There was a time in this country's history (that wasn't really that long ago) when the indigenous people of this land weren't even allowed to speak their own language.
Imagine not being able to speak your own language in your own country.
Thankfully we are witnessing a resurgence of both the culture and language, but some remnants of that racism still linger like a bad smell that our country just can't seem to get rid of.
A recent comment thread on Air New Zealand's Facebook page has proven just that, showcasing one of those classic "ok boomer" moments. A disgruntled lady of the pale and stale variety inquired about the Koru lounge in Wellington, and was not impressed with the airlines use of Te Reo in their reply.
After asking when the Koru Club lounge will be re-opening, Air NZ opened their reply with 'Kia Ora,' a very common form of greeting that you can hear pretty much anywhere in this country, and one that is not exclusively used by or for Māori.
But old Aunty Boomer wasn't so keen on the greeting, stating that she is not Māori in her reply, as if anyone asked or cared.
Normally you would expect a large organisation like Air New Zealand to ignore the subtle racism, but alas, Air NZ had time.
In their next response they made sure to implement even more te reo, a non-threatening but entirely intentional way of clapping back with: "taihoa koe ka kite," which loosely translates to "you'll soon see."
Aunty Boomer then replied that she is still not Māori, despite no one asking, again.
The icing on the shade-laden cake was Air NZ's use of even more te reo, this time using 'Kirihimete,' the te reo translation of Christmas.
Not one to be out done, our colonial kuia then referred to the Māori translation of Christmas as a "corrupted English word."
The thread has since been deleted, and probably for the best, so the above screenshots are all we've got. But kudos to Air NZ for their patience and wit in their response, they certainly had more self-control than most of us.
Credit to Aroha Noanoa for sending us the screenshots.
