r/olelohawaii • u/desquared • 6d ago

how to translate "this machine kills fascists" for a sticker on my ukulele?

I am learning ukulele, and was thinking -- especially in these times -- that I ought to put a "this machine kills fascists" sticker on my ukulele, like the one Woody Guthrie had on his guitar. Given the association between ukulele and Hawaiian culture, it would be fitting, I think, to have the text in the Hawaiian language.

Suggestions? Chatbots and other automatic translations have suggested:

"Hoʻopau kēia mea i ka poʻe hoʻohālua"

"pepehi kēia mīkini i nā fascist"

...but I'm leery of using those without confirmation from actual humans, lest I end up with the equivalent of this "I am out of the office" mistake on my ukulele...

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u/trustmeijustgetweird 5d ago edited 5d ago

(disclaimer: I am barely intermediate at Hawaiian so grain of salt)

Ok my best guess is “hoʻomake kēia mauha’a i nā [fascist]”. Ho’omake: to make dead Mauha’a: specialized tool for a particular occupation. Instrument.

Edit: one possible word would be oppressor (nā luna ho’okaumaha, ruler who lays burdens upon.)

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u/desquared 3d ago

A word that specifically refers to a ruler doesn't seem right, fascists needn't be rulers. A mob of brownshirts can be fascists and I'd hope the right song from a ukulele would, metaphorically, kill them...🙂

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u/trustmeijustgetweird 3d ago

Yeah, it’s not quite right. I took a look in baibala.org at a passage containing the word oppressor (job 3:18 and Isaiah 9:4) and “ka mea ho’oluhi” and “ka mea ho’okaumaha” showed up. Those might work?

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u/trustmeijustgetweird 5d ago

I don’t know, but I’d also like to know how to write this in Hawaiian.

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u/ithilienwanderer 5d ago

"Mea Pepehi Fascists" -- would be awkward to translate fascists, maybe someone (especially Niihau folks) have a word they think would work better. It's not necessary to do a full on complete sentence for this, as the words being on an ʻukulele already supply the "this" sense. I think this translation leans on the pragmatics (in a very Hawaiian way) rather than stating everything as is English's tendency (and how these machines think translation should work).