Hawaii Good to Know

 Think you can  understand island vernacular  Brah? Try this pidgin English:

Eh you know 'cuz, I wen go , but you no stay wen I deah, how come you not deah when I stay coming?  You no stay wen I go come?

Perfectly understandable to the keiki o ka aina in Hawaii.  Pidgin is a unique way of expressing  yourself that sets you apart from the  "mainlanders." Each inflection also has  an origin and meaning too. Japanese pidgin is different from Portugeese pidgin, Hawaiian pidgin different from  the Chinese style.  But pidgin developed as a way for all of these cultures to  communicate when workers from those countries came to work the sugar plantations.  Some proport to be able to tell which island you are from by your pidgin.

Here are a few words for you:

dakine- it , object  or it could be a person they are referring to  

bumbye- later

eensigh- inside

chailookyu een sigh- look inside

wenyugetwan -when you have it

jalike-just like  that one  or like that person or thing

assamattayu- what is the matter with you ?

ilikfogo- I will be leaving now

asswai- that is why I . . .

eneekineplace- anywhere

goofandakine- that it a jolly bit of amusement

schoolschreed- School street on Oahu

wachutink-what are you thinking?

ainokea- I don't care

bulia- bull liar

geev'um- a football cheer in the 1960's  & '70's "give it to them!" Kamehameha , Roosevelt and St. Louis  High schools all claim to have used it first.

( more to come!)