Oh my god! As I was taking a close look at the lyrics, I realised the two lines below:
I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Floatin' down the bay on a crocodile
I wonder if in the US, or Hawaii, crocodiles are also used as a slang to describe flamboyant playboys.
I noticed this because this is what Malays and Peranakans use to describe lascivious guys - you know, the buaya.
In my Hokkien tongue, crocodile is used to describe people with thick hide and are shameless.
Invitation open to all who want to tell me the significance of word "crocodile" in their culture?
5 comments:
There is a very disappointing and simple answer.
Look no further than the fact that "crocodile" rhymes with "Oahu isle".
Simple times, no more than that...
probligo - are you serious?
We have been anal-lysing Shakespeare and all the writers in vain!
I mean, why not:
I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Filing down his nails with a bastard file
or
I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Chopping down a tree with a small blunt file
or
I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Reading his math notes in a big black file
or
I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Stacking up the logs in a little pile
or
I saw a boy on Oahu isle
Lying on his back with a pedophile
See, the possibility are endless. Yet the writer chose crocodile!
...no, never mind...
There are too many "-phile" words. Seriously, except for "crocodile tears" they don't figure into American lingo much. There might be some good Southernisms about alligators though, but I don't know - I've only been in gator country once.
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