One user joked: “My country now has both the KYS [often used both humorously and abusively online to mean “kill yourself”] youth clinic and the NZSM school in it. New Zealand stays winning."
Another added: “Hello, New Zealand School of Music. I am begging you please change your school’s acronym somehow.”
Others, though, defended the posts, arguing that they were clearly not intended to have any ulterior meaning.
One said: “People usually call it Te Kōkī, which is the name in te reo [Maori]. And when you Google search NZSM the school is the first thing that comes up.
“I get that it looks bad but it really doesn’t have that connotation or intent here.”
Asked by the JC about the confusion, NZSM said that the acronym did not have any connotation beyond referring to the name of the school.
A spokesperson said: “’NZ’ is an acronym for New Zealand and is commonly used across our country.
"If you’d like to seek comment about the general use of it, you may wish to get in touch with our Prime Minister’s office.”
