You Said What?

Here’s something interesting about how Hawaii speaks, and how you can pick out Hawaii people in a crowd. Long-time local residents (okay, okay, OLD people) often transpose words in familiar phrases.

When I was growing up in Hilo, we kids bought a lot of shaved ice at neighborhood mom and pop stores. Y’know, sno-cones. We’d run into the store, pull out our nickel, and ask for an “ice shave” instead of “shaved ice.” We all did it. And the older generation still does.

When I’m in Las Vegas, I often have breakfast at the California Hotel’s Market Street Café counter. A lot of Hawaii residents stay at the Cal because of their terrific marketing in Hawaii. You can pick them out in a flash when they order eggs for breakfast. They will ask for “easy over” instead of “over easy.”

Oh, oh … and the Guinness Book of World Records? Over here it’s often called the “Guinness World Book of Records.”

I don’t know exactly what causes this. Maybe living in paradise promotes “word dyslexia”?