what the "FAKA"

In the beginning as a westerner it was almost impossible to feel comfortable with hearing everyone in Tonga going around shouting faka this and faka that... FAKA actually means "like" ... so lea fakatonga ... means speak like a tongan. NOW, last night was the Ms Galaxy beauty contest. All the contestants were fakaleitis (e is pronounced a and i is e ... go figure) but what it means is "like a lady" or transvestites. Now to some degree we have all some how gotten used to trans gender people, but in most cases in Tonga a fakaleiti was not born that way but created.... it is the custom here that the youngest girl of the family will remain home and do all the woman's (household) work for the aging parents. In the case of no girls ... well then ... the youngest boy is raised as a lady .. hence .. fakalaiti. Now make no mistake Tongans are a warrior class of people ... they are genetically HUGE and just because you do ladies work it doesn't mean you will look good in ankle socks and most Tongan fakaleitis don't look good in ankle socks. YET surprisingly enough last night the contestants were all blessed with strong feminine genes and they put on a wonder show ... go faka figure !!!!