Indulgences

1. Buai

   Buai (betel nut, areca nut)

   Usage

   The most widely chewed stimulant in PNG. Chewed with daka (betel pepper) and kambang (lime), it turns the spit bright red — those are the red stains on the pavement. IARC classifies areca nut as a Group 1 carcinogen and it is a leading cause of oral cancer. Regulation in the capital has swung: Port Moresby banned public sale and chewing in 2014 (in 2015 police reservists fired on a crowd in Hanuabada and two sellers died), lifted the ban in 2017, then in July 2023 introduced a new one limited to part of the central business district. It is neither banned everywhere nor unrestricted — follow the posted signs and local advice

   Grammar Note

   Not an English loan but an indigenous word from Kuanua (ksd) or a close relative. The same word covers nut and palm; it is called "wanpela kain pam" (a kind of palm). It grows abundantly on the north coast around Wewak and Madang. A directly usable example: "Noken kaikai buai long smolhaus." — "No chewing betelnut in the restroom."

2. Daka

   Daka (betel pepper, Piper betle)

   Usage

   The long green catkin (or leaf) chewed together with buai; at market it is always bundled beside the heap of nuts. "Ol i kaikaim daka wantaim buai" ("people chew daka together with buai"). Highlanders use a different species, Piper gibbilimbum, with limbum

   Grammar Note

   Like "buai", an indigenous Kuanua (ksd) word. It is also listed under "pepa, daka" for pepper, so do not confuse it with the spice. "Bata" is offered as a synonym, but "bata" normally means butter

3. Kambang

   Kambang (slaked lime for betel chewing)

   Usage

   A white powder burnt from shell or coral. You dip the tip of the daka into it and put it in your mouth; the reaction is what turns the spit red. It is strongly alkaline, damages the lining of the mouth, and is part of why the habit carries a cancer risk

   Grammar Note

   The sense is "for chewing with betelnut" — it is neither builder's lime nor the citrus fruit. Note that "kambang" is sometimes glossed "lime juice, lemon drink", which looks like an artefact of the English word's ambiguity

4. Brus

   Brus (twist tobacco)

   Usage

   Local tobacco sold at market in sticks and bundles and rolled in newspaper. Cheaper than manufactured cigarettes and the normal form in villages

   Grammar Note

   It has two senses (tobacco; cigar), with "tabak" as a synonym. Note that "bras, brus" also exists for "brush", so let context disambiguate — and it is not the same thing as "spak brus" (marijuana)

5. Tabak

   Tobacco

   Usage

   A synonym of "brus", and usable for the manufactured product you buy in a shop

   Grammar Note

   Borrowed from German "Tabak", from the 1884-1914 German New Guinea period — the same layer as "milis" (from "Milch"). Bislama also has "tabak", but by a different route; the shared spelling is convergence, not borrowing between the two

6. Smok

   Smoke; a cigarette

   Usage

   The smoke itself, or a smoke to have. There are also "tanim smok" (roll a smoke) and "pulim smok" (draw on a smoke)

   Grammar Note

   Also "simuk". Bislama uses "sigaret" instead

7. Spak brus

   Marijuana

   Usage

   Illegal in Papua New Guinea for both medical and recreational use. It is in fact grown in the Highlands, but possession and use are offences. Understand the offer and decline it

   Grammar Note

   A compound of "spak" (drunk) and "brus" (tobacco): "drunk tobacco", not a rendering of English "marijuana"

8. Spak

   Drunk

   Usage

   The adjective for being drunk. Drink-related trouble is worth steering well clear of in PNG, especially after dark. To decline: "Mi no dring" ("I don't drink")

   Grammar Note

   From English "spark", with the noun "spark" and the adjective "drunk" as separate words. As an adjective it goes in the predicate: "em i spak" — he is drunk

9. Soklet

   Chocolate

   Usage

   PNG grows cacao, but bar chocolate is almost all imported — and in the heat it is often half-melted even on a town shelf

   Grammar Note

   From English "chocolate". There is also the paraphrase "braunpela loli" (brown candy)

10. Loli

    Candy, sweets

    Usage

    Sold loose on the counter of small trade stores, and sometimes handed over in place of small change

    Grammar Note

    From Australian English "lolly". It is also the first element of "loliwara", soft drink — literally "candy water"

11. Pike

    Chewing gum

    Usage

    Bought loose. In a place where everyone is chewing something, it is the option that does not turn your mouth red

    Grammar Note

    "Pike" = chewing gum, the hypernym of "abababa" (bubblegum)

12. Kek

    Cake

    Usage

    On the shelf at town bakeries and kai bars, and the thing you cut at a birthday or a church gathering

    Grammar Note

    From English "cake". It means "cake, pastry", so it also covers sweet baked goods generally

13. Skon

    Scone

    Usage

    A survival of the Australian administration, still baked and sold at kai bars and markets, and the standard thing to have with tea

14. Bisket

    Biscuit

    Usage

    In every trade store. It keeps, so it is what you carry for a walk or a long wait for a boat

    Grammar Note

    "Draibisket" (cracker) is distinguished from "switbiskit" (sweet biscuit).

15. Aiskrim

    Ice cream

    Usage

    Only where there is a working freezer, which means town. Power cuts are frequent, so you sometimes meet one that has melted and refrozen. An ice block is called "aisblok"

    Grammar Note

    "Aiskrim stap switpela kaikai." ("Ice cream is a sweet food"). Bislama spells it "Aeskrim"; do not carry the Bislama "ae" digraph across

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