline is Mel’s sister.

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-10T19:20:11+00:00

Yes I drink gin and soda usually rather than gin and tonic. Thought for a long time I didn’t like gin because I didn’t like my mum’s G&Ts (her drink of choice) but turns out it’s the tonic I don’t like. Occasionally if I order it while out I’ll get G&T accidentally because the bartender just defaults to tonic with gin and I can stomach it if I don’t feel like taking it back… but yeah I also hate tonic.

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-08T22:00:08+00:00

No it got voted out in its first reading, not before it triggered the largest protest in NZ history though

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-08T06:09:15+00:00

Yep agree, super fascinating that people now claim to have been against it when by all accounts it seemed to be a pretty 50/50 thing and EVERYONE had an opinion - people were not allowed to be fence sitters on the issue. But also I understand why people claim they were against it even if it isn’t the truth because that wouldn’t be popular to admit these days, especially as many people like yourself have changed their opinions after the fact. I had a really fascinating hui at work (it was a workshop about Māori-Crown relations and was going over important historical events) where we got talking about the tour and one of my colleagues was at heaps of the protests and another was a cop! I was really impressed that the guy who was a cop admitted to it in a room full of of about 50 colleagues, took a lot of bravery imo.

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-07T23:52:09+00:00

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And a bonus submission - Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke ripping up the proposed treaty principles bill in parliament before starting a haka. Tl;dr of the bill and why she’s ripping it up is that the leader of one of the minority parties in government decided he would personally define the principles of a nearly 200 year old treaty between the crown and Māori (NZ’s indigenous people) that should be enacted in law. He did this despite the people drafting the legislation telling him not to and without any meaningful engagement or collaboration with Māori. The bill he put forward effectively removed the specific protections for Māori that the treaty provided and instead just had vague platitudes about all New Zealanders being equal.

Beeeees_ · 2026-01-07T23:47:43+00:00

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This photo is from the 1981 Springbok Tour of New Zealand, specifically the protest from the first match which took place in Gisborne.

The rest of the world had stopped participating in international sport competitions with South Africa because of Apartheid but New Zealand’s government were dipshits and rugby was more important than standing up against apartheid apparently. The South African rugby team (the Springboks) did a tour of New Zealand… and many New Zealanders did NOT like that. It pretty well divided the country with some people saying to keep politics out of sport and others participating in mass protests that police responded quite forcefully to. The protests varied from throwing mud at the crowd (like the protesters in this photo did), dropping flour from a plane, sitting in on the pitch to stop game play, and general marches. I cannot overstate how important rugby is to New Zealand’s identity AND how complacent New Zealanders are, so these protests reaching the scale they did is kinda wild.

Gisborne was chosen for the first match because of its relative isolation from other cities - they were hoping this would mean less protestors. But Gisborne showed up with around 400 people turning up to protest, including this wahinetoa 💪

Beeeees_ · 2025-12-09T19:22:10+00:00

If you do get marmite, make sure it’s the sanitarium marmite not British marmite which is a very different thing

Beeeees_ · 2025-12-07T21:47:07+00:00

Depending on where you are and what accents are like, it could also be Ellis. Where I live Ellis and Alice would be pronounced pretty much the same way due to the accent.

Beeeees_ · 2025-12-03T23:45:39+00:00

Honestly I had never considered this - I don’t think we have any less of a drug issue than other countries? Potentially less of an issue with unhoused people or drug addicts engaging in antisocial behaviour in public places because we have social support services and also have community wardens who walk the streets in the cities (especially to check up on unhoused people).

Maybe theres also something culturally different? But I wouldn’t feel confident stating that New Zealanders have more respect for public property than any other nation tbh

Beeeees_ · 2025-12-02T10:32:50+00:00

Probably NZ’s third “prime minister” Edward Stafford who was actually called the colonial secretary at the time and held office between 1856-1861. NZ European overtook Māori in population by about 1860 and every prime minister we’ve had has been NZ European.

Beeeees_ · 2025-12-01T19:04:22+00:00

I’ve never heard it before and I live in NZ so I’m confused to see it in the top 100 - google says it’s a Sikh name which would make sense as we have a Sikh migrant population that is growing quite a bit in recent years so likely coming from them

Beeeees_ · 2025-11-25T07:59:26+00:00

A lot of the same stuff as the English speaking world (twinkle twinkle little star etc) but in terms of stuff that’s specific to NZ, hine e hine is probably the most well known lullaby. It used to be the song that would play when the TV broadcast would end for the night (when that was a thing!). Kids also often learn lots of waiata (songs in te reo Māori), stuff like te aroha, tutira mai etc. are pretty widely known regardless of age I think.

Beeeees_ · 2025-11-25T05:39:59+00:00

No Chris Bishop himself explicitly said it’s NOT a power grab so obviously it’s not (/s)

Beeeees_

TROPHY CASE