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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

(ko) tēnā/tērā [whakaaro] tēnā/tērā

1. you're so mistaken, that's totally incorrect, that's a load of rubbish, you're so wrong, that's not right, that's an opinion I disagree with - an idiom suggesting that in the opinion of the speaker the statement is incorrect. Pōhēhē can be replaced by other similar words, e.g. whakaaro, rūkahu, wawata, kimikimi.

Kua rongo au i ētahi e mea ana, kāore he kupu kangakanga ake a te Māori. Ko tērā whakaaro tērā. Heoi anō, ko au e kī ana mēnā karekau he kupu pērā i ngā rā o mua, he aha i noho mai ai te kupu ‘kangakanga’, me te kupu ‘kohukohu’ ki te reo Māori? (HKK 1999:65). / I have heard some say that Māori has no swear words. Well that's them. However, I am saying that if there were no such words in former times, why do we have the words 'kangakanga' and 'kohukohu' in the Māori language?
Pare: E kī ana te Pākehā kāore i āta whakaritea te hekenga nui o ngā waka ki Aotearoa. Rangi: Tēnā pōhēhē tēnā! (HKK 1999:65). / Pare: The Pākehā say that the great migration of the canoes to Aotearoa/New Zealand was not deliberately organised. Rangi: That's totally incorrect!

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