smithpaul60
Well-known member
I need to name my Ukulele and thought this would be fitting.
:shaka:
:shaka:
I thought the Hawaiian word for happiness was ukulele.
You can still inhale... (like a puffer fish)
Wish they had Hawaiian Language 101 in a college somewhere. I'd totally go.. Such a beautiful sounding language.
No fo'get da 'okina (the invisible consonant) between da "u" and "o" so Hau'oli actually a 7 letter word with guttural stop between hau, and oli.
Please don't confuse with "haole" which means "without breath". :shaka:
OK...so why are "white people" called haoles?
Europeans were the first non Polynesians encountered by Hawaiians.
Three theories I know of on origins of the word haole.
1. White skin of Europeans made them look like dead people, those without breath.
I don't believe this because not all Europeans have "toilet bowl" complexions some can tan rather well. Many crewmen after months, even years at sea had dark tans.
2. Hawaiians did not have a written language pre-contact but they had a rich oral tradition memorizing history, genealogy, mythology, etc. where as Europeans having a written language did not have a need for oral traditions so could not recite their family history from memory like Hawaiians could. No breath in the sense of no oral tradition.
Somehow I don't believe this is accurate either as not all Hawaiians especially commoners of lower caste payed as much importance on oral traditions.
3. Traditional Polynesian greeting was the exchanging of 'ha" or breath. You approach the person you greet and while facing each other you put your hands on each other's shoulder while making contact with forehead and nose and at the same time let out a deep exhale thus exchanging breath or "ha". To Europeans who were used to shaking hands this form of greeting was not practiced thus no exchange of breath or ha-ole. The term haole stuck with the first non Polynesian arrivals (Europeans including Americans) and when Chinese, African Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, etc immigrants arrived afterwards they received their own unique labels. Haole- without or no breath or those that do not exchange breath.
In my opinion this explanation the most likely.
Free online video course from Kamehameha Schools:Wish they had Hawaiian Language 101 in a college somewhere. I'd totally go.. Such a beautiful sounding language.
-Really goofy tourists (families who walk through Waikiki wearing matching aloha wear from a gift shop and cover themselves with a gallon of sunscreen)
I didn't even know about the second and third possible origins for the word "haole", Ahnko! Just thought "haole" was an interesting word because it's used in so many different contexts by different people. I've heard it explained as:
-All white people with European heritage
-All mainlanders (even non-whites)
-Anyone who isn't Hawaiian (so it would include Japanese)
-Really goofy tourists (families who walk through Waikiki wearing matching aloha wear from a gift shop and cover themselves with a gallon of sunscreen)
-Disrespectful tourists (people in rented Chryslers who don't make an attempt to understand one-lane-bridge etiquette)
-Any combination of these
I've also heard it used affectionately, neutrally, or insultingly all in the same day. Strange how it works.