Munted
Today we are going to take a look at a New Zealand slang word. Munted means broken beyond repair or intoxicated. It can be used as an insult. It should also be noted that munted is also used in Australia in a same way and can be used in British English to describe a drunk person. In New Zealand, munted can refer to alcohol or drug intoxication.
Example (broken): After the accident, the car was completely munted.
Example (intoxicated): I can’t believe he’s munted after only two drinks.
The origin of munted is not known, but there are a number of suggestions. Wiktionary suggests it is from a Germanic language (Danish – munter, German – munter, Old High German – muntar) meaning “lively” or “merry”. It also suggests that it is a blend of monged and cunted. It has also been suggested that it derives from the Scottish Gaelic word, muin, meaning “piss” or “urinate”. Piss or pissed is a common way to refer to a drink person in the English-speaking world. Some people even believe it is from South Africa. Munt is an Afrikaans slur for a black person. It was derived from the Bantu word, umuntu.
In any case, the word munted became more popular in the 1990s. While the OED’s oldest citation of munted is from 1996, a number of online articles suggest it was in common use by the early 1990s. It stuck around until 2011 when its usage increased after the Christchurch Earthquake. On February 22nd, 2011, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch killing 185 people and injuring several thousand. The city was a disaster zone. It took days to re-establish water supplies, electricity and sewage systems. The damage to buildings was so great that the government bought up 8,000 properties and subsequently demolished them. It was the third largest natural disaster in the nation’s history. You can understand why the readers of Public Address voted munted as the top word of the year in 2011. It was a munted year.
Finally, I would like to cover the word munter. While it can be used to describe an intoxicated person, it also has a more derogatory meaning. It is street slang (UK) for an unattractive person, especially a woman. Miriam Margolyes was told not to use the term when she appeared on a morning television show. In 2016 a police sergeant got in trouble for using the word, though he did keep his job.
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Reference:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/munted
https://www.wordsense.eu/munted/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/4864661/Transgenerational-muntage
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=46494
https://sesquiotic.com/2012/05/11/munted-munter/
https://public.oed.com/blog/words-where-you-are-an-update/
https://publicaddress.net/hardnews/it-was-a-munted-year/
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/troubling-origin-of-common-slang-words-think-twice/12268132
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/christchurch-earthquake-kills-185
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disasters_in_New_Zealand_by_death_toll
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sexist-police-sergeant-keeps-job-jvm5jrq3p