Definition of "hapa"

hi glen,

glenmiyashiro@m (Glen Miyashiro) wrote in message
news:<1063092907-sch@news.lava.net>...
> marzullo@cs.ucsd.edu (Keith Marzullo) wrote in message
news:<1062660927-sch@news.lava.net>...
> > this sounds right to me. i was once married to a sansei. at least in
> > her family, "hapa" meant half-japanese. they didn't consider it a nice
> > term either.
>
> Really? Depends on the family I suppose, and the times as well. I have
> a sansei friend who married a haole guy (this was back in the 1960s)
> and the parents were VERY unhappy. But fast forward a generation to
> the 1980s, and hapa kids were so common at my school that they were
> entirely unremarkable, and the term carried absolutely no negative
> connotation. And these days, at some schools, it's harder to find a
> "pure-blooded" kid than a hapa one.

oh, let me clarify. this was in the mid seventies in pasadena. they
didn't have any problem with mixed race children (and not much with
mixed-race marriage). the term "hapa", to them, though, had a negative
connotation. it wasn't as offensive a word as, say that common rude
term for japanese, but they still didn't treat it as a polite word.

>
> > speaking of japanese, is there a local term for furikake? when i ask
> > for it in places in hawaii, i get funny looks, but sometimes they have
> > it. of course, maybe the funny look has nothin' to do with furikake...
>
> We call it "furikake". I assume you're asking for furikake at Japanese
> restaurants, right? Because if you're asking at other places, I can
> see how it would definitely be an odd request. And even at that,
> furikake always seemed to me to be an at-home condiment, not something
> you'd find on the table at a restaurant.

that's probably it; i love furikake when i get a scoop of rice
(especially if there's no gravy). so, i've asked for it at local
places, and get the odd look. for some reason, it seemed to me like
something that would be locally popular.

cheers,
keith

marzullo@cs.ucsd.edu (Keith Marzullo) wrote in message news:<1063146914-sch@news.lava.net>...
> oh, let me clarify. this was in the mid seventies in pasadena. they
> didn't have any problem with mixed race children (and not much with
> mixed-race marriage). the term "hapa", to them, though, had a negative
> connotation. it wasn't as offensive a word as, say that common rude
> term for japanese, but they still didn't treat it as a polite word.

Times change. Look at all the different names that different ethnic
groups have been called, or have called themselves, over the years.
Some names that start out neutral gain bad connotations, and others
lose them.

For example, does anyone commonly use the term "kanaka" to refer to
native Hawaiians any more? I know that it is and has always been a
legitimate word in Hawaiian (e.g. kanaka maoli). But in English,
pronounced with a flat American "a" in the middle, didn't it develop a
negative connotation, pre-1970s Renaissance?

> that's probably it; i love furikake when i get a scoop of rice
> (especially if there's no gravy). so, i've asked for it at local
> places, and get the odd look. for some reason, it seemed to me like
> something that would be locally popular.

You probably like "hurricane" popcorn (a mix of popcorn, mochi crunch,
and furikake) too.

I remember that...both kanaka and hapa had negative connotations back then.
I remember as a kid my mom and uncles shooting dirty looks at me when I
called a girl on TV a "kanaka." They told me never to say it! Throughout
my childhood and teen years, I always had the sense that it was like the
n-word (which is sad when you think of its true meaning). Hapa was also
something you kinda said under your breath, unless you were with family.
Glad that times have changed, tho'.

"Glen Miyashiro" <glenmiyashiro@m> wrote in message
news:1063167608-sch@news.lava.net...
> For example, does anyone commonly use the term "kanaka" to refer to
> native Hawaiians any more? I know that it is and has always been a
> legitimate word in Hawaiian (e.g. kanaka maoli). But in English,
> pronounced with a flat American "a" in the middle, didn't it develop a
> negative connotation, pre-1970s Renaissance?

i have always used the word kanaka but i'm from the backwoods and
utilize a lot of haw'n words...i still converse in pidgin (and
although people smile i know they don't like it but tuff kaka, i gotta
tink too hard fo talk good english, mo betta use the two word
descriptor "da kine" fo describe evratin but funny heh i can write da
good english n no need tink). i must agree, through personal
experience, that the words kanaka and hapa had negative connotations
associated with it but personally, kanaka was a haw'n person and a
hapa (wahines) were the best looking ones (i no care what kine hapa,
all cute) so they were positive words to me.