A few years ago I told you about my grandfather's api (notebook) full of alagaupu that I wanted to study and really understand. I was going to look at twelve of those proverbs, consult with the Samoan cultural experts in my life then share with you what I had learned....
What is your favourite loved up pet name for your significant other? It is babe? Baby? Bae? Honey? Hun? Sweetheart? Sweetie? Darling? Dear? So many Samoan couples I know have adopted these English terms of affection, but until quite recently, I had no idea how many...
It's been a crazy several weeks on this side of the One Samoana screen. I could write a very boring book about the 'technical issues' that took this entire site off the interwebs for over a month. (Summary: if you're going to run a website, find a webhost who loves...
Fa'alupega is often the first building block of a Samoan lauga (speech). When addressing a gathering of people, it is custom for the speaker to acknowledge all the other matai in the room, to greet each of them not just by title name, but with an acknowledgement of...
Music has been a huge part of my life since, as a very young child, I couldn't go to sleep without somebody singing to me… and then they must have got sick of it cause next minute I get this portable radio thing for my birthday… To this day I STILL find it easier to...
I've been hanging out with my uncle lately. He's a pretty intense kinda guy. He's loud, laughs like thunderclaps - or sometimes suffocation - and he tells those long, drawn out jokes with such conviction the anticipation kills you... and then the punchline is hit or...
You know how at the end of a long Samoan (usually family) function, someone says the closing prayer then everybody gets up to sing a song together? I love that. Not just because it means we can go home soon and eat the food we’ve already loaded in the car (who does...
When I started calling myself Hamo Geek Girl (omg, almost 10 years ago) it made some people uncomfortable. "Do you know the history of the word 'hamo'?" some asked. "Isn't that offensive to Samoans?" asked others. Yes I know. Hamo was not my most favourite word,...
While I was slowly picking up Samoan from my family and friends, I'd hear references to another, mysterious, 'higher' version of the language. 'It's different from our everyday Samoan,' ...they would say. 'It's the language that matais and ministers use'. And I would...
As the heart of the Pacific ocean, it makes sense that so many of Samoa's alagaupu & muagagana (proverbs & idioms) use the imagery of fishing. Like this one: O le upega e fili i le po, 'ae tatala i le ao Its literal translation: The fishing net is knotted (or...
My grandfather was a diligent note-keeper. He was a faiava, which means he lived with my grandmother in her village (rather than his own), and he kept several notebooks worth of hand-written records on her family's history and titles. This grandfather was also a...
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