# Have you ever heard of Wawawai? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651 "2011-05-12T13:54:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/1 "2011-05-12T13:54:23Z")
I expect this thread to drop like a stone. But today was the second time in a year that I struck up a conversation with someone that has not only heard of it, but has been there. I’m just wondering what the odds are. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/2 "2011-05-12T15:03:33Z")
Why why why…no. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/3 "2011-05-12T15:05:16Z")
It is the slang term for a Hawaiian baby isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/4 "2011-05-12T15:12:09Z")
No, but I’ll gladly learn about whatever it means. I promise I won’t get all upset & call you “pretentious.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/5 "2011-05-12T15:13:56Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > It is the slang term for a Hawaiian baby isn’t it? It’s not Hawaiian, it’s probably Native American in origin. It rhymes with “Where are we?” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/6 "2011-05-12T15:18:04Z")
Is this from **The King’s Speech**? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/7 "2011-05-12T15:23:32Z")
No, it’s from Washington state. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/8 "2011-05-12T15:23:32Z")
Has Babwa Wawa been there? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/9 "2011-05-12T15:24:40Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Has Babwa Wawa been there? Vewy unwikewy. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/10 "2011-05-12T21:18:06Z")
I grew up in a suburb called Warrawee. Is it close to that? ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/11 "2011-05-12T21:28:16Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I expect this thread to drop like a stone. > > But today was the second time in a year that I struck up a conversation with someone that has not only heard of it, but has been there. I’m just wondering what the odds are. Not only do I know it, I am familiar enough to get sick of people pronouncing it incorrectly. It’s “wa-WA-wee.” (It’s a name from the Nez Perce, if I recall correctly.) The common mis-pronunciation which has become a bit too well-established is “wa-WHY.” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/12 "2011-05-12T21:34:09Z")
Is it near Walla Walla, Washington? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/13 "2011-05-12T21:36:00Z")
I don’t know where it is, but Ewar Woowar would. ---
**Author:** ![Mame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@Mame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mame)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/14 "2011-05-12T21:36:20Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > I grew up in a suburb called Warrawee. Is it close to that? And I grew up in Wahroonga! (Adjacent suburbs, for the non-Aussies) ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/15 "2011-05-12T21:41:58Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Is it near Walla Walla, Washington? Wawawai as a community is gone now. There’s a park on a portion the site (where there were once orchards); much of the town was inundated long ago (something like the 1960s-70s) when Lower Granite Dam was put in. It’s on the Snake River, about half an hour from Pullman, WA. There’s no direct route to Walla Walla from there, but the trip would take you about 2.5 hours by car on existing roads. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/16 "2011-05-13T02:13:56Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Wawawai as a community is gone now. There’s a park on a portion the site (where there were once orchards); much of the town was inundated long ago (something like the 1960s-70s) when Lower Granite Dam was put in. Really? This I did not know. There is a house there that is built out of a single piece of poured concrete (or more likely in layers). The front is all windows that catch the sun. But the sides, back, and roof are all buried in the hill. It’s sort of like a hobbit hole in that respect. It was built in the late 70s or early 80s. It was built for energy conservation. The park ranger lived there rent-free. As payment for the home, he’d have to manage the park and let strangers tour the home for something like 4 hours every Saturday. My brother lived there for maybe two or three years in the early 80s. I remember being really worried because my sister in law was very pregnant at the time, the nearest hospital was hours away (in Pullman?) and snow made the mountains inpassable. (She came out just fine.) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/17 "2011-05-13T02:31:11Z")
I’ve been to Wawa. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/18 "2011-05-13T02:32:59Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > **Have you ever heard of Wawawai?** I was very young, a kid at a wedding in fact. The DJ decided to try to get people to dance by scratching songs on a turntable. One was “Wawawai-Em-See-Ayyy”… ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/19 "2011-05-13T02:33:50Z")
That’s a Polynesian derivative of the word “crudite”. It means tapa root/coconut meat combo platter. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651/20 "2011-05-13T04:13:52Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Not only do I know it, I am familiar enough to get sick of people pronouncing it incorrectly. > > It’s “wa-WA-wee.” > > (It’s a name from the Nez Perce, if I recall correctly.) > > The common mis-pronunciation which has become a bit too well-established is “wa-WHY.” Well, now we know what the teacher in the Charlie Brown specials was talking about. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-heard-of-wawawai/581651.md?page=2)