At Least Voices Can't Be Stinky

It's been the hot topic of local news in Hawaii: "let's make sum kine law weah we kick da kine stink buggahs off da bus". In common terms, the Honolulu City Council is attempting to create a law slapping potent bus riders with a fine or jail time. However impractical or improbable, you have to admit that it's a "fresh" concept.

This was Howard’s most recent blog topic (titled “Stinky bus rider bill is delayed”), as well as many other local blogs I came upon. One aspect of the funky, future law that Howard picked up on, compared to other bloggers, is the humorous side. His natural comedic voice emerges, especially while discussing this topic. A combination of local vocabulary, colloquial flow, and rhetorical questions create Howard’s unique blogging voice.

In one paragraph especially redolent of the local culture (hah!), Howard describes a scenario that the “stink law” presents:

Can you imagine the arguments if an officer (sweating profusely under his or her heavy uniform) tries to charge a conspicuously unbathed passenger while some tutu across the aisle is twitching noses for five rows in either direction with her industrial strength perfume?

In fact, I can imagine! Thanks, Howard, for the riveting image of smelly people on the bus. But in all seriousness, the reason that I understand and enjoy this paragraph-long sentence is the way Howard describes the situation. His informal comment about the sticky po-po made me chuckle at the likely irony. A “tutu” (which means grandma in Hawaiian), not a “grandmother”, is scrunching her nose, which hints toward a local grandma (stereotypically loud, blunt, and fluent in pidgin) saying "Eh, you stink you know". Her perfume is INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH (that must be more than maximum!) which presents another irony because (what if) her perfume is not an appealing scent?! Howard easily uses local humor in an casual way to display his voice.

He also uses one-sentence transitions to move between paragraphs.

In a post called “Council on Revenues: ‘Look out below!’”, Howard opens with a crafty metaphor when:

The dark wizards of the Council on Revenues [met], murmuring incantations and waving their hands over a crystal ball while dry ice filled the room…

His next paragraph says (in italics, no less):

“Economo confundis!”

(And that’s it.) Besides a clever Latin phrase inferring that a magical spell was cast on the governor, this sentence serves as a transition from the council meeting to revenue forecasts. Howard effectively uses this as both a change in topic and a presentation of his voice (not to mention a shout out to all Harry Potter fans). It’s just another way his voice emerges through the blog and out your computer speakers.

In my opinion, Howard’s take on current events through a local, comical voice makes these (sometimes) uninspiring issues relevant and fun to read about. It’s the spoonful of sugar to my medicine. And as the goal of my blog is to create “an optimistic on Hawaii’s economy,” I am inspired by Howard’s voice and blog.

Shoots cuz, we go.