In the travelogue Baldwin was using “Big Island” like a name. Just like Long Island. You just can’t say “I’m heading over to Big Island for the weekend.” It sounds so awful. It needs that article badly.
Caps to me imply primary nouns. When I talk about it I almost never use it in that way. Now do I use it in the sense of a nickname except rarely. No more often then I call Oahu “The Gatherine Place.” It’s just a description.
I certainly can’t claim authority though. Except for whatever I get for being born and raised there. Educated authorities however often seem to have their own ideas.
Whose speech? Alec Baldwin or the people that the guy in the letter to the editor that don Jaime read was complaining about? I’m sorry but it seems pretty obvious to me when a person is using those words as a name or as a description. It’s in their emphasis. With Baldwin it was obvious that he was using it as a name as well as leaving out the critical article.
Either way if you say you’re “going to Big Island” it’ll be known that you ain’t from there. It’s just the big island. I suppose you could say it as the nickname “The Big Island” but I never use it like that in conversation unless I’m specifically talking about the islands nicknames. It’s just the big island, like the brown chest or the red truck. Why? Because that’s what it is.
Its name is Hawaii. Place so nice they named it thrice. Hawaii, Hawaii Co., Hawaii
While I have no desire to argue correctness, it really is discordant to hear someone refer to the island of Hawai’i as “Big Island” (or “big island”, if you prefer). Almost like putting a “The” in front of a place that doesn’t generally have one (“The Oklahoma City” or “The Boston”, for instance).
It just barely merits a post and continues a distraction, but I felt I had to put in my $0.02.
“Would a lawyer, constitutional or otherwise, care to weigh in on the phrase concerned?”
As far as I know, Art. IV, Section 4 hasn’t seen any action in the Supreme Court in nearly a century. Any action, period. The last time I remember hearing about it was when I was studying for the bar.
They told us it’s never tested, never used and is always a wrong answer, so don’t pick it on the multiple choice, ever. I’ll look at the old cases when I get to work tomorrow, though.
:rolleyes:
Most people in Hawaii call it “the Big Island”.
But we are just as likely to say we’re flying to Kohala, Hilo or Kona without being misunderstood.
None. Well, except for little uninhabited ones off the coast.
Also concerning the treadjack. If I were having a party and their was a girl standing by the bathroom I would say “It’s over there by that girl.” Now if Marlo Thomas happened to drop by and she was standing by the bathroom I’d say “It’s over there by That Girl.” And they’d sound different. Not by much but definately different.
I’m still having a hard time hearing how K and T could be similar though. T and D I can do but not T and K.
Anyway, more concern about the court decision and more people working themselves up. I think that those people who have been crying out victimhood will use it as a further attempt to radicalize those who identify themselves as Hawaiian. I bet a few of those would even like to take it to violence. Meaning protests where windows and things are broken at government buildings or other targets considered White.
I may have confused some of you about the old man’s complaint. He hated the term “the Big Island.” He preferred the island be called by its name, “Hawaii.” Baldwin definitely misspoke if he omitted the “the” and would likely send the old man into a heart attack.
Wikipedia states that there was a difference in dialects for the unvoiced stop, but it’s backwards of Fern’s understanding - /t/ is most common at the Kauai end of the chain, and /k/ dominated at the Hawaii end, where Kamehameha was from.
I’m sorry, I think I’ve messed the thread up mentioning all that.
By the same token, West Virginia should be returned to Virginia. The Constitution was blatently violated by forming a new state in Virginia. Abraham Lincoln recognized the West Virginian separatists as the legal authority in Virginia and they (speaking for Virginia) gave permission to for West Virginia which the separatists then controlled.
I know there are sites with a lot more detail but basically it looked like this.
Virginia seceeds
A group of people in Wheeling, Vir. don’t want to seceed so they form their own government claiming to represent Virginia (Wheeling Convention)
They conduct a vote in the western counties and say that those voters want their own state
They write a constitution and petition for statehood
Since Virginia is “in rebellion”, Lincoln accepts the claim the the Wheeling Convention is the true government of Virginia thereby avoiding Constitutional issues
West Virginia is formed withen the boundaries of Virginia