Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [17]
THE HAWAIIAN LANGUAGE
Almost everyone here speaks English, so except for pronouncing the names of places, you should have no trouble communicating in Hawaii.
But many folks in Hawaii now speak Hawaiian as well, for the ancient language is making a comeback. All visitors will hear the words aloha and mahalo (thank you). If you’ve just arrived, you’re a malihini. Someone who’s been here a long time is a kamaaina. When you finish a job or your meal, you are pau (over). On Friday, it’s pau hana, work over. You put pupu (Hawaii’s version of hors d’oeuvres) in your mouth when you go pau hana.
The Hawaiian alphabet, created by the New England missionaries, has only 12 letters: the five regular vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, and w). The vowels are pronounced in the Roman fashion, that is, ah, ay, ee, oh, and oo (as in “too”)—not ay, ee, eye, oh, and you, as in English. For example, huhu is pronounced who-who. Most vowels are sounded separately, though some are pronounced together, as in Kalakaua: Kah-lah-cow-ah.
WHAT HAOLE MEANS When Hawaiians first saw Western visitors, they called the pale-skinned, frail men haole, because they looked so out of breath. In Hawaiian, ha means breath, and ole means an absence of what precedes it. In other words, a lifeless-looking person. Today, the term haole is generally a synonym for Caucasian or foreigner and is used casually without any intended disrespect. However, if uttered by an angry stranger who adds certain adjectives (like “stupid”), the term can be construed as a mild racial slur.
SOME HAWAIIAN WORDS Here are some basic Hawaiian words that you’ll often hear in Hawaii and see throughout this book. For a more complete list of Hawaiian words, point your Web browser to www.geocities.com/~olelo/hltableofcontents.html.
akamai smart
alii Hawaiian royalty
aloha greeting or farewell
halau school
hale house or building
heiau Hawaiian temple or place of worship
hui club, assembly
kahuna priest or expert
kamaaina old-timer
kapa tapa, bark cloth
kapu taboo, forbidden
keiki child
lanai porch or veranda
lomilomi massage
mahalo thank you
makai a direction, toward the sea
malihini stranger, newcomer
mana spirit power
mauka a direction, toward the mountains
muumuu loose-fitting gown or dress
nene official state bird, a goose
ono delicious
pali cliff
paniolo Hawaiian cowboy(s)
wiki quick
PIDGIN: ’EH FO’REAL, BRAH
If you venture beyond the tourist areas, you might hear another local tongue: pidgin English. A conglomeration of slang and words from the Hawaiian language, pidgin developed as a method sugar planters used to communicate with their Chinese laborers in the 1800s.
“Broke da mouth” (tastes really good) is the favorite pidgin phrase and one you might hear; “’Eh fo’real, brah” means “It’s true, brother.” You could be invited to hear an elder “talk story” (relating myths and memories) or to enjoy local treats like “shave ice” (a tropical snow cone) and “crack seed” (highly seasoned preserved fruit). But since pidgin is really the province of the locals, your visit to Hawaii is likely to pass without your hearing much pidgin at all.
4 A Taste of Hawaii
TRIED & TRUE: HAWAII REGIONAL CUISINE
Hawaii’s tried-and-true baseline remains Hawaii Regional Cuisine (HRC), established in the mid-1980s in a culinary revolution that catapulted Hawaii into the global epicurean arena. The international training, creative vigor, fresh ingredients, and cross-cultural menus of the 12 original HRC chefs have made the islands a dining destination applauded and emulated nationwide. (In a tip of the toque to island tradition, ahi—a word ubiquitous in Hawaii—has replaced tuna on many chic New York menus.) And other options have proliferated at all levels of the local dining spectrum: Waves of new Asian residents have transplanted the traditions of their homelands