Hawaiian Word of the Week

So, my good friend Amanda Huerta is coming to visit me in July. She just bought her ticket and I couldn't be more excited. So, in preparation for her time here in Hawaii, I had thought about sending her a weekly email with a Hawaiian vocabulary word. But instead, I have decided that these little bits of wisdom are well worth sharing with all you people out there (and truthfully, although i live in Hawaii, i still have a normal--sometimes boring daily life, and this gives me something new and interesting to write about!).

So, for our first installation, I would like to introduce the word Shi-Shi. This is one that I use DAILY.

SHI-SHI; pronounced: she-she - definition: to urinate.

I am sure that some of you, if you were to think about it for a minute, could have come up with the meaning to this word, or at least an idea of what it means. It is somewhat self-explanitory. Although, upon moving here--the first year I believed this to have to do with a #2 instead of #1. Until, one day I was in the ocean holding my friends young daughter riding the waves, when she preceeded to tell me she was "Shi-Shi-ing". With her current position--sitting on my hip with her legs wrapped around me--I instantly threw her away from me, into the deep water with very disgusted look on my face. She looked hurt and confused, and her mom (after controlling her laughing) explained to me that Shi-Shi was only pee and nothing more (but still, lets be honest, even though a wave of relief did flow through me, the girl did still PEE on me).

I am also sure that some of you are thinking right now how this is a very weird first Hawaiian word to choose to introduce, as well as something pretty unususal to blog about at any time...and maybe that is true. But seriously, I use this word ALL THE TIME. In the preschool I often work in, we are still potty-training, and with 15 or so kids, smelling shi-shi, going shi-shi and cleaning shi-shi is the norm. We give commands like this: "Haley, go shi-shi toilet", or ask questions like this "Kaeo, you need shi-shi?"

And one more thing, this is not just a little kid word here. My nurse friends also use the word when talking to their very ADULT patients. This word shi-shi is common and publically accepted.

So, give the word a try some time--or then again, maybe you shouldn't-- you may expereince a major confusion like I once did.