…. if you’re not quite sure of the Samoan saying “…a taunu’u manuao, fa’atatafa paopao’.., this will give you some idea. In the foreground on the left is the Lady Samoa moored at the Salelologa wharf. In the background is a man fishing on his ‘paopao’ or canoe. The Lady Samoa is a passenger boat rather than a ‘manuao’ or ‘ man-o-war’ – the general term for a naval vessel that caught the Samoan ear.
Look at the inset photo on the top and it’ll make it easier to understand the saying when the ‘manuao’ comes in the ‘paopao’ has to move out of the way. Same as the ‘palagi’ comparisons of the big guns to the small guns, except the Lady Samoa is not a ‘manuao’ and the ‘paopao’ is for fishing.
A better comparison is in Parliament where the PM Tuilaepa is a ‘manuao’. MP La’auli used to be a ‘manuao’ but is now an independent so he is a ‘paopao.’
For now anyway.