OK, "Haole" ('hau-lE or how-LEE is the simple, common pronunciation) is a Hawaiian word that originally meant someone who's not of native Hawaiian ancestry, originally applying mainly to the Portuguese and other white folk who discovered/settled/conquered/exploited the island back in the day.  With the influx of so many Asian immigrants to the islands, and so much cross-marriage and breeding, "haole" came basically to signify white folk and their ways.  So a "haole" is basically a white person; it can also be used as an adjective to describe someone as white or as "acting white".   It can and is sometimes used as a derogatory term.

(Whew, not one bit of real research involved.  If any Hawaiians out there find one or more incongruities with all of this, please let me know.  I'm sorry, but I'm white, and ethnic insensitivity comes with the genes).

OK, so how does this apply to me?  You might think I'm from Hawaii and got called that a lot as a kid or something.   Well, I've never been to Hawaii.   My real first name is David, although only my parents and co-workers call me that, and hopefully you, the reader, aren't either of those.  The name "Haole" comes from several years ago when I moved in with Dave, Albert, and Ray.  Dave and Albert had lived together the previous year, and Dave and Ray go back away, so it became evident that there might be a problem distinguishing between me and Dave.  Both of us went by "Dave", we both have the same last initial ("H"), and we're roughly the same height, so the only obvious way to distinguish us is by our ethnicity -- Dave is Korean-American, and I'm a bad whitey.  So, "White Dave" was to become my nickname.  However, the day I was moving in Ray was actually in Hawaii visiting relatives and he sent us a postcard (Ray's father was from Hawaii, and he has a gang of relatives on the Islands).  Actually, Ray was already back, but you know how slow the postal service is with postcards.  Anyhow, his postcard was addressed to "Dave, Albert, and Haole Dave".  We were all familiar with the term, so we all understood it.  A few days later, Dave was composed our very short-lasted list of chores, and on it he wrote down "Haole" instead of Dave (me), showed it to his girlfriend, she laughed, and it's stuck since.

If you still wanna know a little more about Haoles, then check out Haole.org (no, it's not for an organization of Haoles.  I guess Haole.com and Haole.net were already taken).