Mihi Keita Tibble (Ngāti Porou, Te Arawa, Te Whānau ā Apanui) is the founder of The Hina Collective, a community that empowers, reclaims, and celebrates wāhine Māori.
For Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, she came up with sexy reo Māori for wāhine (and others!) to use when they feel spicy.
Inspired by her kuia (grandmother) who raised her, she says she would hear her speak te reo fluently. And while there were serious conversations, she says there were cheeky ones too.
“Doing puiui and tukutuku panels, they were talking constantly about their men, about in the bedroom.
“It’s the beauty of having a reo where you can express it in lots of ways. These sexy ways, being wāhine, I want to hear more of that, too…”
“Being inspired by reo Māori that’s fun as well.”
As someone who’s not a fluent reo Māori speaker, Mihi says she’s learning to move through her insecurities and “turning up the volume on having fun”.
She says this was another way to include te reo in her everyday life, together with the other words and phrases she’s learning.
“We’ve got so much access and support that for many of us it can be overwhelming, so just to be able to do something that’s still big but fun as well.”
Mihi shares nine sexy reo phrases to give a go.
- Kei raro tō kai.
Your kai is down there, babe.
Raro (location) down, underside, below
Kai (noun) food, meal
Kai (verb) to consume, devour - Hoihoi, mahia te mahi.
Shhhhhhh, you got work to do.
Hoihoi (noun) hush, shut up, be quiet
Mahi (verb) work, perform - E te tau, ko koe Te Rākaunui.
Bei (babe), you are huge and round!
Tau (noun) husband, partner, lover
Rākau (noun) tree, timber, wood
Nui (verb) big, large, plentiful - Ae, taku tau. Kei te pīrangi rawa atu.
Yes my darling, I want all of it!
Pīrangi (verb) to want, need, desire - E ipo, hitimi, hamahama mai!
Babe, hit me with that good sex!
Hitimi (distinctly a Ngāti Porou slang) hit me with your sex
Hamahama (location, noun) to hammer, to pound - Haere māro atu, hoki mākū mai.
You get yours, I get mine!
Māro (modifier) stiff, hard, solid
Mākū (modifier) wet, moist, damp - Kua tōngia te ure.
He’s done…
Tongia (verb) to set, going down
Ure (noun) penis - Kuhu mai!
Get in me already!
Kuhu (verb) to enter, go in, insert, thrust - Auē. Tino kore nei?
Ett? Is that it? Come on…
Auē (verb) growl, bawl, wail groan
Ett (slang) short for etta bei or e tama, which Mihi explains can mean something along the lines of are you sure?, oh shucks, not even, heck, go on
“They have fun with the reo.”
Mihi says the beauty and the nuance of any reo is the colloquialisms and slang, which she hears everyday from her whānau.
“My dad’s a fluent speaker, I’ve got cousins and whānau, and they talk like this often. It might not always be sexual but they have fun with the reo.”
She acknowledges how fortunate she is to be surrounded by whānau who are fluent in te reo.
“To have that support while I’m struggling with all my insecurities, so lucky [I’ve] got so many fluent speakers sharing their knowledge… I’m forever grateful for that.”
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