No…it’s not a teaser or an update. However, this is a little crash course in some Hawaiian vernacular. Plus, an explanation as to why I picked some of the people I did to play some of the characters in “Aloha ‘Oe”. As some of you may or may not know, we have our own little lingo here in the islands that is called talking “pidgin”. I won’t bore you with the history of “pidgin”, but I will give you a little crash course in two words that I use daily when I speak, and oh man, did I have to cut back on using such lingo when I lived on the mainland. The two words I want to teach you all, are “haole” and “hapa”.
Now, I bet some of you have at least heard of the word “haole” (basically pronounced, “how-lee”) before. There are some rather negative connotations associated with that word, but growing up, I was never taught to use it in a negative way. The literal translation of the word means “soulless or breathless”. This came about when the first European settlers came to Hawaii, and the Native Hawaiians thought they were ghosts because of their pale skin, hence the word “haole” that means “soulless or breathless.” And, that is why many people who were born and raised here refer to Caucasian people as “haoles”. There are those people who use “haole” in a negative way, usually involving some form of yelling, “stupid haole” at a tourist or something. I, however, have always used the word “haole” simply to describe someone who is Caucasian. Hence, I would say, “Oh, Rob Pattinson is the haole guy from Twilight right?” :-D
The next one may not be as well known. My roommate from grad school grew up in Long Beach, and she claims she knows this term, but whatever. Anyway, the word is “hapa” (pronounced “hah-pah”). “Hapa” basically means “mixed”. Generally we use the word to describe people whose ethnicities are generally part Caucasian, part Asian. There are a lot of “hapa” people in Hawaii, and that is what has influenced who I cast as characters in my story “Aloha ‘Oe”. So here, I give you the “hapa” characters from “Aloha ‘Oe”:
So in my story, I picture Kristin Kreuk of Smallville fame as “Carmen Brandon”. Kristin is Dutch/Chinese in real life.
I, of course, picture Booboo Stewart as “Seth Kurihara”. He’s the perfect Seth in the movies. Anyway, in real life, Booboo is Scottish, Native American, Russian/Japanese, Chinese, Korean. LOL, he’s like the definition of “hapa”.
I picture Kelly Hu of The Scorpion King fame (amongst other things) as “Rachel Kurihara”. In real life, Kelly is English/Chinese, Hawaiian.
I picture my beloved Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants as “Eric Yorkie”. If you follow me on Twitter and notice how I wax on about someone I simply refer to as “Timmy”, this is him. Anyway, I’m not exactly sure what kind of haole Timmy is. Some people say it’s German, others says it’s French or Dutch. I don’t know. What makes him hapa is that he is also Filipino. So in real life, Timmy is German (or maybe French or Dutch)/Filipino.
I picture Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park as Edward’s briefly mentioned manager “George”. In real life, Mike Shinoda is supposedly Russian (not sure about that)/Japanese.
All right, and here’s a somewhat teaser for you guys. You haven’t met her yet, but I want to introduce you all to “Vanessa Smith”, otherwise known as “Nessie”.
I picture Maggie Q of Nikita fame as “Nessie Smith.” In real life, Maggie Q is Irish, Polish/Vietnamese.
All righty, so I hope that explains a bit about why I picked the people that I did, and also taught you some new terms in “pidgin”. :-D Hope to update soon!
~ NoelleSeven
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