October 31, 2008

How cute street name is!

Yesterday, I was driving, and I found cute street name!

That is "Hibiscus Drive."

It locates on nearby Diamondhead.

Hibiscus is a state flower in Hawaii.

When I found this street, suddenly I imagined like, "if I move to this street, my address will be..."
I will always be fun when I write down the address.

By the way, Hawaii's street names are related to Hawaiian cultures and histories.

Famous main roads names in here like Kapiolani or Kalakaua come from name of Hawaiian King or Queen.

If you know about Hawaiian history, you can understand about most of street names here.

Happy Halloween!


Are you ready for tonight?

The shops in Ward center are hanging the bats tonight.
It means we are passing the treats!!

Of couse, our shop is hanging it!

We are looking forward to see your hot and scary looks!


May the magic of Halloween be with you!

October 11, 2008

Hawaiian Pidgin English


I think, language is one of the identities.

In Hawaii, local people strongly have the identities for their birth, and family roots.
And, speaking Creole English is showing their love for this island!!

Pidgin Enslish derives mainly from English but also has words from Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Ilocano and Tagalog from the Philippines and Portuguese. And, they form one common language which is mainly based English although it has much loan words from other languages.

In generaly, Pidgin English is spoken among parents who are immigrants, or who do not have English as their first language. On the other hand, Creole English is spoken by their second generation (children) or after generations who speak English as their first language.

Anyway, Creole Ensligh or Pidgen Enlish is hard to undertand for non local people!!

I will show you common examples as below. Can you guess what they are saying?

Howzit? (how is it? how are you?)
Hey brah (braddah): female eqivalent is "sistah."
no need (that is not necessery)
akamai (clever)
ono (delicious)
pau (finished)
plate lunch (the staple for lunch in Hawaii)
pupu (pre meal snacks)
Shoots (used when in defenite agreement, ok)
Shoyu (soy source)
Stink eye (dirty look)
yeah/ yeah? (I agree/ right?)
yups (Yes)
da (the)
bento (Japanese lunch box)


And, I think, the most interesting thing is directions!!
In here, nobody use west, east, north, or south.
In stead of them, we use north shore, diamondhead, ewa or mouka and makai.