Every 10 or 15 years somebody revives the argument about who started the shaka sign. Letters to the editor from shaka historians are once again popping up. It's time again to tell the true story of Hawai'i's most popular gesture: a fist with thumb and little finger extended.

There are so many versions of who started the shaka sign that, in my opinion, it started spontaneously in several different places for similar reasons. One thing for sure, Lippy Espinda didn't originate the shaka sign, he popularized it.

The best authenticated story about who started the shaka sign comes from La'ie where, in 1985, 550 people signed a petition giving credit to Hamana Kalili, a big man on La'ie beach and in the Mormon church during the 1920s and 1930s. Kalili was a folk hero — fisherman, tug of war champion and hukilau organizer of the community.

Nobody remembers how he lost the fingers on his right hand, whether a shark bit them off or his hand got stuck in a sugar mill roller. Anyway, all that remained was his thumb and little finger.

I got the real skinny in 1985 from Lucy Marasco, no spring chicken, the granddaughter of Pele Kaio, who worked with Kalili at Kahuku Plantation. There was also Marilyn Fonoimoana, a schoolteacher and one of Hamana's strongest boosters. They explained that he sometimes led the service in the Mormon church.

"As a little girl, I remember his right hand," said Marilyn. "Three fingers were cut off. He would lift his arms and urge the congregation to rise. Everybody knew what he would do when we all stood up. He would smile and say, 'Right on,' with his hand in the air."

The people of La'ie took their petition to Mayor Frank Fasi, who had borrowed the shaka sign for his campaign posters. But he wasn't willing to acknowledge Kalili as the originator of the shaka sign. Instead, Fasi designated Hamana's birthday as "Shaka Day."

Tom Fukunaga of Kailua tells a similar story but with a different background and a later date, 1939-40. He said a merchant seaman, George Keoke Matthews, had lost all the fingers of his right hand but the thumb and pinkie. He drove an open Jeep. Kids were fascinated watching him shift with only a thumb and little finger. So they shouted at him and he waved back giving the shaka sign.

Fukunaga said they didn't say, "shaka" at that time. He thinks the word originated from playing marbles. A special shooting marble was called a shaka (favorite) kini (main one). Another shaka historian said he used to make the sign along the line at the pineapple cannery to indicate agreement because none of the workers could hear each other.

All this leads me to believe that the shaka sign and expression, like the wheel and agriculture, originated spontaneously in different places and different times.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.