Thursday, November 5, 2009

Hohono

Acrid odor, unpleasant body odor of perspiration; to smell thus.

To smell thus. Okay, that phrase alone cracks me up. If you smell thus (unpleasant body odor of perspiration), you know you are HOHONO. That yucky stinky smell of B.O.? Hohono.  Or you know that strong mimi (urine) smell of a small child's shorts that have since dried up but you KNOW he went shishi and just won't admit it? That smell is hohono. I remember my children at Pūnana Leo o Honolulu. When someone went mimi in their pants, they would say "mimi hono"! In other words, that unpleasant odor is from some sheesh!
Gosh this word is giving me flashbacks of a plane ride. I mean seriously, Mister. Do you not consider the welfare of fellow passengers before you get on a flight straight out of Waipiʻo?
 I have shared some other smelly words (pīlau) in the past. Add this one to your list.  I just wanted to make sure that you have an appreciation for the fine tuning of the Hawaiians' sense of smell that so many words were derived to describe the differences among odors, both pleasant and not so pleasant.

Auē ʻo ka hohono ē o kēia wahi lumi - Omg, this damn room smells [thus] :-)

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