Hawaiian Roosters Say Hi, a-LO-ha!
Rooster sayings from around the world
Roosters can be heard in most parts of Hawaii, crowing their fool heads off at all hours of the day and night. At least that&';s the way it might sound to the uninitiated. It might also sound that way to the over-initiated. But doesn&';t some part of you think that perhaps these Roosters wouldn&';t be quite so annoying, if only you could understand what they were saying?
To that end, I undertook this task of understanding them. After all, I&';m a bit of a linguist and a bit of an animal communicator. Who better to figure this out, than myself?
Roosters in Hawaii have several dialects. Perhaps the most common, or at least the one my ears were most recently accosted with made each sentence four syllables long. In the common vernacular, these Roosters say
Cock-a-DOOD-le.
Actually, Roosters don&';t just talk, they sing. If the first note is C, then next is E-Flat, then G-Flat, then C again. Some Roosters don&';t bother with E-Flat and stick with C for the second note. At first glance, musicians might think that Roosters are singing a diminished C chord. But, we&';re talking about Roosters here. This then must be an augmented dis-chord instead.
I&';ve heard Roosters in Hawaii speaking with different dialects. They use anywhere from three to seven notes to say a sentence. The dialect that I&';ve tried to understand, has four syllables and the accent is on the third. There was another Rooster among those with this dialect. He also spoke using four syllables. However, he accented both the second and fourth syllables, putting the most emphasis on the fourth, so it was a different dialect. Needless to say, he wasn&';t understood by the other Roosters. But in his defense, I must say that the other Roosters didn&';t even try to understand him. They were only interested in tooting their own horns.
When you land in Hawaii, a Rooster might greet you with Hi, a-LO-ha!
This will of course be a Rooster from the Tourist Agency. When they think you&';re not listening, the most cynical of these will continue with:
Spend your MON-ey
Then, go BACK home.
The thing that a Rooster says the most is I&';m a ROOS-ter. And since Roosters are descended from Terradactyls, I&';ll take a leap and say that what Terradactyls said the most, was Ter-a-DAC-tyl.
All birds have a warning call. Roosters however, aren&';t scared of much. Perhaps they would be if they took the time to think about it. But, they&';re too focused on what they&';re doing. The one thing that terrifies them, is children (keiki in Hawaiian). It&';s not the child&';s fault. They&';re just curious.
There&';s a KEI-ki!
To any nearby Roosters, Come and HELP me!
To the keiki Don&';t come NEAR me!
Roosters, like most birds, have dating songs. [Let me] Ser-e-NADE you
[Let me] is implied / unspoken. If a Rooster says this to you, don&';t let him. Other things you might hear a Rooster say when he&';s dating include
You&';re so LOVE-ly!
What-ya DO-in?
One Rooster went on a blind date. Assuming that his date was also still wearing her blindfold, he tried,
I&';ve a GREEN head!
This Rooster had heard that it worked for Mallards. And since nothing else he had tried that evening was working, he figured, why not? It was shortly after that, that his server informed him his date had left shortly after they had arrived.
Now you PAY-ing?
During one stay at a Macadamia Nut Farm, the owners told us how wonderful Roosters were. They really kept the hens in line to keep the insects under control. The hens in turn kept the chicks in line.
There&';s a BIG one!
Go and GET it.
Hur-ry, HUR-ry!
It&';s be-HIND you!
I think that whichever Rooster said that last phrase, might have worked in the airline industry.
But Roosters aren&';t all work and no play. Indeed many Roosters are no work and all play.
Hey, let&';s PAR-ty.
Where&';s the LU-au?
Hu-la HU-la.
Roosters like to travel. So, often you&';ll here them talking about where they&';ve been recently. All Roosters in the area will offer up a location, even if they&';ve never gone anywhere.
Phil-a-DELPH-ia
Nov-a-SCOT-ia
Ar-gen-TIN-A
Cost-a-RIC-a
Lith-u-AN-ia.
Some, of course, have only travelled within the Islands of Hawaii. So you might hear
Kan-e-OH-e
Hon-o-LU-lu
Wai-ko-LO-a
Mil-i-LAN-i
Wah-i-A-wa
Ma-ka-WA-o
Ka-hu-LU-i
Ka-la-PA-pa
E-le-E-le
....
During the weekends, some Roosters get religious.
Al-le-LU-ia
Jes-us LOVES you
Al-lah AK-bar
O Je-HO-vah
Krish-na KRISH-na
....
At three AM, you might hear a Rooster say,
You a-WAKE now?
Go to SLEEP now.
What you UP for?
Need some WAT-er?
I catalogued what Roosters said for several months. I discovered that what they said the most frequently was,
Bro-ken REC-ord!
