Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
To learn more about
mahu
in Polynesian culture and their experience in modern Hawaii,
read Andrew Metzner's collection of spoken narratives,
ʻO Au No Keia: Voices from
Hawaiʻi's Mahu and Transgender Communities
(2001).
HAOLE!
If you're a visitor (particularly a white-skinned one), you might hear this said - pos-
sibly in reference to you. It's a controversial word, one that, depending upon the
context, can be descriptive, warm or insulting. Originally it meant ʻforeigner,' de-
scribing anything (person or object) exotic to the islands, but later it came to de-
note Caucasian people.
No one's sure why ancient Hawaiians used the word to describe Captain Cook
and his crew or what they meant by it. A popular explanation is that the British ex-
plorer didn'thoni(share breath) with the natives. In ancient Polynesia and still
today, Hawaiians often greet one another by touching noses and breathing togeth-
er. Breath (hāin Hawaiian) is considered an expression of life force, and exchan-
ging it is a gesture of respect and welcome. Instead the British kept their distance,
shaking hands; thus it's reasoned the Hawaiians called them ʻhaole,' meaning
ʻwithout breath' - something of an insult. Another explanation is that the British
would speak after praying, saying ʻamen,' rather than breathing three times after
pule(prayers), as the Hawaiians would.
Others challenge these explanations on linguistic grounds. In the Hawaiian lan-
guage, glottal stops and long vowels are critical to a word's meaning. The word for
ʻwithout breath' is ʻhāʻole,' not ʻhaole.' Transcriptions of ancient chants indicate
that ʻhaole' meant ʻforeign' and that it was used before the English arrived.
Regardless of how it happened, today the word means ʻwhite person,' particu-
larly one of European descent (excluding local Portuguese). If you're called haole,
don't automatically let your lily-white skin turn red with anger; in many cases, it's a
completely neutral descriptive term, as in ʻSee that haole guy over there?' Some-
times it's playful, as in ʻHowzit haole boy/girl!' Some local white people will de-
scribe themselves as haole, often with self-deprecating humor.
At other times, it's clearly a racial slur. If someone calls you a ʻstupid haole,' you
can be reasonably sure they meant to insult both your intelligence and your race.
Hovering somewhere between is the phrase to ʻact haole.' This describes people
of any color who are condescending, presumptuous or demanding - deriving from
islanders' experiences with pushy visitors and transplants. If someone tells you to
ʻstop acting haole,' you'd better dial it down a notch.
