Kiwi (people)

From Freepedia

Alternative meanings of Kiwi at Kiwi (disambiguation)

Kiwi is the nickname used internationally for people from New Zealand. The name derives ultimately from the flightless bird native to New Zealand, the kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand.

William Ramsay developed Kiwi boot polish in Melbourne in 1910. Ramsay reputedly named the polish to honour the birthplace of his wife Annie Meek of Timaru.

The first New Zealanders to be widely known as kiwis were the military. The Regimental Signs for all New Zealand Regiments feature the kiwi, including those which fought in the Boer_war then with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in World War I. The Oxford English Dictionary give the first use of the Kiwi to mean New Zealand as 1918, in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force Chronocles. In World War I, the British Army ordered several tons of polish to be used by the soldiers on their boots, belts, saddles and other horse tack, and New Zealand troops began to be called Kiwis. The polish was popular and in the postwar era the company enjoyed growing sales worldwide.

Kiwi polish was even more widely used in World War II and the nickname Kiwis for New Zealand servicemen became common usage in all war theatres. Following the war it was gradually attributed to all New Zealanders and today, throughout the world they are referred to as Kiwis.

The word Kiwi, used to describe people, is usually capitalised, and takes the plural form Kiwis. The bird's name is spelt with a lower-case k (except, of course, when the rules of grammar state otherwise) and, being a word of Māori origin, normally stays as kiwi when a plural is formed. Thus, two Kiwis = two people, whereas two kiwi = two birds.