Hawaiian Pidgin 101

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Pidgin (or Hawaiʻi Creole) originated as a form of communication used between English speaking residents and non-English speaking immigrants in Hawaiʻi.[4] It supplanted the pidgin Hawaiian used on the plantations and elsewhere in Hawaiʻi. It has been influenced by many languages, including Portuguese, Hawaiian, and Cantonese. As people of other language backgrounds were brought in to work on the plantations, such as Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans, Pidgin acquired words from these languages. Japanese loanwords in Hawaiʻi lists some of those words originally from Japanese. It has also been influenced to a lesser degree by Spanish spoken by Mexican and Puerto Rican settlers in Hawaiʻi.

Even today, Pidgin retains some influences from these languages. For example, the word “stay” in Pidgin has a form and use similar to the Portuguese verb “estar”, which means “to be” but is used when referring to a temporary state or location. Sometimes the structure of the language is like that of Portuguese grammar. For instance, “You like one knife?” means “Would you like a knife?”. The reason why the word “one” is used instead of “a” is because the word “um” in Portuguese has two meanings: “um” translates to “one” and “a” in English. The way people use the phrase “No can” (“não pode”) is Portuguese grammar, as well. In Portuguese, the phrase “Você não pode fazer isso!” comes out in Pidgin as “You no can do dat!”, and in English as “You cannot do that!”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_Pidgin

Local celebrity Tita explains it all for an audience at a gender illusionist beauty pagent.

Some Common Pidgin Words and Phrases

Brah / bruddah: brother or pal. Most men refer to each other this way.

Broke da mout: delicious

Bumbucha: very big

Chicken skin: goose bumps

Fo’ what: why

Fo’ real: really

Garans: guaranteed

Grind: to eat

Hana hou: one more time

Hele on: let’s go, get moving

Howzit: How are you?

Huhu: mad, angry

Keiki: child

Kokua: care, help

Like beef?: want to fight?

Lolo: dumb, crazy

Lua: bathroom

Moke: big, tough local

Nevah: never

Obake: ghost

Opu: belly

Okole: buttocks

Ono: delicious

Pau: finished, done

Pupus: appetizers

Shoots: ok, sounds great, replaced “it’s cool”

Spahk: check it out

Stink Eye: a very dirty look

Talk stink: badmouth someone

Tita: a very tough girl

Tutu: grandmother

Tutu kane: grandfather

Us go: Let’s go also, “come, we stay go”

Whaddsdascoops: What’s going on?

http://www.to-hawaii.com/hawaiian-pidgin.php

Da Kine Dictionary
Editor: Lee A. Tonouchi
Product Code: 1360
ISBN: 978-1-57306-136-0
Publisher: Bess Press
Pages: 112
Size: 6″ X 9″ Inches
Availability: In stock.
Price: $11.95

http://www.besspress.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=399

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