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Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

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  • Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

    Every island got its unique vocab in pidgin or Hawaiian Creole English...Share whatever is unique to your island or town here. I'll start with some from Kauai:

    guy (becoming increasingly more popular than "brah")
    tink you beeg?
    going go


    I'll think of more...
    Twitter: LookMaICanWrite


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  • #2
    Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

    I noticed here on the Big Island you hear the word: Choke more often than on Oahu as in: Ho man Uncle Billy's was choke crowded last night!
    Life is what you make of it...so please read the instructions carefully.

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    • #3
      Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

      I don't think it's pidgen per say but I hear the phrase "you know what I mean?" used a lot from some people who are living on Oahu and Kauai.

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      • #4
        Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

        "choke" was one of the first words i picked up when I moved to the big island...

        Very interesting topic... at first I had a "huh" reaction... but this is very true... every island has a particular word that seems to be over used... yet not used on the Mainland... so the word "choke" goes out for the "Big Island" pidgin vernacular...as I have not heard it used nearly as much since moving to Oahu... however, every time I go back to the big island... I hear the word "choke"

        As a Haole first moving to the big island hearing the phrase..."their was choke pupu's" I was like....dang... I don't want to go there

        Manoa wasn't about to eat poopoo when he moved here!

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        • #5
          Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

          "Shave ice" is called "ice shave" in Hilo (it's "ice cube," not "cube ice," "ice cream," not "cream ice," so goes the logic). Grammatically, it should be SHAVED ICE and ICE SHAVINGS. Please, leave "snow cones" and "snow peaks" outside!

          The big marbles are BUMBOOCHAS or BAMBOOLAS on Oahu. The Big Island has several very different terms: TALANKOS, TANGARAS, TANTOLOS, TALANKS. Some people from Maui or Kauai use still other names.

          Honolulu calls a particular baseball exercise (one batter, everyone else in the outfield) "SKY INNING." For an outfielder to succeed to the batters box, he must catch the batted ball on the fly, or roll or throw the ball gloved on the ground to hit the bat which the batter lays on the ground. But, if the batter catches the rolled or thrown ball which hits the bat BEFORE the ball hits the ground again, he retains his turn at bat. We Big Islanders have a more accurate, sensible, and proper name for this: STRIKE OR CATCH (the fielders must either "catch" the ball on the fly or "strike" the bat, the batter can save his turn by "catching" the ball after it "strikes" the bat). How the hell does "SKY INNING" make any sense?

          Big Islanders use the term KAKIO to describe the scarring on legs or arms (Ho, the KAKIO his legs).

          There's another term which has caused consternation when used by Oahuans in the presence of Big Islanders, but I'll save that for later as I need time to craft my words delicately.

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          • #6
            Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

            Originally posted by oceanpacific
            The big marbles are BUMBOOCHAS or BAMBOOLAS on Oahu. The Big Island has several very different terms: TALANKOS, TANGARAS, TANTOLOS, TALANKS. Some people from Maui or Kauai use still other names.
            Ah yes. It's "grand daddy" at most playgrounds and backyards here on Kauai.
            Twitter: LookMaICanWrite


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            • #7
              Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

              When I was a kid, I'd laugh when cousins from the Big Island asked, "Yeah-no?" But it was even more hilarious when my cousins from Maui asked, "yeah-no-yeah?"

              The neighborhood I grew up, Oahu, we simply said, "hae?" in conclusion to a statement. Hmm.. gotta hear it, no can spell'em.

              "Grav'em" for "grab it" - and "bafe" for "bathe" was said more in my cousin's home in Waianae, than in relatives homes on the neighbor islands. And we had a "puka-beebadee-boy" on every island. *giggles* miss those days...

              "Chro-brah-chro!" said in a high pitched squeal before one family beef is still a favorite on all islands tho, yeah-no-yeah?
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              • #8
                Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                We met a woman in Honolulu who traveled to the different islands a lot and picked up a bunch of different pidgin words. I guess one time she was tired and started getting them mixed up, and the people she was talking to were just like... where the heck are you from that you speak pidgin like that?!

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                • #9
                  Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                  How 'bout here on Oahu, maybe other islands...
                  "Stay funny li'dat" or it can have a "You" in front.
                  It could mean either funny HaHa or funny weird or even funny as in it just shouldn't be. Depending on how it's spoken.
                  Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

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                  • #10
                    Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                    "Stretch" as in "Dat guy is a punk, we go "stretch" um!"

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                    • #11
                      Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                      Lord Greystoke, the guy swinging from tree to tree on vines, who was he? Neighbor island folks called him "TA-ZAN," not "TAR-ZAN."

                      "The tree ova deah get one rope hanging. We can go play TA-ZAN!"

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                      • #12
                        Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                        Big Island greeting: Whaddascoop!? or, Whaddascoops!?

                        Oahu folk looked at me weird when I got here and said that.

                        I suggested Whaddascoop/Whaddascoops for the column I wrote for PBN. Thinking it too colloquial but liking the local and newsy aspects -- the bosses shortened it to "Scoops."

                        I second Manoa's take on "choke." Ho, had choke people! Etc.

                        I seem to remember "tune up" as code for somebody needing or receiving, let's say, a "physical lesson" on why his behavior, etc. was not acceptable.
                        "You know dakine, eh, somebody gotta 'tune 'em up.'"

                        "Olopop" for "Popolo" (a person of African-American descent).

                        More as I remember 'em ... (if get).
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                        I know a lot less than what there is to be known.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                          I notice peeps from Maui say "some good" alot. Like "that was some good movie yeah?" or "Ho dat was some good!"

                          Kauai got the thickest pidgin yet.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                            oahu;
                            whuzzdahscoops?!

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                            • #15
                              Re: Post that pidgin vernacular from your island!

                              My friend calls most guys "boo". "Sup boo" (What's up, bull).. a greeting.

                              "Stretch". too funny. basically to beat someone up. Also "pound". "Braddah got pounded". or "cracks". "Braddah caught cracks".

                              I dated this (very attractive) young lady long ago who had recently moved from the mainland. When I told her, "Let's grind", she thought I was suggesting "let's have sex", which is what that means in her neck of the woods.

                              I don't know if this is a Maui thing or just a mahu thing, but my girlfriend's mahu neighbor on Maui always says "nails", which means "lame" or "junk". "That girl, she's so nails." (said with heavy mahu accent). lol
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