Jafa
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Jafa is a nickname for a resident of Auckland, New Zealand. It is the acronym of Just Another Fucking Aucklander. One source refers to Jaffa as an acronym of Just Another Fuckwit From Auckland.
The word was coined by New Zealanders living outside Auckland as an insult because of the perceived faults of Auckland and Aucklanders. Auckland is seen to dominate over other New Zealand cities as it has by far the biggest city economy and population. Perversely it is also perceived to be a drain on the national economy and tax-take, particularly because of the costs involved in attempting to alleviate its traffic congestion. Aucklanders are supposed to hold an arrogant attitude towards non-Aucklanders such that they think nothing worthwhile exists south of the Bombay Hills, the southern border of the Auckland region. The popular saying "New Zealand stops at the Bombay Hills" thus has equal but opposite meanings for those on both sides of the hills.
Auckland is also disliked by some people from smaller cities and rural areas who consider many of its residents to lead a yuppie lifestyle. Dislike of Auckland intensified in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the Auckland provincial rugby union team dominated the National Provincial Championship of New Zealand’s national sport and held the prestigious Ranfurly Shield trophy for a record 61 successful defenses over 8 years. Attitudes of some prominent Aucklanders towards the rest of the country, notably those of former Auckland City mayor John Banks, have done little to alleviate the situation.
While many non-Aucklanders use the word Jafa as a light-hearted insult, the strength of dislike tends to increase south of Taupo, with it reaching peak intensity in Canterbury and other southern parts of New Zealand. A much published photograph taken in the late 20th century shows a young boy at a rugby match in Christchurch holding a sign reading simply, "I hate you Auckland". A beer advertisement which appeared on billboards in Wellington featured the sarcastic remark: "Let's go to Auckland for the holidays. Yeah, right."
Aucklanders have robbed the word of its sting by enthusiastically embracing it as a nickname. In 1999 the Tourism Auckland organization launched a "Jafa" advertising campaign. While Aucklanders initially adopted the word ironically, the New Zealand Herald, Auckland’s daily newspaper, sometimes now uses Jafa as a nickname for Aucklanders without any hint of irony. As well as this, Aucklanders have recently changed the acronym to mean "Just Another Friendly Aucklander."
A subsequent development of the Jafa nickname is the use of the term Jafastan to refer to the city of Auckland itself (and hence an Aucklander may be referred to as a Jafastani).
External links
- News article about "Jafa" advertising campaign (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=9931)
- Example of use of "Jafa" without irony by Auckland newspaper (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?thesection=news&thesubsection=&storyID=3598599)
- Jafacab service running in Auckland (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?ObjectID=9002345)