Sunday, May 29, 2011

CHAMORRO EXPRESSIONS : LAI

LAI

"Lai," so it is believed, is the shortened, slang version of "låhe."

"Låhe" means "man," "male," or "son."

"Håfa, lai!" would thus be the equivalent of  "Hey, man!"

So it's somewhat funny to hear someone say "Håfa, lai!" to a woman.

But it does happen.

There is a second meaning to "lai."  It can also mean "law."  That's because we got it from the Spanish word for "law," which is "ley."

But the context of the conversation will help you determine whether "lai" means "law" or the slang form of "man."

No comments:

Post a Comment