Humuhumunukunukuapua’a Huh?

Can you say Humuhumunukunukuapua’a 10 times fast? I still can’t begin to pronounce this behemoth of a Hawaiian word correctly. The Humuhumunukunukuapua’a is the Hawaii state fish and the name means “triggerfish with a snout like a pig” in Hawaiian. It’s commonly found throughout the reefs in Hawaii and is often said that “the name is much longer than the fish.”

As my friend and I waded into the water to go surfing last week near Diamond Head, several of these fish were swimming around the rocks. My friend pointed, then pronounced the name flawlessly before my very eyes. My jaw dropped, and I stood there in amazement. I tried pronouncing the name a few times myself before finally settling on the abridged version of “Humuhumu.” I paddled out a defeated and broken man. We came back after a few hours to find that somebody had cut my chain and stolen my bike with surf racks. They even stole my old T-shirt. Apparently they heard my pathetic attempt to pronounce Humuhumunukunukuapua’a and decided I should pay the price.

An interesting fact of history is that for the purpose of ancient Hawaiian religious sacrifices, each animal on land had an equivalent in the ocean and vice versa. The Humuhumu’s equivalent was the pig. So, in ancient Hawaii, if you were fresh out of a pig to sacrifice, I assume you could just throw a Humuhumu on the fire. Perhaps if I sacrificed a Humuhumu before surfing that day I’d still have a bike and a T-shirt. These days, I think it’s more impressive to pronouce the full name correctly at a party, but I can’t help but wonder if they taste a little like pork.

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