Hawaiians Be Da Kine…
Locals say, “Ainokea wut you t’ink…”
You know when you come Hawai’i da locals going talk li’ dis, right? Da kine, yeah? Pidgin English. Ha’ole teachas like say dat wat we make fo’ talk like is kine of one cree-ole. But dat no can. Creole stay from da South, yeah? Or like Jahhmayyyykahh. Our pidgin get mo’ words den from only two kine languages. We get from all da folks who wen come Hawai’i fo’ work on da plantations. Had fo’ import people, you know. Too many kanakas wen make die dead. Used to have almost 800,000 wen Cap’n Cook wen “discovah” us. Yeah, right. Hawaiians wuz heah, already.
But we nevah have protection against da kine diseases. So we wen make by da thousands. Only had like 40,000 at da lowest point. So had fo’ bring Pakes, Japanees, Portagees, Puerto Ricans, an’ Filipinos. Later on had Samoans an’ Tongans an’ oddah folks from da res’ of Polynesia. Not too many of dose wen like work sugah or pineapple, tho’. Dey still stay tryin’ fo’ find deyah own place ova heah. Funny, how we suppose fo’ be dis big kine melting pot but still get prejudice, heah, you know? Seems to be aim at da newest peeps cuz dey no can. No can fit in. No can talk right. Ack up, plenny. Jus’ be too diffrent.
Growing up out Win’ward side in Ka’a’awa, I wen watch teacha aftah teacha get all futless ovah da fact dat us local kids just no could get English. Unless your maddah wuz one English teacha like mine. Den you bettah believe I wen learn, bum-bye I would get da stick. Or da spoon. Hoo, bamboo stings, bruh. Da Kapanee girls wen do pretty good in school cuz dey like go college, yeah? Funny ting, tho’, da ha’ole folks who eithah wen move heah or wuz local haoles already wuz always trying for sound local by talking pidgin. Only make “A.” Make ass. You nevah hear notting ‘til you wen hea’ one ha’ole from da South trying for talk da kine wit’ one southern accent. Only laugh, brah!
Lotsa pidgin is cut-shorts from English. Yeah, dat was on purpose, cuz we switch words a lot, too. Das why hard. People fresh off da plane no can unnerstan’ and we no care. We jus’ going keep t’rowing dem at chu until your eyes like spin around in your head. Den we goin’ laugh, an’ hit you wit’:
“Actually, I’m just kidding you, sir. Our accommodations are geared entirely to making your stay here as pleasant as possible. If I can direct you to our concierge Malia, here, you will definitely be in good hands. If at any time I can be of further assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask. Mahalo, for staying with us here at The Royal Hawaiian.”
But we stay t’inking, ‘Frickin’ haoles no can.’
A lot of da cut-shorts stay becuz we slur or leave da lettahs out. Diffren’ languages no can make ha’ole sounds right. So we slur ovah dem, or jus’ hemo da lettah. Mo’ bettah dat way, mo’ easy. Da othah guy can unnerstan’ me, an’ I can unnerstan’ him so no more pilikia, right? We t’ink so, an’ we da only ones who count wen we stay talking story.
We borrow some words from other folks, too. Mostly for food, tho’, or wen we like make people mad. Call dem names. Like babooze. Or couriche. Or baka tade. Or ufa. But foods, hoo, some ono, so we learn how for say dose words correctly. Like sashimi, sushi, musubi, tako, pastele, malasada, adobo, and gau gee.
Plenny times we combine stuffs so get English an’ one noddah word together, like you no can jus’ order teriyaki, you gotta tell wat kine you like, if stay pork or beef or chicken. Same t’ing wit’ adobo. But kal bi and man doo stay da same all da time. But kim chi can be any kine vegetable, like cabbage or cucumbahs or bean sprouts. Before all da fancy kine sushi wen pop up, only had maki or inari. At least where I wen eat. Might get ume rice balls wit’ furukake, but das all had.
Den get Hawaiian food. You know da stuff at luau is not da regulah kine Hawaiian food, right? Dat stuffs wuz only for da ali’i, an’ celebrations li’ dat. Regular kine common folks ate plenny fish. And kalo, which dey cook da leaves fo’ make lau lau with and cook an’ pound da root fo’ make poi. Plenny sweet potato. Dey also had for eat dogs and rats wen dey wanted meat. Honu was kapu. Same kine with pua’a. Das another reason Hawaiians who know, laugh at “Hawaiian” food. Dey know da ones from before ate just as much dog as Filipinos. Catch da chief’s pigs an’ you bettah run for da heiau an’ hope da kahuna who might be māhū like me going give you refuge.
As da host cultcha, kanaka ma’oli wen put plenny words in pidgin. Words and phrases like pau hana, an’ malama pono, an’ a hui hou. Ha’ole. Puka. Hana Hou! Poke. Lau lau. Imua. We even invent new kine words for fit new kine axxperiences. Like pakalolo, and mea ono pua’a, which da Pakes when shorten and slur-pronounce fo’ say manapua. And so wen make one new kine business, Da Manapua Man.
Da kine. Da universal catch-all phrase.
Aloha, with its many meanings.
Mahalo. Fo’ be da kine, courteous.
Manuahi. Stuffs fo’ free. Get oddah meanings too, fo’ wen people wen make any kine.
‘Aina, which I t’ink shows da basic difference between haoles an’ Hawaiians. Kanaka ma’oli nevah have real property concepts like ha’ole wen bring. Nobody owned the ‘aina. The ali’i held and regulated their ahupua’a for his or her community. Every community had da benefits of all da different kines of environments (ho, big word, eh?) from mountain to sea. You can ‘come one kama’aina aftah you wen live heah long ‘nuff fo talk li’ dis. Oooh, only smiling now.
Ohana. Notting so important as family.
I would have to write one book for tell you folks about all da local slang dat wen creep in. Shaka, tita, moke, momona, Howzit!, hanabuttah, mo’ bettah, kapakahi, broke da mout’, no be manini.
Auwe!
You no heah dat one too often, except from people who are actually part or all kanaka ma’oli. It’s one call of distress, outrage, or anger.
Pidgin is often called a language of the heart.
‘Oia’i’o.
More places fo’ see an’ hear how for speak pidgin:
If you search fo’ “pidgin” on YouTube get choke videos. Promise, bus’ laugh kine.
