Rachel from San Diego wonders whether the exuberant Hawaiian cry chihoo! is onomatopoetic — that is, if the sound of the word resembles what it actually denotes. The cry is not originally Hawaiian. It’s a version of the Samoan war cry known as a fa’aamu, sisu, or ususu. The Honolulu Advertiser‘s Lee Cataluna has written about its use in Hawaii. This is part of a complete episode.
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