Kilo vs Nana?

Aloha mai,

June 1st I'm launching a new opportunity to learn olelo! I'll be teaching pronunciation, word choice, how to use phrases, and even how to sing some Hawaiian songs. It's just around the corner so don't miss it! 

I continue to hear people use the word kilo like it’s going out of style and I don't know how it started. I can only imagine that someone plucked it out of the dictionary, used it once in public and it caught fire. 

I was at a loi kalo (taro patch) recently and I heard a school teacher say to her students, “Ok. Let’s take a moment and kilo our surroundings.”  The students then stood in silence and looked around. After a minute or so, the teacher said, “Ok. Let’s turn the time over to Maluhia.” In my mind I said, WHAT? Why in the world did she use kilo?

Let me be very clear, THAT IS NOT AN ACCURATE USAGE OF THE WORD KILO.

The word to look around and make observations with your eyes is NANA! When you watch a master craftsman, your kids at a park, Netflix on your couch, and even looking around a loi kalo. Nana is the word you're looking for.

In the Hawaiian dictionary, you’ll find that nana and kilo share meanings. What it doesn’t do is teach nuance. Kilo is typically applied to a person who is a MASTER in their craft. Traditionally, one who sails the seas navigating by the stars is a kahuna kilo lani. Likewise, a master fisherman can kilo i ke kai (analyze the sea). I can nana (look) at the stars, but I can’t get you from Hawaii to Tahiti. That requires kilo. Make sense?

Just remember that anyone can open up the dictionary and start using words, but the dictionary can’t teach you nuance. It can’t help you distinguish words that appear to be synonymous. For this very reason, I hear many words are misused today. 

This week's question: are there any other words you've heard that you're curious about?

Mahalo for reading. See you next week.

Owau no keia,

Malu