Essential English phrases

Wellington's Māori name — 'the great harbour of Tara'. Used constantly in official communication and increasingly in ordinary speech.

Hello, and also thanks. Universal in Wellington, in government offices as much as in cafés, and expected rather than decorative.

The executive wing of Parliament and, by extension, the government itself. 'Working in the Beehive' means a ministerial office, not the whole public service.

Your Inland Revenue number. Without it and an IR330 your employer must tax you at 45%. Apply before your start date, not after.

Percentage of New Building Standard — a building's assessed seismic capacity. Wellingtonians ask a building's %NBS the way people elsewhere ask about the boiler.

The mandatory sign a territorial authority requires on a building assessed as earthquake-prone. It has a colour-coded border showing the rating band, and it is on the outside of the building where you can read it before you sign anything.

The cold wind straight off the Southern Ocean through Cook Strait. When someone says 'there's a southerly coming', they mean cancel the outdoor plan.

The Wellington region's transport card, used on Metlink buses and increasingly on rail. Also a fish, which causes predictable confusion.

A tea break, and the workplace break more generally. Smoko survives from trades and worksites and no longer involves smoking.

Fine, good, no problem. The trailing 'as' is a New Zealand intensifier with nothing after it — 'cold as', 'easy as' — and it takes newcomers a fortnight to stop waiting for the rest of the sentence.

Hiking, in New Zealand English. The Tararua and Rimutaka ranges are an hour out of Wellington and a tramping club is how a lot of people make friends here.

111 for emergencies from any phone. 105 for police matters that are not happening right now. Healthline on 0800 611 116, free and nurse-answered around the clock.