Talk story means chatting or casual conversation and Talk stink means talking bad about someone else.īelow is a list of commonly used Hawaiian pidgin words. Hapai means pregnant while Hapa means half. You are sure to bring a smile to the face of anyone older than you, especially local Hawaiian strangers, if you call them Aunty or Uncle!īrah or Braddah are used for laid-back conversations or to get someone’s attention.ĭon’t forget the differences between similar words. Auntie and Uncle are used towards females and males that are older than you in a respectable way, for example your friend’s parents or a friendly supermarket cashier or bus driver. In the islands, there is an “ohana” (family) slang towards others. Lolo means idiot and Kolohe means troublemaker. Understand the common adjectives and names towards people. Other verbs can be replaced, for example, “Braddah, you like go beach?” is pidgin for “You want to go to the beach?” Da replaces “The”, Fo’ replaces “To”, and Wen replaces “When”. Know that articles and verbs get replaced with slang. The longer you’re around it the more you’ll understand but it takes years to speak it well so don’t bother trying…just use some words here or there. It takes a certain type of intonation and not everyone can achieve the nuances without practice. The art of its use is the tough part though. The beauty of this language (it became an official language this year) is in the simplicity. These new languages were thrown into the mix and is today what many locals speak on a daily basis – Hawaiian pidgin. What developed was a blend of these languages that continued to evolve as waves of Okinawans, Puerto Ricans, Koreans and Filipinos arrived around 1900. The first waves of immigration where the Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese who needed to communicate with Haole (english speaking) bosses and Hawaiian locals. Immigrant workers came in waves from different countries to work in the sugarcane fields.
Hawaiian pidgin evolved from the sugar industry which began in the mid 1850’s on Maui.
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