Um........in a word, NO. A resounding NO.

Why do men seem to have to wear these especially when they are BBQ'ing?
Anyone?

They are hot!, but only on fat guys (g)

I went through a Hawaiian shirt phase.

Glad I got past it.

They are really cool when "Ross" is wearing them!

I've seen a movie where Elvis wore one, and nobody is cooler than Elvis.

They are not cool, in the sense of kewl, or groovy, or neat. They may be cool, in the definition, "not hot", as in "airy".

sigh, phd-mom, i am with you on this one.

also, is this a summer topic, or what?

Madras shirts (if you can gert the real Indian-made ones) are a bit cooler, I think. The Hawaiian shirts have gone touristy and often use fabrics that incorporate synthetics which carry brighter colours "” and the moment synthetics get in the mix, the the real coolness goes. Hawaiians also get constant trade winds, so they don't endure the same heat as south India.
Madras shirts also are a fair trade item.
Or a kurta. They are cool!

They are cool in a tacky kind of way.

I've just nicely come home from Hawaii (yeah for honeymoons!) and it turns out that almost every service worker in the entire state wears those shirts. Pretty much every store from Macy's and Nordstrom's to Sears, Old Navy, Wal-Mart and K-mart advertise a huge selection of "aloha wear" for both tourists and residents (Kamaaina). I came home without any, because I don't think they're cool from a temperature perspective, but my hubby picked up a few. They don't look nearly as appropriate in Edmonton as they did in Oahu, though.

I have a fair amount of hawaiin shirts.

tacky yes,

but ultimately satisfying.

oh, not to mention tiedye shirts.

remember those? the ones you got rid of in garage sales and at the sally ann?

well now I have them.