The kids don't understand "bum-bye"

My mother called out to my kids -- "Eh, stop jumping on the bed, bum-bye you katonk your head."

This is a sentence that I grew up with. And you know what, I distinctly remember jumping on my parents' bed while both of them were out of the room because I knew that I would get that warning yelled at me. I also knew that I had jumped on their bed countless times without katonking my head. I knew what I was doing. And yet, I remember the day that I did fall. And I wish I could say that I remember my mother coming in and hugging me and kissing my boo-boo away. All I really can remember is her saying, "See. I tole you that you would katonk your head."

I figure that most people can relate to this sentence, even if I didn't explain what katonk or bum-bye means. But I suppose that I might translate a little.

I don't know if "katonk" is meant to be an onomatopoeia but I think it must be. I don't even know if it has its roots in Tagalog, Ilocano, Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Portugese, or just plain old pidgin English -- but I always took it to be the sound of my head hitting the floor. It also can be used as an active verb. As in the sentence, "I'm gonna katonk your head if you don't knock it off." Or the one that was often heard around my house growing up, "I'm gonna katonk your heads together if you don't knock it off." So it might also be the sound of two heads being knocked together by an irate mother. I don't know what that sounds like, really. I don't think she ever hit our heads together, but if she did, she knocked them together so hard that I don't remember.

"Bum-bye" is the word I think probably needs more explanation. My father said that it was the corruption of the phrase, "by and by," which does seem to ring true to me. I mean, who ever says that? There is an old Hawaiian song that suggested, "bum-bye, bum-bye, means 'later on' okay..." I think that was not completely accurate. Sure I've heard it used that way as in, "First we go Sam's Club, bum-bye we go Longs."

But in the context of how it was used all my life, I think the more accurate translation is, "a possible consequence may be..." Just look at the sentence my mother shouted at my kids today. "(Hey), stop jumping on the bed, (a possible consequence may be) you (loudly hitting your)head (on the floor)."

The reason I wrote this explanation was because there is a little bit of a culture shock going on here between my mother and my kids. We all speak English here. My mother has lived in this country for 50 years and is a proud citizen of the USA. Having spent those 50 years in Hawaii, where the English language got mixed in with dozens of other languages, some of the English that she speaks is a little different from here.

My dad used to always tell about when he joined the Army and got stationed in Arkansas. After his commanding officer had spoken to him, the CO turned to a friend of my dad's and asked, "What language is he speaking?" My dad's pidgin accent was so strong, you could barely hear the English in the Pidgin English. And my mom probably has spent most of her life learning her English from that man. But my dad's time in the service cleaned up his accent really well. He could always turn it on and off like a spigot.

When my mom scolded my kids today, I didn't even think that what she said needed explanation. I understood it to my core. That was until my husband piped up and said, "The kids don't understand 'bum-bye.'" That was an eye-opener. I kind of think I only channel my Waipahu roots when I'm really irate or PMSing. It is then that the tita buried deep inside me erupts out of my mouth.

A stern warning. "Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Or if Tita Tess were to say it, "Eh, knock it off! Bum-bye I katonk your head."