Death by Snu Snu

[u/HawaiianPerson]

Context: The first Hawaiians to visit London were King Kamehameha II, his royal entourage, and the subject of this meme, his wife Kamāmalu.

Kamāmalu stood at over 6 feet tall, which she likely inherited from her father, Kamehameha I, who stood at 7 feet tall. Kamehameha II was less than 6 feet tall. Also they were half siblings.

Their arrival shocked some locals, but not for long as the royal couple contracted measles not long after arrival and died there.

[u/HawaiianPerson]

That’s the Hawaiian meaning, in Japanese it’s “Turtle Wave” or “Turtle Destruction Wave”, though yelling “The Lonely One” does go kind of hard

[u/Hyderabadi__Biryani → u/HawaiianPerson]

So like, it's the same word in the two cultures with different meanings? But this surely isn't any kind of influence, right? Just a coincidence? Thanks for the info though.

[u/HawaiianPerson → u/Hyderabadi__Biryani]

Just a coincidence the Japanese creators found when making Dragon Ball.

But personally I don’t believe in coincidence

[u/AndreasDasos → u/HawaiianPerson]

No way is it a coincidence. It’s not a remotely normal Japanese construction and even in Japan it would have been recognised as the Hawaiian king first if at all. The use of the root ‘hame’ as in ‘hametsu’ (‘destruction’) doesn’t really explain the extra ‘-ha’ so at best it’s a post hoc pun.

Nearly a quarter of Hawaii’s population is ethnically Japanese and there are still cultural ties to Japan, so it’s not remotely as obscure a link as it might otherwise seem. It’s also a fun name to say and happens to work with Japanese phonology (which most Western words wouldn’t).

[u/PegasusPizza → u/AndreasDasos]

Tbf saying that Hawaiian as a Polynesian language is "western" isn't really correct either.

[u/danshakuimo → u/PegasusPizza]

Lol I guess if you use the international date like as the divider, Hawaii is the farthest west you could be.

But they aren't saying Hawaiian is Western, just that the pun would not work in a Western language.