Haole

Haole (, ; ) is a Hawaiian term for individuals who are not native Hawaiian, and is applied to people primarily of white European ancestry.

==Background== The origins of the word predate the 1778 arrival of Captain James Cook, as recorded in several chants stemming from that time. The term was generally given to people of European descent; however, as more distinct terms began to be applied to individual European cultures and other non-European nations, the word haole began to refer mostly to Americans, including American Blacks (who were referred to as haole ʻele ʻele, i.e., "black haole"). Its connotations range from positive, neutral, and descriptive to invective, depending on the context in which it is used. Of the Polynesian race, Robert Louis Stevenson said: "God's best—at least God's sweetest works" and then wrote of the "beastly haoles". In correspondence to a friend, he stated, "What is a haole? You are one; and so, I am sorry to say, am I".