Lee Cataluna: 1988 called — it wants its word back

“Hammajang”? Really? That’s the best they could come up with?

Not even the spelling looks right. Shouldn’t it be “hemajang”? Whatever. Most people in Hawaii haven’t used that term in decades. Or at all.

Word got out this week that the Oxford English Dictionary was going to include the Hawaii creole English (aka pidgin) term, which will be listed as an adjective, in the 2019 edition. OED defined “hammajang” as “all mixed up, askew or wonky.” Used in a sentence, it might be something like, “Hey, did you hear they put the word ‘hammajang’ in the English dictionary? That’s kind of messed up — uh, I mean hammajang, yeah?”

The earliest example researchers at OED could find of the use of the word in print was in 1988. That might very well be the latest official use of the word, too. The only time you hear a word like “hammajang” or “kamaboko slippers” or “tantaran” is when the girls at the tita table are reminiscing at the 30th high school reunion or when Mayor Kirk Caldwell puts on his pa­laka shirt and talks braddah- braddah at some muddy construction site. It’s definitely vintage and perhaps even edging toward arcane.

Maybe hammajang/ hemajang could have been at the cusp of revival, but including it in a trying-to-be-hip-but-not-fooling-anybody publication like the OED is like hearing your mom use the latest slang. Cardi B might have invented the world’s coolest phrase, but when it comes out of your mom’s mouth, it’s over.

Apparently, the OED came across “hammajang” when they solicited nominations for new words. You guys couldn’t nominate something from this decade? What are the kids saying these days? Slay? No that’s from RuPaul. Shook? No, that’s RuPaul, too. Yas? Wow, RuPaul is a powerful influencer, and there aren’t many new pidgin words.

So what’s going to happen with this new attention to this old slang? Are people going to start using hammajang in cloying commercials that are supposed to be so insider- Hawaii? The ones with beautiful surf shacks that no one can afford, perfect domes of rainbow shave ice and sunlit shakas on roads that never have traffic. “Buy our whatever- whatever so you don’t get … hammajang”?

Ewwww.

What a strange word to select to be included in the ultimate master list of English terms.

Then again, maybe it was a good choice.

The OED is, according to the OED, “widely regarded as the accepted authority on the English language,” and some of the best words we use in Hawaii are not in English. Their absorption into the English language could be taken as inappropriate appropriation.

“Wiki” (as in Pedia and Leaks), “poke bowls” (with weird fruits and sauces), “muumuu” (used to describe some sort of bathroby caftan) — all those words got away from us and turned into things we didn’t mean.

The OED can have “hammajang.” Especially since we weren’t using it.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.