The Hodaoa-Anibo Rabbit Hole: 5 Phrases
Kobina Wright
November 21, 2007
If you ever find yourself hopelessly trapped in the vortex of MySpace, mercilessly killing time by bravely exploring many of the infinite rabbit holes it has to offer, you may find my page there (or shall I say, a couple of them) and if you have been added as my friend, you, no doubt, will find daily bulletins announcing the Hodaoa-Anibo Word of the Day. Of course I have no way of knowing how many of my 140 friends are actually clicking on these super short bulletins, but I feel it’s the least I can offer during the week, and on weekdays as I’ve recently been taking a break from the time devouring internet on my precious weekends.
Hodaoa-Anibo can be a hard concept for many people to wrap their minds around. I mean really, it’s not everyday that you hear about a new language created; and even as fascinating as the gall of someone to sit down and create a whole entire language is, it may not be as inspiring to actually pick it up and learn it. Most of us learned in middle and high school, how new languages can be a bit intimidating.
Even waddling beyond the intimidation, what is its usefulness? For example, so what if you know Vulcan? If you have no one to speak Vulcan with, what is the point? The point is, there are others out there who do speak it, you just have to seek them out. Seek and ye shall find. There is also the possibility of you teaching Vulcan, just because there are crazy people who are out there who, just like you, believe Vulcan is so cool to know.
Another point, for those daring to march to rhythm of their own beatbox, it just might give you pleasure to learn and know something that is unknown or little known to the rest of the world. Perhaps your hippie gene kicks in and you dive head-first into the art for the art of it – adopting it as your own, incorporating it into what you do and changing your name to Sunshine…no Sun Block. Okay maybe I’m getting a little carried away – but I think you get my point.
Oh, let me not get all Alice-in-Wonderland on you with the possibilities of Hodaoa-Anibo. Just like I do with my daily MySpace posts my intention here, is only to make the language a little more accessible to novice speakers. In the spirit of enlightenment, I’m listing five Anibo phrases that will get you started, and allow you to fake people out to think you’re fluent in it. Oh, come on, you have to have fun with it. Right?
Phrases
English: Good morning.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Giye manlu.
(pronounced: GEE. yay MAHN.loo)
This is a two word greeting just as it is in Standard American English.
English: How are you?
Hodaoa-Anibo: Balpu?
(prounounced: BAHL.poo)
There is no exact translation in English for this word. It is simply a greeting that inquires about a person’s overall well being.
English: I am fine.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Balpa giye.
(pronounced: BAHL.pah GEE.yay)
This would be a standard response just like in English when we mindlessly tell people “I’m fine.” Of course in honest responses, the answers will vary.
English: You look good.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Pu sama giye.
(pronounced: poo SAH.mah GEE.yay)
So, by now I’m sure you’ve gathered that “pu” means “you” and “giye” means “good.”
English: I don’t understand.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Pa Henix ne loirtan.
(pronounced: pah shay.NIX nay loh.EER. tan)
This is probably the single most used sentence to learn in any language. In Hodaoa-Anibo the “H” is capitalized because it is actually a substitute for a symbol that is not found in the English alphabet. Just so you know, it looks a lot like the capital “H” except it has an additional horizontal line between the two vertical ones.
Now I know that these five little phrases won’t lead you to have a full conversation in the language on Hodaoa Saturdays, but it does give you somewhat of an idea of what the language looks and sounds like. It gives you a glimpse into how the grammar is constructed and it gives you a springboard to explore your own rabbit hole to fall through. Maybe one day you’ll even get the chance to read one of the “Word of the Day” bulletins one of your MySpace friends reposted.
Hodaoa-Anibo can be a hard concept for many people to wrap their minds around. I mean really, it’s not everyday that you hear about a new language created; and even as fascinating as the gall of someone to sit down and create a whole entire language is, it may not be as inspiring to actually pick it up and learn it. Most of us learned in middle and high school, how new languages can be a bit intimidating.
Even waddling beyond the intimidation, what is its usefulness? For example, so what if you know Vulcan? If you have no one to speak Vulcan with, what is the point? The point is, there are others out there who do speak it, you just have to seek them out. Seek and ye shall find. There is also the possibility of you teaching Vulcan, just because there are crazy people who are out there who, just like you, believe Vulcan is so cool to know.
Another point, for those daring to march to rhythm of their own beatbox, it just might give you pleasure to learn and know something that is unknown or little known to the rest of the world. Perhaps your hippie gene kicks in and you dive head-first into the art for the art of it – adopting it as your own, incorporating it into what you do and changing your name to Sunshine…no Sun Block. Okay maybe I’m getting a little carried away – but I think you get my point.
Oh, let me not get all Alice-in-Wonderland on you with the possibilities of Hodaoa-Anibo. Just like I do with my daily MySpace posts my intention here, is only to make the language a little more accessible to novice speakers. In the spirit of enlightenment, I’m listing five Anibo phrases that will get you started, and allow you to fake people out to think you’re fluent in it. Oh, come on, you have to have fun with it. Right?
Phrases
English: Good morning.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Giye manlu.
(pronounced: GEE. yay MAHN.loo)
This is a two word greeting just as it is in Standard American English.
English: How are you?
Hodaoa-Anibo: Balpu?
(prounounced: BAHL.poo)
There is no exact translation in English for this word. It is simply a greeting that inquires about a person’s overall well being.
English: I am fine.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Balpa giye.
(pronounced: BAHL.pah GEE.yay)
This would be a standard response just like in English when we mindlessly tell people “I’m fine.” Of course in honest responses, the answers will vary.
English: You look good.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Pu sama giye.
(pronounced: poo SAH.mah GEE.yay)
So, by now I’m sure you’ve gathered that “pu” means “you” and “giye” means “good.”
English: I don’t understand.
Hodaoa-Anibo: Pa Henix ne loirtan.
(pronounced: pah shay.NIX nay loh.EER. tan)
This is probably the single most used sentence to learn in any language. In Hodaoa-Anibo the “H” is capitalized because it is actually a substitute for a symbol that is not found in the English alphabet. Just so you know, it looks a lot like the capital “H” except it has an additional horizontal line between the two vertical ones.
Now I know that these five little phrases won’t lead you to have a full conversation in the language on Hodaoa Saturdays, but it does give you somewhat of an idea of what the language looks and sounds like. It gives you a glimpse into how the grammar is constructed and it gives you a springboard to explore your own rabbit hole to fall through. Maybe one day you’ll even get the chance to read one of the “Word of the Day” bulletins one of your MySpace friends reposted.
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