Talk:Da kine

Latest comment: 6 years ago by 171.101.33.182 in topic huh?

huh? edit

doesnt da kine mean the best in hawaii?

Nope. Kukini 23:05, 14 November 2006 (UTC)Reply
A better answer would be "Yes" sometimes ;-)

I think it would great to have some examples of usage, but I will leave that to native speakers. An audio recording wouldn't be a bad idea either. CyborgTosser (Only half the battle) 07:18, 9 September 2005 (UTC)Reply

As long as I've heard the expression the last 15 years or so it meant good kindbud or marijuana. I'm told that kindbud when smoked is very smooth and easy on the lungs with a good aroma and flavor. Da Kine or "the kind" is a reference to this. Used in context one person might say to another "so, you got da kine" when they are trying to find out of the holder has good bud or dirt weed.

Also seems a little odd that Dog Chapman would name his bail bond company after a term which many people associate with drug use and abuse. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bigmac211 (talkcontribs)

In the above "drug" context you are seeing "da kine" used in its best of context. It is like saying something is "cadillac" or putting on the "ritz".

Can someone offer a few example sentences? Also, am I correct in thinking that it's pronoounced like kind without the d? I see it around town in California and thought it was pronounced kee-nay.

It's one syllable. People who say kee-nay are exhibiting hyperforeignism. Dont feel bad though, I was doing it too until about ten minutes ago. Haplolology Talk/Contributions 15:05, 20 July 2007 (UTC)Reply


It's just a word that can be used at any point of time for any meaning if you cant think of the real word. It dosn't have anything to do with drugs. For example, That kid at da kine was swinging real high on the swing set. Or, This vanilla da kine is so cold that it gave me abrain freez when I ate it. Plus, me having a Hawiian friand, and spending so much time with him, I have picked up some of his lingo and now I speek da kine. This is a little joke of theirs, If you don't know da kine, then you don't know dakine........my xbox live tag is Overblownslayer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.174.196.75 (talk) 06:37, 17 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

The second person is right. I grew up in Hawaii and da kine means anything, or nothing, It is a nonsense word. And it is pronounced like it sounds "daaa kine". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 171.101.33.182 (talk) 00:26, 29 November 2017 (UTC)Reply

German? edit

These Germans would ask for things with specificity asking for "das eine" or "the one" or "that one": This does not make much sense. "that one" translates to "das da" ("that there") in German, not "das eine" (it is usually not a good idea to translate words individually and then string them together ). And while I find the cliche of Germans being particularly "specific" about things quite amusing, I am not sure what the author is implying. Maybe that if you need -say- a knife and you are not German, you can only ask for a tool, or for a "thing" (and repeat your request ad nauseam until by chance or process of elimination you finally get what you want )?! 75.35.113.217 (talk)== —Preceding comment was added at 06:21, 6 March 2008 (UTC)Reply

Yeah, the part about possible German origin has several problems. First, it shows an ignorance of German. "Das eine" is not German as it's actually spoken; more something from a broken Babelfish session. And there's no citation. I plan to deleted this part unless someone comes up with some facts to support it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 (talk) 20:56, 28 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Agree the German theory does not have any evidence, so should be removed. Is it really a "word", or just an "expression" conisisting of two words which has a meaning apart from each word by itself? Especially since "Da" and "Kine" appear so often in Pidgin, e.g. "All Kine" to mean "large variety" vs. "Choke" meaning "large number". Also I see often "new kine" or "diffren kine". I suppose the case for one word is that it sometimes appears concatenated, "dakine". How about an IPA pronunciation? And perhaps links to http://www.dakinedictionary.com and the sports equipment maker (surf boards, etc.) http://www.dakine.com ? W Nowicki (talk) 20:42, 12 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Another issue with the German origin is that I can't really find any evidence that there was much German immigration to the islands. You would have to have a fairly significant community of immigrants to impact a slang language. Many other countries had a large group come to work the sugar plantations, I bet you can find many examples of words in Hawaiian creole that have come from these languages. From the wikipedia article on Hawaii:

Some locals speak Hawaii Creole English (HCE), often called "pidgin". The lexicon of HCE derives mainly from English but also has words from Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Ilocano and Tagalog from the Philippines and Portuguese.

This makes sense because those were the major immigrant groups coming to Hawaii. Below I copied a quick although not definitive article on immigration to Hawaii, it is good enough to make my case on immigration.

I copied this from the website. http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/about/hawaii_immigrants.shtml It doesn't really mention Germans. I would be more likely to believe that it was from a Portuguese phrase because you still see a strong influence from this European group. Of course any of the Asian groups that came to the islands would have had a more likely influence on the language. Is "da kine" a contraction of an Asian phrase?

Prior to 1876, Hawaiians constituted 80% of the sugar workforce. Where there would always be Hawaiians on the sugar plantations, after 1880 their numbers dwindled in comparison to imported laborers.

Chinese (1852 - 1897) Primarily bachelors intending to return to China, those men who stayed usually left the plantations after finishing their contracts. They often started families by marrying Hawaiian women. 46,000 came over these years.

Portuguese (1878 - 1913) Recruited as families, the Portuguese came to Hawaii with every intention of staying. Although starting as field workers, they often moved into Luna positions. 17,500 came during these years.

Puerto Ricans (1878 - 1913) Recruited as families, Puerto Ricans emigrated to Hawaii expecting to establish a new community. They traveled to Hawaii via a long railroad ride across the U.S. from New Orleans to California. 5,200 came during these years.

Japanese (1885 - 1924) Originally, single men dominated this group. But after women emigrated as picture brides, families became more common. As the largest immigrant group, their cultural influence is seen throughout the plantation community. 180,000 came over these years.

Okinawans (1900 - 1924) Okinawa was annexed by Japan in 1879. First counted as part of the Japanese immigration, Okinawans are a distinct cultural group whose interactions with the 'Naichi' constitute a complex history.

Koreans (1903 - 1905) Over 40% of Korean immigrants were Christians seeking religious freedom and a western way of life in Hawaii. Others had political motives and sought to establish an overseas base for the Korean nationalist struggle. 7,000 Koreans came during these years.

Filipinos (1906 - 1946) The first immigrants were mostly single men. Sporadic immigration by Filipino women created small family communities that embraced the large bachelor community and developed a new extended kinship network.

Hawaii's Plantation Village and Museum
At Waipahu Cultural Garden Park
Waipahu, Hawaii

(808) 677-0110; [hawaiiplantationvillage.org]

209.168.243.108 10:14, May 7, 2010

Right, there was a small group of Germans brought in to Kauaʻi, see Paul Isenberg for example. I removed it. Much more likely from the fact that neither Hawaiian nor most Asian languages have the English "th" sound, and do not end syllables with consonants. W Nowicki (talk) 20:54, 3 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

Dog The Bounty Hunter edit

There are two references to Da Kine Bail Bonds in a single section. THis needs to be cleaned up. 72.77.119.43 (talk) 10:52, 3 December 2010 (UTC)Reply

Original Research edit

"It also happens to be one of the most frustratingly difficult aspects of Pidgin for non-native speakers to understand. While reports that native speakers of Pidgin can be unforgiving of amateurs may be exaggerated, some Hawaiians get a certain pleasure from using the word to non-native speakers." [citation needed] Although I think this falls under WP:OR and should be removed. Jhunt47 (talk) 01:05, 30 December 2010 (UTC)Reply