You know you "get 'em" when... (Hilo, Hawi: sale, home)

[HonuMan]

I'm going to try a slightly different take on the "You know you're from Hawaii when..." threads. I've never lived in Hawaii, but I've been fascinated by it since I was 12, I've visited several times, I've been married to a Hawaiian woman for over a decade, I have many Hawaiian friends and in-laws, and I've been immersed in Hawaiian culture as a result. When I understand something uniquely Hawaiian, my wife tells me, "Eh, you get 'em, brah!" So, without further ado, you know you one Mainlander who get 'em when:

You lose any aversion or disdain toward Spam you once had, and you actually start to enjoy it.
You figure out that "mahalo" doesn't mean "trash."
The names on Hawaiian street signs stop looking all the same to you, and you start to learn your way around.
You finally stop stop saying "Hawaii Kai" when you mean "Kawaihae," and vice versa.
You see some old Ooga Booga comedy routines on TV, and not only do you understand what the people are saying, you also find the routines hilarious (advanced "get 'em" only).
You start saying things like "Sore, my head," "Time to go nene," and "They had choke [items]" naturally, not as an affectation.
Your Hawaiian music collection in iTunes is bigger than your collection of most other genres.
You watch Saturday Night Fever for the first time in years, and after having "Staying Alive" stuck in your head for two days, it's replaced by a Hapa song.
You stop being self-conscious about being the only pale, non-black-haired person in a crowd when you're in Hawaii.
One of the things you look forward to doing first on your next visit to Hawaii is going to KTA and buying several kinds of poke.
You like poi (I've only met one other person not from Hawaii who does).
You stop calling them "Hawaiian shirts" and start calling them "aloha shirts."
You become known for wearing aloha shirts on casual Fridays at your Mainland job.
You can distinguish a Honoka'a accent from a Hilo accent.
Someone tells you, "You look just like one o' da guys in SOS," and you know what they're talking about (even though you're not sure which Society of Seven member you resemble).
You're watching an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O, and McGarrett says he's chasing a suspect down a particular street, and you laugh, because you can see that he's on the other side of the island.
Your Hawaiian mate says, "I want to move back home!" and you say, "Me, too," and you're not referring to wherever you actually grew up.

[tyvin]

OK HonuMan I'll play...

You call flip flops what they really are...slipphas; or slippers

You own a rice cooker

You take your footwear off before going into a house

An avocado is a pear

You understand what "da kine" means

You know what the shaka sign is

[Lemming95]

The names on Hawaiian street signs stop looking all the same to you, and you start to learn your way around.
You finally stop stop saying "Hawaii Kai" when you mean "Kawaihae," and vice versa.


I can't look thinks up on Zillow half the time because I forget the town name before I can get it typed in. There must have been a big sale on vowels when those towns were named.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Lemming95

There must have been a big sale on vowels when those towns were named.

Yes, the Hawaiian language only uses 13 letters, and 5 of them are vowels. And the vowels are used heavily, sometime two or three at a time. That's why it has such a fluid, rolling sound.

The best way I've found to learn to spell Hawiian place names correctly is to learn to pronounce them first, then I can say them aloud, a syllable at a time, and that helps a lot. Fortunately the pronunciation rules are simple too.

There are a number of online sites that explain the simple rules for pronouncing Hawaiian words. Have fun!

[HonuMan]

Originally Posted by tyvin

OK HonuMan I'll play...

You call flip flops what they really are...slipphas; or slippers

You own a rice cooker

You take your footwear off before going into a house

An avocado is a pear

You understand what "da kine" means

You know what the shaka sign is

I haven't heard about an avocado being a pear, but "yup" to all the others.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by HonuMan

I haven't heard about an avocado being a pear, but "yup" to all the others.

An alternate name for avocado is Alligator Pear, my mother used to call them that, but I have not heard the term used in maybe 20 years.

[HonuMan]

Lemming95 and OpenD, the trick I learned is to take words one syllable at a time, and then mentally reconstruct them. I still have a hard time with some of those words that are three miles long!

[hawaiian by heart]

You know you "get 'em" when...

1. When someone approaches you and says " hey brah! Where u from? who you know" you understand they just trying to relate and to get to know you instead of robbing you.

2. Bro becomes Brah or Bruh.

3. When ohana and community become a higher priority then self.

4. When one learns that love, kindness., being humble, celebrating others accomplishments is not weak or bad

5. When the longer your away the more your heart aches.

ok dont want to hijack your thread my friend. Better turn out then me. Aloha

[melaniej65]

I come from an EXTREMELY sarcastic family(very Portuguese) and the first time we were stationed at home (Oahu) my family was very polite to my DH (we had been married 15 years at this time).

We PCS'd to Ft Knox and then back home again. My DH was surprised when my formerly 'polite' family turned on him and he became one of 'us' and he was included in the 'jokes'. He was accepted after 20 years of marriage (we spent most of the time on the Mainland as we were Army).

My Cousins will call him a couple of time a day and there is one who LOVES to talk story (DH does too) and it is often a competition to see who will hang up first- I think the record was 3 hours!