Definition of ‘Safety Cone’ Changed to ‘Strobiloid’ for Maui, Rest of Hawaii

Buried in a broad year-end budget amendment, the State of Hawaii this week changed what officials and residents should call the rubber safety cones found all over the place on Maui and elsewhere on the islands.

The budget amendment process included a change to the state’s Workforce Hawaii Opportunity and Justice (WHOA-J) section to order the use of the term “traffic-involved strobiloid” wherever in the past the phrase “safety cone” was used.

“In response to complaints about our constant use of ‘safety cone,’ state leaders wanted to go with something more neutral, since not all orange rubber cones are for safety alone,” said Brandon Palama, senior director of inclusivity for the state transportation department. “They considered using ‘conoid,’ but it too closely resembled the word ‘cone’ so that was right out.”

Palama said most of the complaints were registered by visitors from the mainland’s Pacific Northwest, with a small amount from Connecticut.

The word-change concept came from the federal government’s recent efforts to sneak in some language changes in its Continuing Resolution to fund itself through March. A word change suggested, but ultimately rejected by Congress, was to use “court-involved individual” instead of “suspect” or “prisoner.”

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Some Maui leaders supported local efforts to change names historically used to identify things.

“For instance, if you Google ‘OGG speed bumps,’ all kinds of ridiculous claims pop up,” said Karen Ingleworth of Wailea, founder of the Maui Alliance for Inclusivity organization. “We could start using something like ‘unavoidable airport road impediments’ or ‘speed-reducing jolt mounds’ instead.”

Another Maui word that should be considered for amending, according to Ingleworth, is “roundabout.”

“For whatever reason, the roundabouts around here have gotten a bad rap,” she said. “We should fix that before they add two more new roundabouts in Kihei and misinformation grows.”

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