akamai(ah-kah-mai) (nvs) Smart, clever, expert.
Example
English: Billy! Straight As! You’re so smart!
Pidgin: Billy! You no get caught? Akamai buggah, ah you?!
Note: ‘Ōlelo is a Hawaiian word meaning language, speech, word, etc. To see the current list of Hawaiian and Pidgin words, definitions, and usage please click on
‘Opihi, limu,
off the rocks. Sort, wash, shake, salt;
Open up your mouth.
~Uncle Kahana
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When emigrants came to Hawai‘i they brought their food, their traditions, their languages—and their supernatural beings. Like the humans, the supernatural beings mixed and mingled with the locals and resulting stew is a ghost story hunter’s feast.
Obake Files by Glen Grant is a collection of his scholarly research into Hawai‘i’s supernatural world culled from first hand experiences, archives, and newspaper accounts over 25 years. The spine-tingling, chicken-skin tales are told in a matter of fact tone that makes them far scarier than any horror novel. You’ll find stories of fireballs, haunted houses and buildings, calling and choking ghosts, night marchers, ancestral bones, and modern encounters with Hawaiian gods and goddesses.
As any Hawaiian will tell you, there’s more to our world than meets the eye. Grant’s collection is reminiscent of the stories I heard—and the things I experienced—living in Hawai‘i. The encounters are broken into short entertaining segments perfect for on the go, got a minute reading.
Obake Files by Glen Grant is published by Mutual Publishing and available as a paperback directly from the publisher, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
kulolo(koo-loh-loh) (n) Thick Hawaiian coconut and taro pudding often served in slices.
Example
English: Mom! This fudge is weird! It doesn’t even taste like chocolate.
Pidgin: Get kulolo? Awesome!
Note: ‘Ōlelo is a Hawaiian word meaning language, speech, word, etc. To see the current list of Hawaiian and Pidgin words, definitions, and usage please click on
Shave ice tingles, bites
lips, tongue, cheeks. Strawberry frost
chills all the way down.
~Zader
For more character haiku click here.