Linguistics: “Cho-po” or “Cho-poo?”

A guide for the rest of us!

Ain’t it the most wonderful thing in the entire world to have our boys back in the water? Professional surfing! Days that were, just last week, filled with dark depression now shine. My best friends Ron, Joe, Marty, Pete, the Waz and Kaipo!

Oh how their voices fill me with joy. How their voices chase my demons back to the recesses of my mind.

They are all at “The End of the Road” in “Tahiti” which is pronounced “taHIti” by Americans and TAhiti by Kaipo and Australians. They are at Teahupo’o.

But what does Teahupo’o mean? Either “heap pile” or “place of crushed skulls” or “pile of heads” I think.

But how is it supposed to be pronounced?

Cho-po.

Why then do Ron, Joe, Marty, Pete and the Waz say, “Cho-poo?” Why then does only Kaipo get it right?

Linguists, the scientific study of language and my graduate degree, tells us that Kaipo is Hawaiian and does everything right.

Cho-po.

Cho-po.

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woof
woof
9 years ago

i don’t know how you drop in on yourself but i bet it feels shit

KNOBBER
KNOBBER
9 years ago

Just now, Joe pronounced it Cho Po. He sounded very insecure and uncomfortable saying it, but you are single handedly affecting these guys! They are listening and they are afraid.

Neal Kearney
Neal Kearney
9 years ago

Thank you Twillsy, that was a ridiculous comment and needed to be addressed. You beat me to it!

Neal Kearney
Neal Kearney
9 years ago

Kaipo is extremely well spoken and kind. I was actually thinking about this yesterday too. Couldn’t they have a briefing to sort the pronunciation stuff out? For some reason it pisses me off that they can’t say AHdriano, instead of Adriano. Grrrrr

Lemon Next to the Pie
Lemon Next to the Pie
9 years ago

Chopes. Problem solved.

Next.

nyc surfing golden boy
nyc surfing golden boy
9 years ago

when captain cook sailed throughout the south pacific he noted that the Tahitian women were the most beautiful and the samoans the ugliest. i agree.

belchfire
belchfire
9 years ago

cook never got near samoa. he almost got eaten in the friendly islands though (tonga)

Ghostface Braddah
Ghostface Braddah
9 years ago
Reply to  belchfire

He did get eaten in Hawaii. Mahalo!

belchfire
belchfire
9 years ago

True dat!!! there is a lesson in that for all of us don’t you think?

longtom
longtom
9 years ago

No apostrophe Chas….no fucking apostrophe…this is the great schism. Carroll started it. Everyone just fell in line.

I went to the mayor, the little wooden house and knocked on her door. She wrote it down for me.

Teahupoo. no apostrophe.

Tibbles
Tibbles
9 years ago

I’m not a language expert so I always leave it to Batman https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

Karl Von Fanningstadt
Karl Von Fanningstadt
9 years ago

Result from searching “cho po” in Google Images: https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
The reef is dangerous.

Lemon Next to the Pie
Lemon Next to the Pie
9 years ago

“I’ll have the Minor Threat t-shirt, the Raymond Pettibon knockoff and….. the baby doll that says ‘wham bam thank you Ma’am’. They both say that? No, not that one then, the one with the exposed brains.”

Ashton's Yellow Hat
Ashton's Yellow Hat
9 years ago

Kaipo’s blatant, egotistic annunciation habit is equivalent to the 2nd grade english teacher who likes to remind you that “You CAN go to the restroom, but…”


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