WTF is a Haolie?

 In my books, Haolie is a local term for werewolf-as in “howlie.”

It is Hawaiian word/slang for a non-local and, specifically, a white-colored person or someone of European descent.

This is also an example of some real old non-surf localism, but the sentiment can also be found in other cultures. In  Japanese, there is a separate Kanji for outsiders.

The Ring of Fire, regardless of color, is localist and protective. I am down with local pride and rules, but people have to be open about them. Tourists are not going to know they stumbled onto a local beach or any of the other local-known rules.

Some of my family moved to Hawaii in the 1970s and my grandparents are still buried there. They felt comfortable enough in Hawaiian culture to stay.

For others, it gets to be too much. If you are a tourist, respect the culture and ask questions or expect to get checked.

Yes, Haolie is meant to be colorist and xenophobic in many contexts but it is hard-wired in a lot of people (not just native Hawaiians opposing colonist history) as a way to describe a non-Islander and that does spill out into parts of Hawaiian surf culture.

Either way, I don’t take the term personally.