DA KINE

Aloha is without a doubt the most important Hawaiian word. The most important two words of the Hawaiian pidgin language are “da kine.” You hear it everywhere and from everyone. It is the most practical and descriptive expression that will help you get around the islands and to present yourself as an insider.

Da kine means everything and anything. It can be a person, an animal, a food, a place, a car, a building or even a sound.

You use it when you just happen to fall into one of those brief and short termed memory lapses that we all know and you can’t think of a name or a noun.

The closest to it in the English language is “the thing” or “that thingy” or “you know who/what I’m talking about.” But where English is somewhat limited, da kine comes in and says it all.

What is so wonderful about it is that everyone understands it. When you use the two words in a sentence, people will instantly know by telepathy or by putting together the context of your speech, who or what you are referring to. It works like da kine, like magic!

People will know what you mean when you tell them that you went shopping at da kine and ran into da kine whom you had not seen for such a long time and then you had lunch together at da kine before you went surfing together at you know, da kine.

So, keep this little but important language lesson in mind when you visit Hawaii.

Pronunciation:

Da is said like “dah” or like the a in Hawaii.
Kine is pronounced like “kind” without the d.