03 March 2009

Eō in the office

ʻAnoʻai,

He Poʻakahi kēia. ʻO kēia lā ka lā 2 Malaki 2009.

I had a humorous experience today. When busy working on the computer in the office, I attempt to tune out the ambient conversation. There are four of us in the same office, so many times there are phone conversations, or visitors conversing with my colleagues.

While working away, I did not notice my manager come into the office. He called out to me, "Liko!" I was startled a bit and immediately answered "Eō!"

I realized what I had done by the look on my manager's face and those of my colleagues. Thinking quickly, I told him that when startled, I revert to Hawaiian language. It was actually true. My colleague Cheri laughed just a bit and said, "Oh, I thought you said Yo!"

We all chuckled at that one. But it definitely was an unintentional Hawaiian language lesson for the office.

Eō!