In the 1500s, Europeans began sending ships to distant Asian ports for things like spices, tea, silk, cotton, diamonds, pearls and ivory. These traders developed a language so that they could understand each other.
The Europeans called it “business English.” Asian traders heard and pronounced it as “pidgin English.”
The Oxford English Dictionary online says the term “pidgin English” is an “artificial jargon of corrupted English with a few Chinese, Portuguese, and Malay words. It was used by the Chinese and foreigners for colloquial convenience in business transactions in the ports of China and the Far East.”
Some of the phrases they came up with included:
“Chow” — food
“Savvy” — understand
“Look-see” — take a look
“No can do” — Cannot be done
“Number one” — the best
“Chop chop” — hurry
“Save face” — preserve one’s dignity
In Hawaii, people from China, Japan, the Philippines, Portugal, Korea and Puerto Rico, and Native Hawaiians found themselves working side by side. Out of those interactions, our own version of pidgin developed.
Pidgin in the papers
The earliest use of the phrase “pidgin English” appeared in Hawaii newspapers in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser on Nov. 19, 1876.
The article described how the cook of a Chinese ship communicated with locals. He used pidgin English similar to the kind that traders in Chinese ports used.
It was in 1902 that the term first appeared to describe our local version of pidgin. The Hawaiian Gazette wrote about how an English-speaking child, put in local schools, would pick up Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese words and phrases. Some thought that was a good thing. Others disagreed.
Advertising in pidgin
In the 1920s-1950s, two businesses advertised using pidgin in ways locals found humorous and cute. The Musashiya dry good store’s newspaper ads were cut out by readers and mailed to friends all over the world. They were reprinted in newspapers and won many advertising awards. They were even used as a textbook in a Stanford advertising class.
P.Y. Chong, who owned Waikiki Lau Yee Chai, made fun of himself. Here’s an example from his menu: “Steak dinna — plepare special sauce seclet way numba one good taste. Steaks go likee hot cakes, now vely famous.”
‘I need your kokua’
I remember, in the mid-1970s, a popular pidgin expression was, “I need your kokua.” Kokua means help or assistance. “Please kokua,” some would say, or “Mahalo for your kokua.” I don’t hear that as often today.
Da kine
Another popular pidgin expression at the time was “da kine.” Wally Camp, who wrote the “Pidgin on da Loose” column in the West Hawaii Today newspaper, said: “‘Da kine’ is a catch-all term used in most pidgin English conversations.
“In fact, the term is used to denote the speaking of pidgin, as in: ‘We stay tokeen da kine!’
“It can be used as a noun, adjective, adverb, title, as well as any uddah kine parts of speech,” Camp said. “It is equivalent to ‘whatchamacallit’ or ‘thingamajig.’”
Several readers shared some of their experiences with pidgin.
Wat you going do laterz?
“My favorite pidgin encounter happened to my family back in 1975,” Russell Komoto said.
“We had just moved to Kauai, and my wife and daughter and I were eating at the Lihue McDonald’s (it was open air at that time).
“A group of teenagers arrived, and one of them yelled across to a friend who was seated pretty close to us and said, ‘Aaaaaa sista, wat u going do tonight?’
“And the friend replied … ‘I dunno. Maybe go show (movies).’
“I looked up at my wife when she said, ‘I hope our daughter doesn’t learn pidgin.’
“Fast-forward about 10 years, and again we’re at McDonald’s, but it is now air conditioned, when one of my daughter’s classmates yelled to her, ‘Aaaaaa Laura, wat you going do laterz?’
“And my daughter replied, ‘I dunno. Maybe bumbye we go Kukui Grove (shopping center).’
“My wife and I both looked up at each other and started laughing, remembering that encounter almost 10 years earlier. And she said, ‘I think we’ve been here toooo long.’”
You from Hawaii?
Joyce McCauley said she’s a local Japanese who was an Air Force nurse.
“My second duty station was at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. On the very first day, my sponsor gave me an orientation tour of the base. We were walking between buildings, and from about 20 feet behind us, I heard this loud voice call, ‘Eh, you guys like come to one luau tonight? You from Hawaii, right?’
“I turned around and there’s a handful of guys, dressed island style. That was when I first realized that those of us born and raised in Hawaii have a particular rhythm and inflection that is instantly recognizable no matter where we are in the world.”
Try wait
John Votsis said, “One of my favorite pidgin phrases is ‘Try wait.’ In the early 1980s, while working at American Airlines, we hired some young people to help us with reservation calls.
“While walking by a new hire agent, I overheard him say ‘Try wait’ to a caller in lieu of ‘May I put you on a brief hold?’
“I had to laugh, as they hadn’t had sufficient training time, and it showed.”
Howzit, brah!
“About 35 years ago I was on my way back to Honolulu from visiting a former Hawaii resident who had moved to Houston,” Wayne Shiohira said.
“My old friend, ‘da Bear,’ went with me. There was a stopover in Dallas to change planes, and we had a couple of hours before boarding.
“We strolled along the row of shops, which were still shuttered since it was early morning. There was a tall blond man who was opening up his stall. He watched us as we approached, and as we neared, he said, ‘Howzit, brah!’
“Bear said, ‘That obvious, eh?’ as we all smiled.
“He said he had lived in Hawaii for almost 20 years before moving back to the mainland. We told him we were on our way back home after visiting a friend in Houston.
“As we parted and walked away, we heard him say, ‘Latehs, brah!’”
No beeg t’ing
Will Turner said his favorite pidgin expression is ‘No beeg t’ing’ (‘not a big deal’). It’s more than an expression. It’s an attitude.
Kui Lee wrote a song called “Ain’t No Big Thing” that Don Ho recorded and turned into his motto. “It ain’t no beeg t’ing, bruddah, when t’ings ain’t looking up. Good time’s coming.”
Stay go
Doug Tonokawa said, “My favorite pidgin phrase is, ‘You go stay go now. I go stay come latah.’”
Michael Lilly added, “One of my favorite pidgin sayings is, ‘If you no like stay, den go; if you no like go, den stay.’”
Pio da light
Gary Takata wrote, “I like the pidgin English phrase ‘Pio the light,’ or ‘Turn off the light’ … ‘work all pau.’”
Some good
Hiroshi Kato said, “‘Some’ was used as added emphasis on Maui even in the 1950s. Instead of ‘very,’ it was ‘some good,’ ‘some ono,’ ‘some stupid,’ ‘some planny,’ etc.”
Can can
Gregg Porter said, “My favorite pidgin expression is, ‘If can … can. If no can … no can,’ which literally means ‘It’s not a big deal’ or ‘However it works out.’”
Sharon Shak liked a variation on that. “One of my favorite sayings is, ‘If can … can. If no can … bottle OK.’”
What’s your favorite pidgin phrase or experience?
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “The Companies We Keep” books. Contact him at Sigall@Yahoo.com or sign up for his free email newsletter at RearviewMirrorInsider.com.
