Kamakawi Word of the Day

kaiwea

• (n.) stork

Lea i kaiwea! Ua hale ei…
“He’s a stork! I think…”

Notes: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!

Today I got quite a surprise. Erin said she had a present for me, and I descended the stairs to see this fabulous gentleman:

Isn’t he outstanding?! I don’t know if it’s supposed to be a stork or a flamingo or some other type of bird, but I decided his name should be Kaiwea—and that has given birth to a new Kamakawi word. Storks, you see, are ubiquitous, and I’m rather surprised I didn’t have a word for it yet. Well, now I do! And it also allowed me to use the iku for le’o as a determinative, which is something I haven’t yet done.

Today is a good day!

otoko

• (v.) to be serious
• (adj.) serious
• (n.) seriousness

Otoko ia?
“Are you serious?”

Notes: HAPPY CATURDAY!!!

Before I go any further, let me assure you that Keli had a wonderful Christmas. She got a new tunnel which she seems to like, and we gave her all meat baby food twice—plus, she got a ton of new boxes to play with! And she had quite a good time jumping around in the tissue paper. So don’t feel too sorry for her when you see this:

Now that’s a look that could kill! I can’t believe how patient she is with us. She’ll let us put pretty much anything on her, and will actually pose for pictures.

But it doesn’t means she has to like it.

And, of course, just to be fair, I also took a picture of me with the penguin mask on. So we’re even, she and I.

lolota

• (v.) to sew
• (n.) sewing

Lolota, he fupone! Lolota takeke e hevaka!
“Sew, old woman! Sew like the wind!”

Notes: From one of my old favorites: ¡Three Amigos! Today is the aforewarnedabout word for “to sew”. I learned basic sewing as a kid, so I guess I know what I’m doing if I have to something to something else (or to itself). I’m no seamster, of course. Seamsters are lame. All their skinny hemmed jeans, saying things like, “Yeah, I don’t use needle threaders”, and, “Yeah, I use the model of sewing machine invented by Walter Hunt. You’ve probably never heard of him…”

poyouyou

• (v.) to dangle

Mata ia i’i! Ae poyouyou i ipe otu mataitai i’i.
“Look at me! I’m dangling this pretty paw for you.”

Notes: HAPPY CATURDAY!!!

I’ve got a couple of shots of Keli in this new pose she likes: three legs in, one stretched far away. It’s pretty cute:

I think she knows how good she looks. “Regard ye this paw!” she says. “Regard it and resist me not!”

[Note: To see the word this derives from, look up poyou.]

hematale

• (v.) to wake up, to awaken

Oku! Hematale ia i’i oku! A meliki ei lona!
“No! Don’t wake me! I’m too beautiful!”

Notes: HAPPY CATURDAY!!!

Some don’t believe me when I say that Keli actually likes to have things draped about her (especially string-like things). I draped the sash from Erin’s robe over her while she was awake, and she snuggled right up with it:

She loves her strings! That and plastic. She loves plastic. She likes to bite it. We have to try to keep it away from her.

Today’s word derives rather regularly from hemata. Just an old-fashioned causative.

luti

• (n.) box crab

I luti pe!
“There’s a box crab there!”

Notes: Not much time to do a real post today, so here’s the word for box crab! Box crabs are bizarre looking creatures. Take a look at one here (though a Google image search will probably serve you better). I remember seeing these as a kid at the old Cabrillo Park Aquarium. I’ve always been a big fan of crabs.

kakalaka

• (n.) interview

Kakalaka oye kaneko!
“Interview with the cat!”

Notes: Keli received some exciting news today: Her picture was in The New York Times! Check it out here (scroll down to see the picture).

The photographer is Monica Almeida, who’s a staff photographer for the Times. She’s an animal lover herself, so she was more than happy to take pictures of me and Keli. I didn’t think one would actually make it into the article. I was quite pleased to see it! It’s funny, she took a bunch, but I think she chose this one purpose because the contrast between my expression and Keli’s is pure hilarity. That’s just like my cat: Anxious to be the center of attention, and then once she has everyone’s attention, desperate to escape. What a cat she is!

Kamakawi also gets a brief mention in the article. A long while back someone added a Wikipedia page for Kamakawi, and it got deleted. Maybe if it ever gets re-added it’ll stick around.

And if it does, maybe then it’s time to add a Wikipedia page for Keli…

inana

• (n.) (a/the) lick

A inana li’i i ia!
“I have a lick for you!”

Notes: HAPPY CATURDAY!!!

Okay, so this picture turned out a little dark, but I hope you’ll agree it was worthwhile. Every so often Keli, when she’s particularly tired, will allow her tongue to hang out a little bit. It’s like she’s so tired she doesn’t want to put forth the effort to retract her tongue.

And it’s adorable:

Woo hoo! So glad I eventually got that on film!

Today’s word derives very regularly from nana, but it’s a good word. I’d use it.

taketepi

• (v.) to be busy
• (adj.) busy
• (n.) busy-ness

Taketepi, taketepi, taketepi…
“Busy, busy, busy…”

Notes: Let’s see how many references to Cat’s Cradle I can pack into this blog!

Today’s word is coming a day late because I’ve been busy like an ant—or, at least, busy like a Kamakawi ant. The word meaning something like “busy” (but perhaps a bit more jocular than the English equivalent) derives from the word tepi, which means “ant”. Observationally, it should be clear where this came from. I mean, you ever seen an ant rest? Ever seen an ant just chillin’, feeling the breeze? Nah, man. Ants be busy! All the time running around in crazy directions like they got some place to be.

And another thing: Why the heck can’t ants walk in a straight line?! What’s their problem? The shortest distance between two points if you’re an ant is some crazy, squiggly, wet-noodle spaghetti-type line, apparently. They’re all nuts!

paketepi

• (n.) anthill

Oku olomo pe! Ipe i paketepi!
“Don’t step there! That’s an anthill!”

Notes: Since we recently had a word for ant, I thought I’d put up “anthill”. Works pretty much the same as English, except that rather than “hill” it’s pake, the word for “mountain”. This isn’t my favorite Kamakawi word for “anthill”, but it kind of reminded me of the song “Worm Mountain” by the Flaming Lips (easily one of my favorite songs off their album Embryonic), so I threw it up today.

In other news, I’m probably going to win my fantasy football matchup today, but probably not going to make the playoffs (even though the leader in one division is sub-.500). Lot of bad, bad luck this year and bad matchups. One can one do?