On April 7 I wrote about the somewhat obscure history of that thumb-and-pinkie wave we call shaka. It brought in several interesting comments from readers. Here are some of them.
Presidential shaka
Jenny Hausler said, “My favorite shaka story is about when President Barack Obama was viewing his first inaugural parade in 2009. The announcer reported that his Punahou high school marching band was passing in front of the new president’s reviewing stand. Obama was gesturing at them to call him.
“We in Hawaii were all laughing, as we knew he was giving them the shaka sign. The female anchor corrected the announcer and explained that it was the shaka.”
Charles Memminger commented on this in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He said that if you listened carefully, you could almost hear legendary car salesman and shaka pioneer Lippy Espinda telling Obama, “Hele on, bruddah!”
Hawaiian Railway Society
Salina Dela Cruz, administrator of the Hawaiian Railway Society, says shaka is a part of the narration they give to visitors who ride their train in the Ewa area. The Oahu Railway & Land Co. tracks once stretched from Iwilei to Kahuku.
“We are approaching Fort Barrette Road. As we cross the road, we always wave at the people in their cars. There are two ways to wave. One is the traditional way; the other is the shaka sign.
“There are many stories about how the shaka sign got started. Several people have tried to claim fame for the origin of the shaka sign, but I have the real story and it involves the railroad!
“In the early 1900s a gentleman by the name of Hamana Kalili worked as a presser for the Kahuku Sugar Mill. His job was to feed cane through the rollers to squeeze the juice out.
“One day there was a terrible accident, and his three middle fingers were crushed in the rollers. All he had left was his thumb and little finger. Since he was well liked and a great worker, they put him to work on the sugar cane train.
“While on the train, he would brace himself with his left arm and wave with his right. His new job was to make sure kids weren’t jumping on and off the train as it slowed down, to catch a ride or steal the sugar cane as a snack.
“He would wave at the kids and yell ‘Eh! Get off da train!’
“Soon the children began to imitate him (mostly to make fun of him). Before long everyone was waving the same way. ‘Shaka’ may not be a Hawaiian word — but is a popular Hawaiian gesture.”
The credit he deserves
Malia Espinda said, “I love that Lippy is getting the credit he deserves for the term ‘shaka’ — and while he didn’t originate the finger gesture, he did originate the term we associate with it.”
Malia married into the Espinda ohana. Nolan Espinda (1957-2022), Lippy’s grandnephew, is her husband. He was director of public safety in Gov. David Ige’s administration.
One kotonk
Jerry Takesono said, “Wherever people from Hawaii go, they look for and find other people from Hawaii.
“In college, in the service or in places of employment, if you suspect that someone may be from Hawaii, one safe and surefire way of finding out is to flash the shaka sign.
“A fellow lonesome ex- Hawaii resident will quickly flash back that shaka sign. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, male or female, haole, Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese or whatever, the shaka sign is a guaranteed way of recognizing another fellow Hawaii islander.
“But,” Takesono says, “if you flash the shaka sign and no response, ’ass one kotonk!”
Kotonk refers to a Japanese American who was born on the mainland and might not know which fingers to use for a shaka.
Shack?
Several readers sent alternative stories about where shaka came from. Here are a few.
Ted Ralston believes that shaka is local pidgin for “shack.”
“In early Army aviation history, in remote areas of the southeast United States, wooden shacks would be targets for bombing practice.
“Returning to base, the pilots, as they climb out of the airplane, would shout the word ‘shack!’ to communicate a successful bomb run. The expression ‘shack’ became ‘shaka’ in ground crew pidgin.”
I looked in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser archives and could not find any verification of that, but did find a Shaka Shack Shave Ice on the Big Island and several Shaka Shacks on the mainland.
Shark?
Mona McNamara had a different explanation. Growing up, she heard that surfers in Waikiki created the shaka.
“One of these surfers always had his cat surfing with him. Whenever the ears of the cat would stand up, he would let the other surfers know that there was a shark in the water.
“The shaka sign represented the cat’s ears … and the warning that a shark was near. This is the story I share with my grandchildren, and they love it. I love it, too!
“To me, shaka means awesome!”
We have had a few surfing cats, but I could not find one that could spot sharks. That would be pawsome!
Shark eye
In 1992, Randy Borges, who grew up in Kalihi, explained that shaka was originally “shark eye.”
“While playing marbles, a person with an especially good aim was said to have ‘shark eyes.’ He was a ‘shark-eye bugger,’ hence the word ‘shaka.’ This word evolved into a description of a sharp dresser, a smart person or a witty person.”
I looked for any verification of shaka possibly coming from “shark eye,” and there are actually several people quoted in past newspapers who thought that.
Easy
Punahou class of 1961 alumna Madge Tennent Walls said she was raised in Hilo and Honolulu, and raised her children in Kaneohe and on Maui.
“Almost nobody, except a few old-timers like me, remember shaka’s predecessor, ‘e-say’ or ‘e-sa-lay.’
“Same hand gesture, made in various postures to express different shades of ‘easy, brother,’ or ‘great,’ or ‘congrats,’ etc.
“Somehow ‘shaka’ snuck in and overtook this common pidgin hand and voice expression.”
Yes, I think before Lippy Espinda attached the word “shaka” around 1970 to the hand gesture, some in the islands did the thumb-and-pinkie wave and said “easy,” or something similar.
Retired engineer Mac McMorrow remembers when the thumb-and-pinkie gesture was accompanied by “easy,” or “Esa-lay.”
“I went to a 1960 mainland football game where UH played a team whose name then was Cal State at East Los Angeles.
“UH had a cheer in those days that went, ‘One Play! E Sa Lay!’ and we would use it whenever we had the ball. Our small cheering section was joined by our opponents, who thought we were cheering, ‘One Play! East LA!’”
“Pronunciation in California is everything, I guess. “‘Esa-lay’ probably does come from the old pidgin ‘E-zaay’ which like ‘aloha’ means more than words can say.
A man named Sione
Journalist Peter von Buol said slack key virtuoso George Kahumoku Jr. worked for Lippy Espinda as a teenager. Lippy told him that shaka was a tribute to a Samoan whose first name was Sione. The man had lost his middle fingers while tree trimming.
Working at Lippy’s service station provided Kahumoku with a chance of a lifetime when one rainy night he was sent out on a service call for a flat tire. The person with a flat tire turned out to be (Bishop Estate trustee) Richard Lyman, who was impressed by Kahumoku and got him a full academic scholarship to a mainland college.
“Lippy was my mentor! He taught me how to hustle and reach my dreams!” said Kahumoku.
So where does that leave us? I am fairly sure that Hamana Kalili lost his middle fingers in an accident and gave us that unique pinkie-and-thumb wave, maybe as far back as 1915, and that David “Lippy” Espinda called it “shaka.”
However, there is room for some shark-eyed Army pilot, or surfing cat, or Samoan guy named Sione to research this further in the future. For now, I say, “Easy, brudda.”
———
Bob Sigall is the author of the five “Companies We Keep” books. Send your suggestions, questions or ripe mangoes to Sigall@Yahoo.com.
