Best response when being called a Haole. (live, move to)

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by kayy911

So one of my college professors said that when someone calls you a Haole, you say "I can breathe."

Has anyone heard that response?

I'll tackle this again, since I did not see quite the whole explanation.

Some experts on the language... not all, but some... say that this Hawiian word haole, for "foreigner" or "non-native" derived from the old Hawiian greeting of putting foreheads and noses together and deeply inhaling at the same time... literally breathing the same breath.

This had spiritual overtones as well, because "ha", meaning breath, also referred to life energy or spirit. So aloha... alo - sharing, ha - breath or life energy... was the traditional greeting of spiritual "brothers".

But European travelers wanted to shake hands in greeting, rather than sharing breath, so they were labelled haole... ha - breath, ole - without.

And yes, the correct pronunciation is ha OH lee, not HOW lee, and no it does not mean white, although whites are perhaps the most easily identified non-native "foreigners."

[CyberCity]

Originally Posted by OpenD

And yes, the correct pronunciation is ha OH lee, not HOW lee, and no it does not mean white, although whites are perhaps the most easily identified non-native "foreigners."

And not to be confused with how-oh-lee (hau`oli = happy)

[HKT]

I'm a Haole living in Asia and if I took offence to being called a whitey in many languages and countries I probably wouldn't be breathing now. I've learned long ago to let it go.

[Lucario]

Only twice was I ever called a haole - once by a haole colleague who obviously didn't know what the word meant, and once by someone who threw that at me online.

[lauleahere&there]

Come to Moloka'i. It's a daily occurance. Only it is usually combined with a word that starts with F.

[R_Cowgirl]

Kayy - I don't care if someone calls me a Haole. I am a Haole. Big freakin' deal. I just mind if they put "special words" in front of Haole. It's all in the ear of the hearer. Intention is important to understand. The more uptight you are about it, the worse it is. What do you do when someone calls you a woman? (Assuming that Kay is a woman's name...) Do you get up tight and worry that they are discriminating against you? Probably not - unless there's some undertone of hostility. Even then, are you secure enough in who you are to be OK with being called a woman? Or being referred to as a PERSON? For most people in Hawaii, Haole is just a reference point. All this PC idiocy has just caused everyone's brains to get constipated over silly things. You'll love Hilo. Or not. It won't have a whole lot to do with someone calling you a Haole or a woman or a Person...

[SkyBob]

Originally Posted by R_Cowgirl

I don't care if someone calls me a Haole. I am a Haole. Big freakin' deal. I just mind if they put "special words" in front of Haole.

I'm curious. Why do you mind if some stranger puts "special words" in front of Haole? It should only upset you if you value their opinion. If you don't know them at all you couldn't care less what they think, on any subject. The time to be worried is when the "special words" are followed by a punch in the nose.

[Ford Beebe]

As long as there is no profanity ahead of "haole" it doesn't bother me one bit.

It does amuse me to see the white folk encounter the first whiffs of discrimination. Doesn't feel good, does it?

[Honolulu21]

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, my family is 2/3 haole due to intermarriage. I myself don't have any European blood but how that happened was my maternal grandfather worked at Pearl Harbor during WWII (I know I'm seriously dating myself here LOL).

Anyway there was a shortage of workers there, and Pearl Harbor imported some workers from the East Coast and my grandfather befriended a Mr. Roy Hutchinson. (great grandpa Hutchinson returned to Rochester, N.Y. after the war was over) My maternal grandmother died of cancer when my mother was 18 yrs. old.

My grandfather then corresponded with one of great grandpa Hutchinson's daughters, Dorothy (who's 1st husband was also "haole" passed away) and to make a long story short they married after a couple of years just before I was born.

After they married, (my grandfather was a retired public elementary school principle) my grandfather moved to Rochester, N.Y. because my grandmother was still working and had a good job with Kodak as an executive secretary with one of the big bosses there.

(I know I'm rambling here but there is a point to all this) I loved her as my real grandmother and have fond memories when they used to visit and stay with us every other year. Grandma Dory used to jokingly refer to herself as being our "haole" grandmother, so growing up I never viewed the the term haole in a negative light.

I also used to visit them a few times in Rochester, N.Y., and have fond memories of grandma Dory letting me choose what canned (bottled) veggies to have from the basement to go along with dinner that day. My one brother and sister are also married to haoles, so I think I'm more sensitive to what offends Caucasian people in general than the average local.

Unlike some locals who insist that haoles here in Hawaii differentiate the differences between Chinese, Japanese and other ethnicities and get angry when they don't, but by the same token think all "haoles" are the same. I'm a little different, because of my grandmother (who proudly boasted of her Scottish and English heritage), so I can tell via someone's surname if they are of, or part, or married to Scottish, English, German, Scandinavian, Slavic, etc., etc..

I also don't use the term Haole and use Caucasian instead in everyday speech because although I was raised with the term (and don't associate anything negative with it), I don't want to possibly offend anyone.

[Jungjohann]

You lost me on that one. But aole pilikia, I've been lost here before.

Aloha