Editorial: Traffic messaging in pidgin

“Eh, slow down. No drive like one clown.” The Maui Police Department’s anti-speeding message is gaining traction as far away as Bulgaria. A brief Associated Press story on the pidgin campaign has been picked up by outlets such as the Lufkin Daily News in Texas, Clay Center Dispatch in Kansas and the Bulgarian News Agency.

The messaging, on electronic roadside signs, is designed to combat an increase in speeding on the Valley Isle. Far from home, the articles helpfully point out that pidgin is “Hawaii’s creole language.”