Word – kupu
An old woman walks up to a box and says “Eh, you words shouldn’t be cooped up in that box.” She opens the box and hundreds of words come out.
Sentence, Saying – rerenga kōrero
A woman reads from a piece of paper: “Rare anger, core ear? This sentence doesn’t make any sense!” The man next to her, who has apple cores for ears, gets angry. It’s a rare anger, core-ear.
Paragraph – kōwae
A boy is writing on a piece of paper, and a second boy reads the paper, and says “Paragraph, paragraph, paragraph.” The first boy says “Go away”.
Consonant – orokati
Two canoes are racing. One is covered in consonants and the other is covered in vowels. One of the rowers in the consonant canoe is a cat, and his partner says “Oh, row, catty!”
Vowel – oropuare
Two canoes are racing. One is covered in consonants and the other is covered in vowels. One of the rowers in the vowel canoe is a very wealthy-looking man, and he says to his partner “Oh, row, Poorer!”
Language – reo
A man says to a cat “Hey, do you speak human language?” The cat replies “Rrreoo!”
to spell – tātaki kupu
On a tarry road covered in tacks, there is a chicken coop. It is the tar-tacky coop. In it, the chickens are busy spelling out words.
to define, Definition – tautuhi
A schoolteacher asks a boy “Can you define the word for the class?” The boy says “Totally!”
Letter (lower case) – pūriki
A lower-case letter is being filmed doing a cooking show. It adds some meat into a frypan and say “This is the case of pork.”
Letter (upper case) – pūmatua
A bunch of upper-case letters are spectating a boxing photo shoot. The bout is between an Argentinan rugby player (a Puma) and David Tua. In upper-case letters above the shoot spell out: “P U M A – T U A”
Alphabet – arapū
A man says “Hey I composed a rap. It’s about the alphabet.” The man raps off A-B-C.
Phrase – rerenga kupu
Two men watch a chicken coop in which the chickens are angry and fighting. One says “That’s a rare anger coop.” The other says “You know the phrase: it’s a cold winter when you have a rare anger coop.”
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The above is an excerpt from the upcoming Learn Maori Vocabulary With Mnemonics, by Jeff Ngatai, due to be published by VJM Publishing in the summer of 2018/19.