It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

[mel]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

But I hate it when local people say Kam school!

Maybe so, but I think we live in such a rushed and hurried world that everything including language is shortened for convenience. Most everyone knows when someone says "Kam School" it is short for "Kamehameha School."

Everyday I hear traffic reports on the radio detailing problems on "Kam Highway." We know what they are talking about, and we know it is really "Kamehameha Highway."

It would be a real humbug if you had to say 92.3 Frequency Modulation everytime you wanted to say "FM". We shorten that horrible thing to "FM". People generally know what that means (the better sounding of the 2 standard audio analog radio frequencies).

And yes, I know it is disrespectful of the Hawaiian culture to shorten Kamehameha's name in daily usage, but that is what is.

[Eric]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

Maybe so, but I think we live in such a rushed and hurried world that everything including language is shortened for convenience. Most everyone knows when someone says "Kam School" it is short for "Kamehameha School."

Everyday I hear traffic reports on the radio detailing problems on "Kam Highway." We know what they are talking about, and we know it is really "Kamehameha Highway."

I live in Kalihi Valley, and I wish that rather than "Kamehameha IV Road" they had called it "Liholiho Road" instead. You know how hard it is to say "Kamehameha IV Road" when you're in a hurry? No wonder everybody just says "Kam Four".

[Lalalinder]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

oregon is pronounced or-ee-gun. c'mon, say it with me: or-ee-gun.....oreegun.....oregon.

say it any other way and we know you're not a northwest native.

[Lalalinder]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

and yes, i do put the "ho" in honolulu.

[tiptoetulip]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

I once hard a tourist talking about Kamehameha Highway and pronounced it as kommie-hommie-hah.

Wasn't there that line in "Honeymoon in Vegas" where he says something like, "Ka-a-a-a-va" for Ka'a'awa? Anyway, that was kind of funny. What I don't like is when people say po-kee for poke, as in you're very pokey, not eating poke. But then again I'm bad about saying Wy-ah-nai and not Wai`anae.

[MadAzza]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

Yeah, it really bugs me when people mispronounce place names. For example, someone will say See-Quim for Sequim. It's "Squim," you dumbass. How hard is that? Or Poo-yallup for Puyallup. Jesus, what idiots.

OK. People who say "Pyu-zhay Sound." For God's sake! It's Puget Sound! PYOO-JET! How hard is that to pronounce??

(/sarcasm)

People from other places don't know how to pronounce local place names. What a fucking shock.

How about if every one of you steps back and realizes that you're not freaking perfect, either? That maybe you don't know everything about every culture in every part of the world, and maybe ... just maybe ... you are mispronouncing words yourselves?

Just a thought in the middle of the night.

Aloha
Nancy

[tiptoetulip]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

Yeah, it really bugs me when people mispronounce place names. For example, someone will say See-Quim for Sequim. It's "Squim," you dumbass. How hard is that? Or Poo-yallup for Puyallup. Jesus, what idiots.

OK. People who say "Pyu-zhay Sound." For God's sake! It's Puget Sound! PYOO-JET! How hard is that to pronounce??

How about if every one of you steps back and realizes that you're not freaking perfect, either? That maybe you don't know everything about every culture in every part of the world, and maybe ... just maybe ... you are mispronouncing words yourselves?

Well, I guess you've said it all...and to yourself as well!

[Palolo Joe]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

I see where MadAzza is coming from.

You've got to admit, however, that names like Puget and Puyallup have spellings that are a little easier to mispronounce.

But we're talking about Honolulu. HO. NO. LU. LU. How hard is that?

[Tiger Beer]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

It never bothers me.. its an interesting guage to tell who really knows a place and who doesn't.

Sometimes I think a lot of those southern cities and towns just do that on purpose!

Anyhow, when I lived in New York City.. there is a really main street in Manhattan called HOUSTON STREET.. and its not pronounced like the city.. meaning you really have to be living in the city to really know the correct pronounciation.

I liked that!

[LikaNui]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

People from other places don't know how to pronounce local place names. What a fucking shock.

Yes, this topic has kinda drifted off into amusement at how tourists pronounce local words and names, but please remember the very first post in this thread is about how our local media mispronounce names. That, indeed, is a "fucking shock."

[Leo Lakio]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

Many years ago, I was voicing the closing credits for a Hawai`i Public Radio series, "Orchestras of the Pacific," which was being post-produced in our Seattle studios (KUOW radio.) I had to pronounce dozens of names in Chinese, Japanese, and other Pacific languages, and did them quite well, according to the series producer (the wonderful and talented Al Hulsen, who is still at HPR.)

Then, I got to the word "Honolulu," and like so many un-educated Mainlanders, I said "hah-nah-loo-loo." Thankfully, Al stopped me; he said "after all those other names, there is no way I can let this one slide by," and he corrected my pronunciation. That was my first lesson in Hawaiian.

Since then, I've had to work hard to learn accurate pronunciations, in order to announce Hawaiian songs and artists on the radio, and to sing mele accurately. So now, when I'm in Hawai`i, I am astounded at the errors in pronunciation by the local media - Joe Moore will never get "Kane`ohe" correct, will he? (And my apologies, but I don't yet know how to get the kahako into my messages.)

[lurkah]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

(And my apologies, but I don't yet know how to get the kahako into my messages.)

Took me a while to reach back through the cobwebs, but I found this from Ryan's own weblog.

Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū ā ē ī ō ū ‘

Comes in really handy if you're so inclined.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

Took me a while to reach back through the cobwebs, but I found this from Ryan's own weblog.

Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū ā ē ī ō ū ‘

Comes in really handy if you're so inclined.

Mahalo, my boondocks braddah.

[Ninja]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

Gee I'm suprised that no one mentioned all of the local radio stations that say that they are "Huh-whys" this or that...

...oh and it's "C-attle" not "C-yatlle", dammit!

[Howard Dicus]

Re: It's hOnOlulu, dammit!

The underlying issue for any media person is whether to say a name the way it was originally meant to be said, for historical accuracy, or to say it the way the public now says it, so listeners and viewers know what you're talking about. But the issue is different here than on the mainland.

On the mainland, when no cultural or lingual issues kick in, you go with the latter. Language evolves and some mistakes become common practice until they become right. Example: the proper pronunciation of "again." There is a Montevideo, Md., which is pronounced as if Blockbuster rents it. If you said it the way they do in Uruguay, no one would know what community you were talking about.

But here, where we are collectively making the effort to save a beautiful indigenous language, we're gradually reverting to what we believe to be the historically correct pronunciations of town names. We may not have been able to bring ourselves to change the way we say Kaimuki yet but we no longer say Moy-Lilly, as my wife's late auntie, who was part Hawaiian herself and lived in Moiliili, always did.

As the Hispanic population grows on the mainland we will probably begin reverting to true Spanish pronunciations of some mainland place names. Who knows? Maybe one day Montevideo will no longer sound like it's in VHS format.