Hawaii Lingo

Are planning a trip to Hawaii anytime soon? .. Do you wish to go to Hawaii one day?? Well, as a Hawaii resident .. I must say there's a few words, phrases, etc that you should know when staying in Hawaii.

Everyday Use:

1. Kokua [ko-coo-ah]-- Help or "to assist"
Used in a sentence: "Thank you for your Kokua" (Thank you for your help)
2. Pau [pow]-- Finished, done, all gone
Used in a sentence: "You all Pau?" (Are you finished)
3. No ka oi [No-cuh-oy]--"the best" (can be used by itself)
Used in a sentence: "Hawaii no ka oi" (Hawaii is the best)
4. Hana Hou [Huh-nuh-ho]-- verb phrase for "do it again" Equivalent to Encore .. often used at music concerts
5. Akamai [Ah-kah-my]--Clever or Smar
Used in a sentence: "You are so akamai"
6. Laterz--Adverb for goodbye
7. Howzit? [Houze-it]--Phrase of greeting, always a question; contraction of "how is it?".. kind of like "how r u doing?"
8. Wikiwiki [Wee-key-wee-key]--Adverb meaning quickly, move rapidly or to hurry
9. Kapu [kuh-poo]--Forbidden, off limits, keep out
Used in sentence: "Please Kapu"
10. Wahine [wuh-hee-nay]--Woman
11. Kane [Kuh-nay]-- Man
12. Honi [Ho-nee]--Kiss
Used in sentence: Give aunty honi honi (Give your aunty kisses)
13. Haole [Huh-o-lay]--A white person
14. Kamaaina [Kuh-muh-a-ee-na]--Hawaiian Island Resident
15. Aloha [Ah-loh-hah]--Hello, Goodbye
16. Mahalo [Mah-hah-loh]-- Thank you .. or sometimes used for Hello, Goodbye also
17. Ohana [Oh-hah-nah]--Family
18. Hale [hah-lay]--House

Pidgin English:
A few are already listed under "Everday use" (Pau, laters, howzit)
1. Kanaka [Kuh-nuh-kuh]--Human Being
2. Kolohe [Ko-lo-hay]--Trouble Maker
Used in conversation: "You so kolohe"
3. "Like Beef?"--Meaning "Want to fight?"
4. Pau Hana [pow-huh-nuh]--Finished work for the day
Used in conversation: " I pau hana already"
5. Stink Eye-- Hard Dirty look .. kind of like snobbing
Used in conversation/sentence: "She just gave me the stink eye"
6. Chance 'em-- Verb for "give it a try" .. often heard when gambling or in sports when a team is behind and needs to catch up.
Used in conversation: "You should just Chance 'em"
7. Da kine [Dah-kyne]--literally “the kind of something”; perfectly understood but not defined, a one-size-fits-all generic expression used when two or more people know what they are talking about but nobody can think of the right word.
Used in conversation: “Cannot explain, you know, da kine.”
8. Brah [Bra]--Your friend or buddy
Used in conversation: "Ho wassup Brah?" (what's up, my friend? or How r doing, buddy?)
9. Braddah [Bra-duh]-- Brother
Used in conversation: "You seen my braddah?" (did you see my brother)
10. Lolo--Crazy, stupid, dummy, idiot
Used in coversation/sentence: You so lolo, brah!"
11. Moi Moi [Moh-ee-moh-ee]--Sleep
Used in conversation/sentence: "We go moi moi already" (Let's go sleep already)
12. Ono [Oh-noh]--Delicious
13. Pupus--Appetizers
14. Slippahs-- Flip flops
15. Shoots-- Ok or See ya
16. Talk Story-- To chat with people
Used in a sentence: "We were just talking story a little while ago"

And .. one last thing ... If you plan on visiting Kauai .. I'm from there and there's actually a word we use that i don't think any other Hawaiian Island uses .. and that is:

CABBAGE-- It pretty much describes the state of being high or out of it (not knowing what's going on). So, for example if someone were to do something stupid, weird, or strange .. you would say "That was so Cabbage" or "That was so cab!" ... or we also say "Stop cabbing out! or "Your cabbing out right now!"

anyway, enjoy and put it to great use! :P