Spread laughter and positive energy with wordplay! Dictomancy - Everyday Wordplay is a Wednesday blog series that features rare, bizarre, and absurd words and their meanings. Work one of these words into your day and spark some laughter and curiosity!
Akualele - ak*ua*le*le n [Haw akua spirit + lele flying, jumping] HI A fireball or meteor. 1938 Reinecke Hawaiian Loanwords, Akualele . . .A will-o-the-wisp, or fireball. (Such a phenomenon is regarded as supernatural by many.) 1967 DARE Tape HI4, That [=kawila, a black wood] can protect your home from anything. Like this akualele [‘aku’lele], they can fly it . . . They make it fly . .through the air . .to kill his enemy . . . When he fly it, it looks like a fireball.
“You expected wizards NOT to know every word for ‘fireball?’ We’ve been throwing akualeles around since before you were born.”
“In today’s news, a factory explosion sent an akualele a hundred feet into the air.”
“It’s ironic that akualele has the sound, ‘aqua’ in it.”
Please share and comment on today’s Dictomancy and feel free to post your uses for the words in a positive, lighthearted way. Audience participation makes Everyday Wordplay hilarious!
Works Cited
Cassidy, Frederic G. Chief Editor. Dictionary Of American Regional English. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985. Print