no ka 'oi

POP QUIZ:

The USA has two official languages, English and ________. What is the other language?

You guessed it...Hawaiian! How cool is that? 

Since we moved here, I've been trying to pick up words and phrases, which has actually not been too hard considering the streets, cities, companies, everything has a Hawaiian name. And Hawaiian phrases are pretty common, too. It's been amazing how much easier it is to find my way around the more I learn, too. Pali means "cliff", for example, so when I take the Pali Highway and look down the cliffs to the valley, it makes perfect sense that the early Hawaiians would name that road the Pali. And it cracks me up how often puka is used. It means a hole or little "cubby" (like a spot where you might put something), and it's used a lot. 'Ohana and keiki are used for "family" and "child" a lot of the time, and the great thing about 'ohana is that it seems to mean more than blood relatives. For Hawaiians, 'ohana is about sharing, and about caring for each other, and being there for each other no matter what. So learning Hawaiian words has also taught me a lot about culture. One cool one is Aloha kaua, may there be love between us.

My new favorite phrase is no ka 'oi. I thought it sounded familiar when I saw Jesus no ka 'oi on a bumper sticker, so I asked Trey if he knew what it meant. "It's the name of an exterminator we do business with," he replied. "What?" I had to get to the bottom of that one.

Turns out no ka 'oi translates "is the best". Folks on Maui are known for boasting Maui no ka 'oi. But I think the best I've seen is Jesus no ka 'oi.