Glossary of terms (me talk-talk, you get'em)

Want to dispute any of these? Go for it! Want me to add something I haven't defined? Leave a comment. Whatevuhs. I'm surfin' right now.

broke da mouf - food that's so good you ate until your mouth broke.

da kine - many meanings depending on context. Could mean the best one (also no ka oi - none better), as in, "Oh, Young's Fish Market is da place for laulau; it's da kine!" Also could mean whatchamacallit, as in, "You know, dat one time you used it, da kine?"

el rollo - surfing maneuver where the surfer (usually on a sponge), rides the wave parallel and rolls up the face of the breaking wave and over upside down, returning to the prone position out in front of the breaking wave

Gabby - Gabby Pahinui; a great Hawaiian musician and practitioner of Ki Ho'alu; also known as the Singing Garbageman, since he worked for Honolulu Disposal Co.

GEM - green-eyed monster; from a series of nightmares my youngest daughter had; alleviated with some lavendar spray in a bottle Kris made with a label that read: GEM Spray to Keep the Monsters Away!

hale - house; home; also building

hoe - paddle; the man in the back of the canoe uses the huli hoe (turning paddle).

huli - turn; to turn.

If can, can, if no can, no can - pidgin for I'm going to give it my best shot, boss

ipo - sweetheart

kapakahi - all messed up; crooked. "What happen to da gee-OH-pee, bruddah? Dey all kapakahi dees days!"

Ki Ho'alu - Hawaiian slack key (alternate tuning) music; da kine!

laulau - delicious meal wrapped in luau leaves (taro leaves) and cooked in a ti leaf. Tear open the ti leaf and cut into the luau leaves (they are edible and delicious if this is fresh, ono laulau). Pork is most common and best, in this writer's opinion, but lau lau can have just about any meat inside.

mino'aka - smile

musubi - a delicious treat of rice, nori (seaweed paper), furakake, and usually some spam. Found everyehere

you go in Hawaii, including the 7-Eleven deli case. Some like it with egg included. I make my own with a little spot of wasabi. The spam is fried in a teriyaki sauce (mine is shoyu, rice vinegar, oyster sauce, and sugar) until it gets a sticky glaze. Lay down the seaweed paper, put a sushi-maker on top, fill the sushi maker halfway with warm sticky white rice, sprinkle a little furakake, spot of wasabi, lay the spam on top, add more rice, pull the sushi-maker off, and wrap the seaweed around; it will stick if the rice is warm. Eat it!

nani - beautiful. "Nani Kauai!" (beautiful Kauai).

no ka oi - Hawaiian language for the best; see also da kine

ohana - family

ono - delicious. If it's really ono, you might broke da mouf eating it.

pau - finished; all done. "Pau hana!'"

Pau Hana! - Work is over; also, happy hour.

pipikaula - dried beef; Hawaiian beef jerky. It's very good and sometimes spicey, depending who makes it. The words translate to beef strings, from the way it was originally hung to dry.

sponge - also bodyboard, boogie board; made of a soft flexible material and different from a hard, fiberglass or composite surfboard, hence the name

stink eye - exactly what it sounds like; somebody staring you down. If you don't know why they are staring at you, you look back at them, tilt your chin up and say, "What? I owe you money?"

Threes - a surf break; this writer's favorite for a time in the mid oughts. Much debate about the name; some say it's pidgin for trees, other's say it was the third named surf spot. Whatevuhs.

whatevuhs - pidgin for no worries; or I couldn't be bothered.

More to come ...