
(AP) — A police department is using Hawaiʻi’s creole language and some humor to get motorists to slow down. The Maui Police Department is using Hawaiʻi Pidgin in signs like, “Eh slow down. No drive like one clown.” Hawaiʻi News Now reports that so far this year, Maui police have pulled over nearly 5,000 people for speeding. That’s a 40% increase from the year before. Pidgin is a mix of the grammar and words from languages spoken by Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Puerto Rican and other workers who toiled in Hawaiʻi’s sugar plantations. Maui resident Wade Kitagawa thinks the messages will work.
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