👉 Okay, let’s tackle the wonderfully weird and frankly rather prickly little bit of Māoritoaddióstry called “reo like." Now, before you start picturing a cute, rhyming otter, we need to unpack this.
Essentially, "reo like" (pronounced roughly as "reo-LEE-keh") is a ridiculously specific, almost aggressively understated, and frankly rather judgmental little verbal tic. It's basically what you say when something absolutely nothing whatsoever that you just witnessed is remotely interesting, but it somehow absolutely MUST be acknowledged with a dismissive, vaguely pitying grunt. Think of a very stuffy old gentleman who’s just seen a squirrel bury a peanut. Instead of shouting about the marvel of instinctive burying, he just sighs and says... "reo like. That. You know?" Basically, it's the verbal equivalent of a slow-blink with an undertone of, 'Seriously? You’re upset about this?' . Historically, there were probably some very specific social rules around when and how to deploy that sigh, but now we mostly just use it in moments where you want to simultaneously acknowledge something happened and declare your total, utter indifference towards its significance. There isn't a direct English equivalent. We just... kind of vibe the feeling. --- Here's an edgy/unsettling example sentence: "The rain continued to fall, each drop echoing with a dull, insistent
