Haole

So this discussion came up in my Thursday night class when we talk about culture and identity. My Professor had written an article about people in Hawaii and how they don't group people into races, but into local and non-local. I agree. We do this. I personally think it's better than race; instead of signaling someone as black, puerto rican and whatever else you can think of it's just two categories (either you're from the islands or you're not). I think that's fine, as long as you don't mean it as something derogatory or demeaning.

Any-who, my professor talked about the definition of "haole" and claimed it meant foreigner, but that most people think it means white or caucasian. This is also true. Over the years "haole" has had a negative connotation to it and I must admit, I've used it (mostly when joking) to describe people. Kaytee & Elizabeth are personal witnesses to me poking fun of "haole's" and "my people" vs. "your people". The reason I'm writing about all this is to shed some light on the word most (even native Hawaiians) believe to mean foreigner.

Haole does NOT mean foreigner.

The literal translation is this: HA means breath, or life. OLE is a shortened form of A'ole, which means "no". So the literal translation is: no life or no breath. Hawaiians used this word to describe foreigners since they arrived in the islands with no "ha" or life (they didn't ask permission from the Gods to eat, to kill, to use resources, etc.) In Hawaiian eyes, to do these things meant you did not have any "ha".
This is also evident in the one word everyone knows on the mainland, "ALOHA". Notice the "ha"? That's why our greetings for hello, goodbye, and love all have "ha" in it; we are sharing breath or life with you.

To not have "ha" means you are haole. So no matter what your race, Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, White...if you do not show that you have life, breath or love for your fellow man, for nature, for everything around you, then you're haole.

So, if anyone from the islands claims you're haole, you need to tell them this definition. Because in actuality, if they're trying to demean you, then they're haole; without life. Just thought I'd write that for all my "haole" peeps who I love to hang out with! You are definitely full of ha! :)