Learning the Lingo

In Massachusetts we learned to use words such as wicked, Mass Ave, idear (idea), and Aunt (pronounced Ont instead of Ant). Here in Hawaii we are picking up on expressions such as rubbish, Haole (white person), the Tab (tabernacle), Ohana (family), Keiki (child), and Pali (cliff or mountain). These examples are only just a few of the new words we are are learning to add to our vocabulary.

*Just for fun I'll throw in a story about the use of the term Haole...

Tim's church youth group is assigned to take the sacrament to the local retirement home one Sunday a month. Tim's awesome piano skills have gained him the role of accompanist for the meeting. Zac, Tyson and I tagged along for his first time.

There were at least thirty people in attendance. As the youth entered they went along and shook each individual's hand. The people loved to be greeted by the youth! Then the young men began to set up for the meeting and the meeting began with a song and a prayer. Afterwards, the priests blessed the sacrament and began to pass a tray of broken bread around the room.

One sweet Hawaiian woman, probably hard of hearing, said aloud (shouted actually), "I'm going to take the biggest one." Shortly after that, she "whispered" to her neighbor, "I took two!" Already everyone smiles began to emerge from all. Then, however, she looked over to the piano where Tim is quietly sitting waiting for the sacrament portion of the meeting to end. She took a good look at him and said aloud, "Look a Haole Boy!" Pause, and then, "Oh, he's blushing." The youth, as well as the rest of us, couldn't help but laugh.

Needless to say, us blondes stand out. In fact, one gentleman at church, when talking about fitting in, told Tim, "Don't worry that you glow in the dark." Ha! It makes me chuckle.

Here's a picture of my neon Haole boy on his first day of High School to finish off the post just right.