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{{short description|1981 book on Hawaiian Pidgin}}
{{italic title}}

'''''Pidgin to Da Max''''' (full title: '''''Peppo's Pidgin to Da Max''''') is a [[humor]]ous [[Illustration|illustrated]] [[dictionary]] of [[Hawaiian Pidgin]] words and phrases, published in December 1981, by Douglas Simonson, Pat Sasaki, and Ken Sakata.<ref>{{cite news |last=Don|first=Chapman|date=December 15, 1981|title=Dis and Dot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/263005339/|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref>  With the definitions of most of the words and phrases also given in Pidgin, the book is not clearly intended to be used as a Pidgin-English dictionary, although a reader unfamiliar with the dialect would likely understand most of the entries from context and the illustrations.  Rather, the book is intended to be a humorous introspective for Hawaii residents about the language many of them speak on a day-to-day basis.<ref>{{cite news |last=Steve|first=Spence|date=December 15, 1981|title=PIDGIN TO DA MAX|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/275509610/|work=The Honolulu Star-Bulletin|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|access-date=March 3, 2020|quote=What's the hottest-selling book these days in Hawaii? .... It's a 112-page softcover humor book on local pidgin accompanied by more than 100 comic-type illustrations demonstrating common usage situations.}}</ref>  As such, it is a relatively popular book in Hawaii, and sold 25,000 copies in its first month in print.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025}}

By March 1982, it had sold 50,000 copies.<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Rear|first=Bill|date=March 10, 1982|title='Pidgin to da Max' is one winnah|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/555696906/|work=Hawaii Tribune-Herald|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref>

There is an additional volume, titled ''Pidgin to Da Max: Hana Hou'', which follows the first book.

As an example of an entry for which the dictionary may be of little help to outsiders, consider the definition of the word [[da kine]]:
:'''[[Da kine]]''' (''da KINE'') Da kine is the keystone of pidgin. You can use it anywhere, anytime, anyhow. Very convenient. What would we do without DA KINE? "Ey, I no can da kine if you no like da kine, too!"
The dictionary then turns around and uses "da kine" (often a notoriously difficult word for non-Pidgin speakers to understand) in some of the definitions of other words.
:'''[[Haole]]''' is another word covered in the book.<ref name="Honolulu Civil Beat 2020">{{cite web | title=Denby Fawcett: Can A White Person Ever Be 'Local' In Hawaii? | website=Honolulu Civil Beat | date=4 February 2020 | url=https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/02/denby-fawcett-can-a-white-person-ever-be-local-in-hawaii/ | access-date=28 February 2020}}</ref>

The authors of ''Pidgin to Da Max'' are not originally from Hawaii, and Simonson admits to not speaking Pidgin all that well.

In 1983 there was a television show by the same name, based on the book.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title='Pidgin to da Max' Makes It to Television|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/272366540/|work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|date=November 20, 1983|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bess Press]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Hawaiian Pidgin]]
[[Category:English bilingual dictionaries]]