HONOLULU (KHON2) — After a massive underwater volcano erupted off the coast of Tonga on Saturday, it could take weeks to repair the communications cable that connects them to the rest of the world.

My nephew Lopeti “Crunkie” Havealeta didn’t know the word “fat” has a different shading in the United States than it does in his native Tonga. So when he told another young man, a stout American kid, ...