Pahoa; cool small town contest

[SBH]

That's hilarious Kelena, so true. Reminds me of when John Lennon was asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world. Lennon replied, Ringo isn't even the best drummer in the Beatles!

Pahoa isn't even the coolest town on the Big Island, or the entire state of Hawaii.

Coolest town in America? That's hilarious!

[kalakoa]

quote:

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Hmmm... when did Pahoa become a "Town"?

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Never; there is only one incorporated city in all of Hawaii.

As much as I hate to suggest "more government", allowing these communities to form townships would probably be a big step in the right direction.

Pahoa could start with a bond measure for a sewer system.

HPP would have to move fast to make sure they got the name "Paradise, HI" from USPS...

[EightFingers]

Pahoa has potential, I'm just not seeing anything being done for the boardwalk area. I could see it being made into something that screams "Old(e) Hawaii, but it sure isn't happening now.
Maybe my vote for Pahoa will help in some small way.....

[bamaboy]

Pahoa is a dump and a fire trap just waiting to happen. Its been said that the only way to remodel pahoa town is to set a match to it.

[Delta9r]

Regarding the Pahoa Daggers:

Pahoa means dagger in Hawaiian and is a reference to the old days when Pahoa was a logging mill town which supplied a great many Ohi'a railroad ties to the expanding rail lines on the mainland.
http://historicpahoa.com/history/railroad/

If you look behind Luquins, towards Kalapana, you'll see the old railroad turntable.

As for the vote, sorry, any town with as many big money franchises as Pahoa has is definitely not "cool" in my book.

"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."

[Kelena]

Yes I know, or at least have been informed, that Pahoa means "dagger" and that wood was supplied for railroad ties. Still wondering what railroad ties have to do with daggers. Did Pahoa also make spikes for railroad beds and then did those spikes look like daggers and then was the town named after those railroad spikes? Also, really wondering if "Pahoa" actually means dagger. Welcome to Pahoa -- have a dagger? Welcome to Pahoa -- home of an unusual number of small, sharp, easily concealable stabbing implements? Welcome to Pahoa -- you've seen the Jagger museum now see our dagger museum? Welcome to Pahoa --- Let's scrap! Knife fight on Saturday!

So many daggers, so little time.

[Delta9r]

Old Hawaiians called canoe carving "Kalai Wa'a," or "Canoe Cutting." Although daggers weren't used to carve canoes, daggers are used to "Cut." Via extrapolation we arrive at the "Cutting" nature of the Pahoa area as pertains to the aforementioned milling operations, ergo the name "Pahoa."

"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."

[Carey]

Actually, as Pahoa is normally NOT spelled with a macron over the 1st a, it is NOT the translation for short dagger, but pahoa is pa(common prefix for 'with the nature or quality of')hoa(friend, associate, fellow, companion)...(although hoa can also mean tie, bind, strike/club, utilizing the prefix 'pa' would normally suggest the primary meaning...)

It is interesting that Pahoa High, 'home of the daggers' omits the macron, so is not a correct use of the translation....link to their webiste:
http://pahoahis.org/

added: if you are not sure how you say the towns name...when you say it, if both a's sound the same, you are NOT saying short dagger....if you normally stress the first a, you are...