This is taken out of the Pono Page in the ';Know Before You Go'; section. One of the big challenges we face in Hawai`i and on Hawai`i Island is retraining our own behavior and, by example, the behavior of guests.
While some might suggest that the nicknames that are in use are okay, the fact is that they are not. Many guests no longer know the proper name of our island, and both the Hawaii Visitors Bureau and the Hawaiian Community are actively promoting the proper use of names.
Here is the information about my district that provides an opportunity for the posters on this forum to make a change that will go a long ways in demonstrating both a cultural sensitivity and geographical expertise for Hawai`i Island.
* Place Names
Understanding the correct place names for the many sights you will see is an excellent way to self-discover our host Hawaiian culture. Years of misuse can pile up from the publication of maps and guide books that neglect to use the proper names of the places they talk about. You don%26#39;t need to become a language expert, but just as you learn a little bit about the language when you travel to foreign country, it can be a lot of fun to go on-line and learn a little Hawaiian pronunciation so that you can actually say some of the names. Below is a growing list of some of the names that are commonly confused with an English term.
Hawai`i Island is not THE BIG ISLAND.
Ka Lae is the southern tip of Hawai`i Island. South Point Road leads to it. There is no place called South Point.
Papakolea is the flat area above Mahana Bay. It has an olivine green sand from an erosive cone. There is no Green Sand Beach.
Pu`uhonua `O Honaunau is a National Historic Park. It is referred to as a place of refuge. There is no City Of Refuge.
Pali `O Haukiuki, located near Ka Lae includes a cliff face that was destroyed in the 50%26#39;s to build an ill-fated boat ramp. It should not be referred to a Broken Road.
please add
Using the Correct Place Names
Very basic:
There is no town named ';Kona.'; People may mean the town of Kailua-Kona, perhaps? When people ';stay in Kona,'; they could be anywhere from right at A-Bay all the way down the coast past Miloli%26#39;i. Much of that is rural and lovely but not convenient to shops or restaurants or sand beaches. Best place to ';stay in Kona'; is the Four Seasons; the other great resorts in my opinion are in S. Kohala.
Using the Correct Place Names
While all should be respectful of ';native'; names for places everywhere...
Especially in Hawaii where there still thrives a vibrant aboriginal culture and language.
But each state has native place names that were later changed, co-opted, usurped, whatever, with equivalents or replacements in the newly dominant tongue; whether English, Spanish or French.
It is not uncouth or ill-mannered to use the commonly accepted terminology.
In example it is incorrect to assert ';There is no place named South Point';.
There certainly is. And, it is referred to as such in a litany of ';official'; County, State and Federal agencies and documents.
For an easy example see The County of Hawaii Parks Department Map at http://www.hawaii-county.com/parks/parks.htm
';South Point'; is clearly identified as are numerous other parks which bear haole monikers even though there are also pre-dating Hawaiian names for the spot.
Go to the State of Hawaii website and enter ';South Point'; in the search box and you will find dozens of pages of references eminating from virtually every state agency.
I am not saying it is appropriate or I am in support of degrading the use of Hawaiian place names (which I have great reverence for and use in my work on a daily basis), but one cannot deny the reality of the practical situation.
Interestingly, it is the agencies of the federal government which seem to place most emphasis on using Hawaii place names and terms; moreso than the State or County.
Interesting amberloo ...
I have switched my own poor usage learned from visits and guidebooks to Ka Lae, Pu`u `O Honaunau, and Papakolea/Mahana Bay.
As this is a travel board where we answer questions from people who have been reading guidebooks and brochures and other posts in the forum, I am not going to lecture someone for not knowing the right name when they ask about Green Sand beach. Why wouldn%26#39;t they not.
I can make the effort to inform the correct name in my reply, but without implying they should have known better.
Now when it comes to the island names, I get all bent out of shape when I see subject headings for Ohau and Kaui, and the spelling repeated three times in the post so I know it%26#39;s not a typo. THIS is so simple, and is right in front of anyone looking at a book or blog or brochure.
Re the most common mistake that impacts our ability to know what the poster is asking, I too vote for the mistake of saying Kona instead of being specific, because we don%26#39;t know if you, the OP, do know that the town is Kailua-Kona and you are asking about the district -- or whether you really mean the town and are calling it Kona by mistake.
As for the Big Island, I don%26#39;t see that going away. It is NOT a tourist appellation. It is local. Try calling the local cable or phone company for service, get a local service rep on the phone, and have you ever had them say, you live on Hawai`i, right? No, they say, you%26#39;re on the Big Island?
The local newscasters, born and raised here, who do an excellent job with all the place names and speak to residents, not tourists, will all use Big Island to name the island, but they will always properly say Hawai`i County when they speak of the county, because of course there is no Big Island County.
I think it%26#39;s just a usage that%26#39;s evolved to avoid the confusion of not knowing whether one refers to the island or the state, which is an evolution of the local language. No language is static or frozen in time, unless it is a dead language.
I%26#39;m surprised that A-bay wasn%26#39;t mentioned, as the simplification of Anaeho`omalu does, I know, upset Hawaiians when their children use it. I got an earful about that once ... ;-) A-bay is, again, a common nickname used by locals and not limited to visitors, but I do think the true name is beautiful and try to use it, although sometimes my fingers get tired and I am tempted by short cuts ....
LOL, typing too fast.
Don%26#39;t yell at me, I meant Pu`uhonua `O Honaunau.
Re guidebooks, I just checked my Lonely Planet, which is not a perfect book, none are, but does some things right.
First, the name of the book is not ';Big Island ... '; anything, but ';Hawai`i'; (subtitled the Big Island).
It doesn%26#39;t have an index listing for Place of Refuge, only for Pu`uhonua `O Honaunau National Historical Park.
It refers to South Point as an area, but immediately explains the name is Ka Lae, and uses Ka Lae as the title of the section for visiting the point area, reached by South Pt road.
It has an index listing for Green Sands Beach, but first thing tells you the traditional Hawaiian name is Papakolea.
It has no listing for A-bay, only for `Anaeho`omalu, and notes it is ';dubbed A-bay by the linguistically challenged.';
Kona -- the first thing it tells you about Kona is not to make the mistake of lumping all of Kona together and leads you through the various areas, the name of the town, the fact there is North Kona and South Kona.
I don%26#39;t own any stock in Lonely Planet, but if visitors would use it to get oriented instead of that other book, it is vastly superior in getting people off on the right track.
Of course it is rather deficient in alluring photos of hideaway pools and stuff that makes people drool; it requires a higher degree of literacy to read the text and invites the reader to come up to its level.
I might say that KamaainaK offers a reasonable assessment of the current situation. The example about ';A Bay'; is a good one. This is how these nicknames are viewed all over the island. If you know the proper name and you choose to use a catchy nickname because it%26#39;s cool, well so be it. The difference is when you don%26#39;t know the proper name and you ASSUME that the nickname is the name. Suddenly, the guy who has himself been saying ';A-Bay'; gets in your face, because he realizes you are clueless. Classic example of how a beef gets going. The point is that visitors should be given the proper names of places, regardless of which more commonly is used.
Regarding Ka Lae- I am currently standing by my statement. Ka Lae is the only proper name for the southern tip of Hawaii Island. In each and every book and map I have looked at- from ';The Polynesian Family System in Ka`u'; to the county plats on line, Ka Lae is either listed by itself or it is listed first and the nickname ';South Point'; is used in parenthesis as a clarification. Of course, I don%26#39;t consider modern guidebooks and maps appropriate in this case.
It is interesting to note that there was a ';South Point Air Force Station'; at Ka Lae until 1965. This may explain why this term came into use. Nonetheless, based on what I currently know, the proper name and the only name is Ka Lae.
The literal translation is ';the point'; but the pali may have played a role in the understanding of the name, since lae also refers to a forehead.
Regarding Hawai`i, it is true that Big Island has become part of our landscape and that people of great respect use this term. Although I try to avoid it, I use this term. That doesn’t make it right. I assure you I have consistent first hand experience that it is considered disrespectful, so I am trying to change.
Great addition KK
Yeah for Lonely Planet
I%26#39;ll offer the point of view of an author in this case. I completely agree with using the proper names, and we do so regularly in our writing.
But this also creates confusion amongst visitors (using ONLY proper names), and we (authors) get flamed for it. I honestly think everyone should learn the proper names. But the reality is, they%26#39;re not going to in a 2 week visit. Most visitors can%26#39;t pronounce half the street names in Hilo for example.
Thus the need does indeed arise to use both names. Typically we%26#39;ll do the following: Ka Lae (South Point). Or Pu`uhonua `O Honaunau (Place of Refuge).
The same goes for the island of Hawai%26#39;i. When I recently started reorganizing our website, I literally thought for days about calling the directory the ';big_island_of_hawaii'; or just ';hawaii.'; But then I thought about the audience... and like KK pointed out, most will not know the island of Hawai%26#39;i by anything other than ';The Big Island.';
So folks in the tourism industry have to keep that in mind. The best thing we can do is try to educate folks in the process. What I dislike are books, media, and pamphlets that don%26#39;t even bother to use the proper names. Sometimes it takes a lot of searching to even find the proper name of a place. I can promise you we%26#39;re either the only, or one of the few, that refer to Helele‘ike‘oha Falls as such on Maui. Most call it ';Blue Pool.'; And ALL of them should note it%26#39;s Kapu to begin with, but few do that either.
So, I think getting the message out that using the proper names IS VERY important. But I also am realistic and I know for sure that the bulk of visitors are not going to use the cultural names (usually because they end up tongue tied and don%26#39;t want to feel or look %26#39;silly%26#39;). I think it%26#39;s important we also keep that in mind.
thanks, kanekeakalae, and thanks for this topic.
I do understand about the Big Island. All the other islands have a proper Hawaiian name used consistently by all. No one picks up the phone and books a vacation on The Garden Isle or The Valley Isle, but with us, we get nicknamed.
Guess its the price of being honored to have our island share the name of the state.
Speaking of the name of the land --
some visitors will know and some will not, that ';Hawai`i'; derives from ';Havaiki'; (at least that is one spelling, the Maori Cook Islanders spell it ';Avaiki';).
One could write a dissertation on the nuances of ';Havaiki'; --but a simple sense of its meaning is the legendary or mythological place of origin from which the Polynesians voyaged. And it is also the name of the underworld or spirit world.
I believe, but please correct me if wrong, that the Polynesian voyagers who arrived here from Tahiti named these islands after this place of origin. Whether for spiritual reasons or because they thought they may have found the islands of origin, I am uninformed (and would like to know, although it%26#39;s probably highly debatable).
The missionaries who created spelling for the Hawaiian language did not see fit to bless it with a ';V'; -- and saddled it with a W, but it is supposed to be pronounced with a V sound.
';Hawaiian'; is an English word, so it is properly pronounced with a W sound. Confused yet?
When we went to Aitutaki in the Cooks, we told people we live in Hawai`i pronounced with a V, and that%26#39;s how the native Maori speakers say it as well. Not Ha-why-ee.
In general, I don%26#39;t have a problem with visitors or locals using nicknames for places. In many cases the nicknames more clearly and concisely convey the speaker%26#39;s intent, especially when there are similar-sounding or otherwise confusing names.
The statement that ';While some might suggest that the nicknames that are in use are okay, the fact is that they are not'; makes you sound a bit like an agent of the Thought Police. If someone truly does not know the real name for a place, you would be helpful to politely inform them of what it is. But I don%26#39;t think anyone thinks the name of the big island is really ';The Big Island';.
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