By Reni Roxas
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines–In Spain, people are snacking on Filipinos.
Not exactly a cannibalistic practice, when the Filipinos I refer to are foil-wrapped wafers. I’ve tried them. Yummy!
But are they yummy enough to start another Spanish-Filipino War? Don’t think so. Because over here, Filipinos are too busy calling each other names.
Pinoys have a fun name for everything. No business establishment is deemed too sacred to be spared from creative name-calling, from branded bottled water to laundromats, salons and restaurants. Look around you. Hasn’t wordplay become a national pastime?
The hilarious gift book “Ngalang Pinoy: A Primer on Filipino Wordplay” (Tahanan Books) celebrates Pinoys as marvelous innovators of language. Within its pages, editor Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz and artist Dindo Llana pay tribute to the lexicographic genius of the Pinoy. Llana engaged in a bit of what he calls “guerilla photography” to snap pictures of the funniest signs and names.
“Where do such creative juices flow from?” Cruz inquires in her book. “How do these folks, untrained in the nuances of advertising and brand management, dream up [these] names?” Cite a few examples of Pinoyisms at a dinner party, she adds, and you’d be amazed at the treasure trove of words that could come up. “Truly, ours is a living language.”
But no wordplay is as much fun as when it comes to naming our children. “A nickname is the hardest stone that the devil can throw at a man,” remarked William Hazlitt. Wise words indeed, and one way to explain why in western countries, John remains John and Mary will ever be called Mary. Over here, though, a nicknamed child is a loved child. And heaven help the child who’s been given a particularly “inspired” nickname.
Filipino parents, it seems, have a field day when it comes to naming their progeny. Siblings have been named after pies (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Strawberry Pie), vehicles (Chevy, Mercedes, Porsche, and Volks), beverages (Brandy, Whisky, Cali, Champagne, Punch), and science (Atom, Quark, Nova, and Nuclear Bomb). Repeated names sound particularly endearing, and so we have Au-Au, Bekbek, and Junjun. And let’s all answer to the doorbell names Bingbing, Bongbong, Bingbong, and Tingting.
And then there’s the “H” factor. Tess can’t just be Tess. She’s gotta be Thess, a friend of Ahlex, who is also a cousin of Rhob.
When it comes to merchandising, being original seems to be the most, well, original, claim. As in the “original buko pie” of Los Baños. Playfully thumbing their nose at Webster, buko pie tycoons unabashedly tout their products as original. There is Elvie’s Original Buko Pie right alongside Mitzi’s Original Specialties which competes against Areane’s Original Sweets.
Being original however best defines the Filipino’s gift for making up puns from established names while commenting on the Pinoy’s various proclivities at the same time. So there’s the karaoke bar Sinto Nado for all the Frank Sinatra wannabes singing it their way. Or would you rather croon your heart out at the Blue Marilyn, a sing-along ihaw-ihaw joint in Sucat? Movie titles are also ripe for the picking: there’s Hair Force One or Con Hair. Or would you want to sink your teeth into salty swear words as in Cooking ng Ina Mo, a food place just a stone’s throw from Cooking ng Ina Mo Rin?
Showbiz is a fertile place for similar puns. There’s the dress shop called Elizabeth Tailoring, the hair salon Felix d’Cut, the laundromat Baywash, and a moneychanger shop called Starbucks. With apologies to Yves St. Laurent, would you weep if you found out that your YSL jacket was actually Yari Sa Laguna?
Even at death’s door, Pinoys still find reason to laugh. How would you like to get on a hearse headed for the Last Trip Funeral Parlor? Or would you rather enter feet first at Funeraria Mabuhay? Or, if you can’t take it with you, would you rather leave your earthly stuff to your family and make do with the Factory Price Funeral?
Ngalang Pinoy invites readers to “open our eyes and ears to the sights and sounds of Pinoyhood.” From the time we get our nicknames to that last ride to the cemetery, we are forever coining labels for all that surround us. It makes the trip so much better.
“Ngalang Pinoy: A Primer on Filipino Wordplay” is available at all major bookstores. Published by Tahanan Books.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:46 am
We Filipinos tend to hide behind the “funny mask” (”kalog” personality) to mostly hide our insecurities in the face of stressful situations. I think it’s a sort of coping mechanism that seems to be imbedded in our psyche, maybe from years of opression and subjugation by other “superior” cultures. Unfortunately, it sometimes has the negative effect of people not having 100% confidence in our abilities, specially in workplaces outside of the Philippines. I saw this in the many companies that I have worked for in the US. It actually creates a “glass ceiling” for Filipino-born professionals….”There goes that funny person…..hey Juan(a), please tell us another joke!”…”Yes, (s)he’s a really nice and FUNNY person”….And that’s all they seem to mostly remember about most Filipinos, unfortunately. Because of this, I think people from other cultures just do not find many Filipinos serious enough to do the critical jobs so they get past over when companies form up leadership teams for projects and company promotions. Maybe it’s time for us to finally grow up and take life more seriously and stand up to its challenges, face on, without the “funny mask”.
I do agree that our culture’s humor is still an asset, but jokes and puns do not get us as far as they used to in the now, more sophisticated, 21st century. As much as Bob Hope’s one-liners do not sound as funny as they used to. JMOs
August 29th, 2007 at 1:28 am
O, sige na nga. Wowwowwee!
Filipinos are indomitably funny, comical, with unbridled sense of humor (”walang sinasanto”), verbally creative, etc., etc., but so what?
If only Filipinos can channel that energy to more productive endeavors of the kind that brings economic development, political stability, judicial effectiveness, and such as really matters in the life of a nation suffering from endemic poverty for generations!
Huwag naman superficialities and especialties natin. Pang-ibabaw lang kasi nga mababaw.
Attention-getting nga ang pangalan, eh, ano naman ang pruweba na may kahulugan pala ang buhay nya? O, na mayroon palang mahalagang ginagampanan? O, na mahusay pala ang serbisyo? O, na katangi-tangi pala ang tinutupad na pangako?
So pinangalanan mong Mhariah instead of Maria o Jhuan instead of Juan ang anak mo, OK, trying original ka, but after that, what? Ano pa ang ginawa mo para mabuhay na “original” ang anak mo? Tinuruan mo bang maging “original” sa pag-iisip? Ang pananaw ba niya sa buhay ay “original” at di lunok-lang-nang-lunok sa mga pangyayari? O pandagdag lang sa mga “babes” ng mga idiotic shows dyan?
Ganda nga ng “original” na pangalan ng restaurant mo, malinis pa ang ta-kubets? (toilet)
Nagkakasya na lang ba tayo sa mga slogans, sa sound-bites, sa kalandiaan ng matabil na dila? OK, bayan ito ng pangako nga! (Di ko naman inaasahan na mag-produce agad tayo ng ating missiles, pero, pati ba naman karayom kailangan pa nating ini-import, ha, Fhilipinoh?)
Gamitin mo ang galing mo sa makatuturan gawa, hindi ngawa! Chose the ways you can be proud of (and soliciting laughter by being the laughing-stock– akala mo ba iyon ang tunay na iniisip nila ay ang galing-galing mo? Pinagtatawanan ka lang, utoy. Pagtalikod mo, naka-ismid na sila looking down at you or, I don’t know if it’s any better, kinakaawaan ka: Hanggang doon ka lang daw sa pagpapalimos ng tawa, kaya, pinagbibigyan ka– hindi ng respeto, hindi ng palakpak ng pagbubunyi, kundi ng tawa with derision.)
Oh, yes. The truth is, a rose by any other name remains the same. Pay attention–not to the names–but to the rose, the reality of the rose. Then you may avoid getting forever pricked by its thorns.
Mabuhay!
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August 27th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
iba talaga ang pinoy… orihinal di ba!!!
August 27th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
i’m coming home in september and would definitely get a copy!
cheers!
p.s. very well written article