Archive for May, 2009
Blast From The Past: Fiji and 1969/1869
Posted by Wilson in Blast from the past, fiji, history on May 31, 2009
1869 is a very long time ago. A very, very long time ago. During that time, celluloid was invented, the Suez Canal is opened in a grand ceremony, and Night at the Museum’s playground ‘The American Museum of National History’ is founded. More closer to home, the Fiji Times newspaper had just started out, a fledgling little newspaper, and as newspapers go, had much to report on, with history in the making. In those days, Levuka was still the centre of Fiji, Civil unrest is on the rise, Britian starts to take a very strong interest in the islands, and powerplay amongst the chiefs reached new heights with the introduction of weapons and foreign powers.
Pretty heady times indeed.
While being of long ago, copies of the papers have been kept over the years, and as luck would have it, I’ve managed to secure a scanned copy of an issue of the Fiji Times all the way from 1969, which is still quite a long time ago. As in, I wasn’t even born long time ago. In this particular issue, they’ve brought out the archives and reprinted the Fiji Times as per 1869, and as such, have granted the readers a chance to peer into the past and see what Fiji was like, in both 1869 as well as 1969.
Blast From The Past is going to be a new weekly (or somewhere around that timeframe, as I claim ‘Fiji Time’ as my defendent) post, and will go through 1 page a week, allowing you to have a read of issues, politics and topics that formed the news in those days. To read the page in detail simply click the picture to load a close up version.
Slang of the Week – Heavy
Heavy: Great; Awesome; Nice; Sweet;
James: Have you heard Kingston’s newest song Fire Burning?
Linda: Yeah man, thing heavy saraga!
Youtube Video of the Month – Free for All Brawl
Boxing in Fiji hasn’t been too kind to its followers. Amongst the long line of mishaps, including Joy Ali’s much talked about no-show, Saturday night’s all out brawl between Joe Naleca and Tevita Vakalalabure can now be added to the dismayal list of unprofessionalism in the ring.
…
Who am I kidding. The best part about boxing is when the boxers disregard said professionalism and go all out against each other, trainers and fans in tow 
According to reports, Vakalalabure seemed to be the bad boy of the fight, insisting on adding a few knocks on Naleca after the referee stops the fight 3 times. In the first round he landed a couple of jabs on Naleca after the referee had called for a break. The second round had the same thing going twice, and was appropriately penalised…by having a point deducted. Yay. By the third round, Naleca was beginning to warm up to the idea of taking the fight to Vakalalabure, referee or no referee.
And that’s when the real fun starts, with the respective trainers leaping into the ring to stop the punchout. Soon fans of both sides join in the fray, with the police not far behind. The video ends with some goliath guy dragged out to the left of the screen, probably screaming “LAI VI AU! LAI VI AU!” (LEAVE ME! LEAVE ME!)
I almost wish I was there.
Slang of the Week: Onz
Image source: www.inkstyle.com.au
Onz: To show approval or confirm a situation, plan or event. Uusally used in conjunction with ‘Brutha’.
(Ed – I can’t really confirm, but I think this slang may be derived from the oft used term “Its on!”, though the current use is generally less challenging and more along the lines of agreeing.)
Shelvin: Ok so tonight us gang go watch Terminator Salvation. Set?
Bob: Onz boy. Onz.
The blog wordspread
From Wordle via Meg’s blog (thanks Meg!) comes a picture/word overview of the most used words in this blog. As usual, the major, most over used word comes as a surprise; One. There’s a few points to draw from the above experiment:
1) I really need to start using the word Fiji alot more in my sentences. The “she sells sea shells by the sea shore” quantity type. Fiji.
2) I just noticed that the word ‘sex’ and ‘go’ were placed next to each other. Bonus!
3) One? How? And I don’t even like that song by U2 =_= I mean granted, U2 is a premier rock band that outlasted the 80s but still…trying to figure out why ‘One’ is the most used word in the blog is mighty confusing. And of course I think I may have just helped the word count for ‘One’ go up a little with this paragraph. Good one. Damnit! /facepalm
So for those of you who have a blog, go ahead and try the Wordle experiment. It’s certainly worth a look to see what’s your current word trend is. And the word arrangement is quite pretty 
…Fiji.
-
You are currently browsing the archives for May, 2009
Featured Posts
Subscribe
Stat Counter
Translator
Recent Comments