Get Out! (Hilo, Kihei: home, live, license plate)

[mauialoha]

I think 340 is the Kahekili hwy? So not surprising some who live there get impatient with tourists who insist on driving that road.

[bus man]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

I still don't know the numbers of the 'highways' over here, not on Maui, maybe in another 10 years

Do love how tourists will use the numbers for the roads though, Kalanianiole is a friggin tough one to say.

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

I lived on Maui close to 20 years, but had to Google that Hwy #. lol All those years I never heard any roads referred to with numbers.

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

And that's a PERFECT example of mainland newcomers as opposed to locals or long time residents. I've been here 40 years, and I STILL don't know the numbers.

I plead guilty to being an ignorant tourist who doesn't know the local names for the roads. In my defense, though, my "residency" on Maui was measured in days, not years.

[Jungjohann]

Originally Posted by bus man

I plead guilty to being an ignorant tourist who doesn't know the local names for the roads. In my defense, though, my "residency" on Maui was measured in days, not years.

No, it's entirely my fault, I'm bad with numbers


However, as I type this, there is a whale about two miles off shore, on it's back, flapping both flippers simultaneously, and another, just a few yards away from it, just breached. Now, I'm not certain, but it's probably a good guess that they're working on multiplication

[bus man]

Originally Posted by Jungjohann

Someone saw ONE license plate, and someone ONCE saw something on a sign on highway 340, (I still don't know the numbers of the 'highways' over here, not on Maui, maybe in another 10 years), doesn't make it the norm.

On Oahu, on the Big Island, on Kauai, and on Maui, I have experienced rudeness, and I have experienced friendly aloha. On the Big Island and Kauai, the latter outweighed the former by 99 to 1 at the very least. And on Oahu, it's almost as high. But on Maui, it was a different story. I came away from my two visits there (especially the first one) with the feeling that rudeness and unfriendliness, while not predominant, was a decidedly larger factor there than anywhere else in Hawaii that I had been.

I don't know the reasons behind this. Maybe tourism has a bigger per-capita impact on Maui than on the other islands. Maybe Mauians (is that what they're called?) simply prefer to be left alone more than folks on the other islands. Maybe they dislike white people more so than they do elsewhere. Or maybe they're just ticked off that people like me insist on clogging up their little tiny back road with our big fancy rental cars, and then rub salt in the wound by referring to it as "Highway 340."

All I know is, I personally felt overall less welcomed on Maui than I have anywhere else in Hawaii.

[Sherwoody]

Originally Posted by bus man

I plead guilty to being an ignorant tourist who doesn't know the local names for the roads. In my defense, though, my "residency" on Maui was measured in days, not years.

Speaking for myself, I meant no negativity toward you bus man. Evidently every area has its way speaking about their roads. The CD Portland forum (my new home) has recently discussed this topic. It seems if you refer to a Highway with the word "the" before the numbers it pegs you as an outsider.

Correct: I-5

Incorrect: The I-5

[Sherwoody]

Originally Posted by bus man

On Oahu, on the Big Island, on Kauai, and on Maui, I have experienced rudeness, and I have experienced friendly aloha. On the Big Island and Kauai, the latter outweighed the former by 99 to 1 at the very least. And on Oahu, it's almost as high. But on Maui, it was a different story. I came away from my two visits there (especially the first one) with the feeling that rudeness and unfriendliness, while not predominant, was a decidedly larger factor there than anywhere else in Hawaii that I had been.

I don't know the reasons behind this. Maybe tourism has a bigger per-capita impact on Maui than on the other islands. Maybe Mauians (is that what they're called?) simply prefer to be left alone more than folks on the other islands. Maybe they dislike white people more so than they do elsewhere. Or maybe they're just ticked off that people like me insist on clogging up their little tiny back road with our big fancy rental cars, and then rub salt in the wound by referring to it as "Highway 340."

All I know is, I personally felt overall less welcomed on Maui than I have anywhere else in Hawaii.

There is twice as much "Aloha" in Oregon compared to Maui. I've been here quite a few years and it still amazes me.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by norman_w

Nobody in Hawaii calls highways by numbers.

Since it is generalized as Hawaii in the quoted message, H1, H2, and H3 are commonly referred to by number. Everything else by name including H201 - the Moanalua Freeway

[Jungjohann]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

There is twice as much "Aloha" in Oregon compared to Maui. I've been here quite a few years and it still amazes me.

And I see more rude behavior from tourists in a day than I see from 'locals' in a month. The entire tourist/transplant vs 'local' dilemma on Maui is an equation that is never going to work itself out, and it will only get worse as time goes by.

Try making a left hand turn on Kihei road. Kind of says it all.

[bus man]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

Speaking for myself, I meant no negativity toward you bus man. Evidently every area has its way speaking about their roads. The CD Portland forum (my new home) has recently discussed this topic. It seems if you refer to a Highway with the word "the" before the numbers it pegs you as an outsider.

Correct: I-5

Incorrect: The I-5

No offense taken. Where I live, most (though not all) of the numbered roads are identified by their number, not their name. Knowing the exceptions is one of the ways that one can be identified as a resident, instead of as a visitor.

I've always understood that adding the definite article before the route number was a California thing. I've heard it there all the time, yet I've never heard it anywhere else. Thus, the main north-south interstate on the West Coast is "the 5," yet the main north-south interstate on the East Coast is "95" or "I-95" or "Interstate 95" or a variety of other unprintable words, but NEVER "the 95." Go figure.

As for Hawaii, now I know that I'll need to learn and use the names instead of the numbers if I want to be able to successfully communicate with the residents.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by bus man

No offense taken. Where I live, most (though not all) of the numbered roads are identified by their number, not their name. Knowing the exceptions is one of the ways that one can be identified as a resident, instead of as a visitor.

As for Hawaii, now I know that I'll need to learn and use the names instead of the numbers if I want to be able to successfully communicate with the residents.

I really wouldn't worry about trying to sound like a resident when you are only here for a week or so. Although I guess if you are asking for directions, it would help to understand what you are being told.

Where I live on the Big Island, there's only one "highway" connecting us to either Hilo or Kona. So we don't call it Highway 11 or Mamalahola Highway, we just call it "the highway". When you are driving north of Kona, the road is officially the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway, but locals call it Queen K.

So it could take a while for you to really know all of the local terminology!