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1. How do you pronounce "Malecek"? |
Ans. My mother says "Mal-e-sek". TL informs me that I was known as "Mallardcheck" since I would gaze out at the ducks in the pond by the Western Life Bldg.
A very young Steven White used to call me "Mackie". Another youngster, Christopher, called me "Malides". Trish referred to me as "Mallowcheek"
I have also been called "Meeklechook" - you figure it out. More affectionately: "Mellows". A QVS boy came up with "Balachay".
Ong likes to say "Check in the mail" and then laugh. There's "Mail me a check". But the correct pronunciation is: "Mal-e-check", where the middle "e" is short. It is a Czech name.
A relative tells me that the locals in Minnesota say "Mall-e-check".
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2. How do you spell "Malecek"? |
Ans. I spell it: M-a-l-e-c-e-k. But I have seen around 20 variations over the years.
The most common mistake is: "Malacek" (my own cousin Linda does it). Here are the new ones (added) as they come in:
Meilicke Meicklcheck Malesek Malcheck Mellecek Malsek Maecek Malachek Mallacek
Melcek Maleciek Malechik Melacak Malelek Maleack Melecek Malecik Mallerchek Melechek Melochec Maleck Malceck Malench MADecek....
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3. Where did "Malley" come from? |
Ans. It is a grand Kiwi tradition to shorten words and throw an "ie" on the end. So we get:
Breakfast (brekie) - Hot Water Bottle (hottie) - Cosmopolitan Club (cossie) - Sarcastic (sarkie).
It works for people's names too: Matthew Ridge (Ridgie) - Aldersons (Aldies) - Malecek (Mallie).
All I did was spell it different and a whole new Malley world emerged: Newsletter (Malley-Gram) - Internet ID (MalleyNet)
- Van (the Malley-Mobile) - 33 Colombo Rd (Malley Manor).
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4. How did you end up in New Zealand? |
Ans. I taught at a school in Fiji with several teachers from New Zealand.
They all told us to see NZ (very close to Fiji) before going home. When my three years in the Peace Corps finished we decided to "go local"
and stay on at QVS. But the Director of Education wanted to put me into a school on the other side of the main island.
We wanted to be with our friends. Neither would give in, so we decided to have a holiday in New Zealand on our way home.
I wrote the former Headmaster of QVS who was now a deputy head at Rosehill College in Papakura, asking him to be a reference should we decide that
we liked NZ enough to stay. He wired back "You have a job at Rosehill". We came, we saw, we stayed.
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5. What were you doing in Fiji? |
| Ans. I had always wanted to be a missionary in South America.
When I graduated from University I got a thing in the mail about Peace Corps.
I didn't feel like working for a big corporate, so I applied for S.Amer., but no openings.
They said how about Fiji? I checked it out - South Pacific and they spoke English.
Seemed so cool - living on a tropical island. I said "yes" and spent 3 years there teaching (Maths and Science) in a Fijian boys boarding school. |
