Why do our Kiwi friends say pokies to slot machines?
People that have been lucky enough to go to New Zealand will know that our dear Kiwi friends have their own accent and local slang which is yet another reason to love the English language as it is so diverse, changing, evolving, and varying depending on the geographical location of the speaker. One of the coolest Kiwi words can be found in the six casinos operated in NZ which is something most gamblers will highly enjoy learning more about. People wanting to try their luck on slots or fruit machines in NZ may want to look up the New Zealand definition first before they head to a casino, as they call them “pokies” down under. The origin of the word, however, is unclear, but seems to be explained by many people in NZ as an abbreviation for video poker machines, often referred to as poker machines. Kiwis then started to shorten and use the word to refer to all sorts of electronic casino games, including online pokies that have become increasingly popular in this part of the world in recent years. Pokies are widely used in New Zealand, but the word is not exclusively used in NZ. Neighbouring Australia also uses the same word for what other people would call slots or slot machines...