Guys, some snippets before you go to the entertaining article by
Gilda-Cordero Fernando:
-- A 12-year-old Vince waddles out of the operating room with a big
swell in his crotch. In spite of the excruciating pain, he is still
grinning; he's thinking of the lifelong pleasure this momentary pain will
bring him. He can't help his optimistic anticipation... he's Pinoy!
-- An embattled De Angelo narrates the circumstances behind the arrest
order against him. He's actually smiling... now he's doubled up in
laughter! He's thinking, "There's never a dull moment when you're dealing
with that bunch of clowns called the Comelec!" De Angelo can't help it... he's
Pinoy!
-- The People's Champion decides to help the people, so he runs for a
congressional seat. He thinks "to help" is to be a politician dispensing
and allotting out the people's money! He can't help it... he's Pinoy!
-- "Please, Mr. Customs Officer, ban all the "pasalubongs" in my suitcase,
but not this one... my son hasn't tasted my Kare-Kare in two years! He will
be awfully disappointed..." This mother can't help it... she's Pinay!
-- A guy wins it big in the casino. At home he counts his winnings and sees
that he's left with only 90% of his winnings. It seems everyone he met that
evening didn't have taxi fare... poor girls! He couldn't help giving...
he's Pinoy!
-- "I may speak English with a Visayan accent, but I'm a true-blue, home
grown American!" Now that's NOT Pinoy!
==========================
Enjoy, be Pinoy; Bahala na si Batman
By Gilda Cordero-Fernando
Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines
Pinoy is what Filipinos call
each other, a term of
endearment. You're Pinoy from Pilipino just like
you're tisoy from mestizo
or chinoy from chino.
It's a nickname just as Minoy is from Maximo, Ninoy
from Benigno, Tinay
from Florentina and Kikay from Francisca. But now
they're Maxi and Ben and
Tintin and Cheska.
You've been called indio, goo-goo, Negro, flip,
noypits. Or Filipino, a
Spanish biscuit that is brown outside and white
inside, or a word stricken
from the dictionary which means domestic. Ay,
lintik!
You're Juan de la Cruz or Mang Pandoy. You're common
tao, masa, urban poor
but also Cecile Licad and Don Jaime, Jose Rizal and
Tony Meloto, Shawie and
Pacquiao and Nick Joaquin, galing galing.
Born June 12, 1896, the Republic of the RP is a
Gemini, good at connecting,
good at loving-loving, good at texting and
interpersonal skills.
Filipinos like to yakap, akbay, hawak, kalong,
kalabit. We sleep side by
side, siping-siping, we go out kabit kabit.
There's lots of us to go around. Someone always to
listen to a sob story,
even in a jeepney, to share-a-load or to share a TV.
Everyone's tito, tita
Who has a hipag, a bayaw, a bilas, a balae, a
kinakapatid? Who has an ate,
dete, diche, kuya, diko? The maids call her ate, the
driver calls him kuya
and everybody is tito or tita.
Who has a Lola Baby, a Tito Totoy, a bosing called
Sir Peewee, his wife
Ma'am Lovely and their kids Cla Cla and Cring Cring?
The Pinoy lives in a condo, a mansion, an apartment,
a bahay na bato,
ilalim ng tulay, Luneta, Forbes Park, and Paris too!
He's a citizen of the world, he's in all the
villages and capitals,
colonizing the West, bringing his guitar and his
bagoong, his walis na
tingting, his tabo, his lolo and lola.
Where there's a beat, there's a Pinoy. You'll find
her singing in a
nightclub in Tokyo, a musical in London, the Opera
House in Sydney. Sure,
they've got the infrastructure, the theaters and
architecture. Who but
Pinoys direct their plays, or trains their company
managers, and imports
our teachers, by the way?
Viagra to Victoria's Secret
Look at that baggage-all pasalubong, none for
herself. From bedsheet to
hair color, Toblerone to carpet, Viagra to paella
pan, Victoria's Secret to
microwave.
Hey, Joe, don't envy me 'cause I'm brown, you'll get
ultra violet from that
sun and turn red not brown.
Just lucky, I guess. God put us all in the oven, but
some were uncooked and
some were burned, but me, I came out golden brown!
Hey, Kristoff! Hey David and Ann! Your Pinoy yaya
makes your kids gentler,
more obedient, she teaches them how to pray. Hey Big
Brother! Hey Grandma
Moses! Who but Pinoy nurses make your sick days
easier all the way?
We made the jeepney, the karaoke, the fluorescent
bulb, the moon buggy. We
invented People Power and crispy pata; popularized
virgin coconut oil,
scaled Mount Everest and made it with Cebu furniture
abroad among the best.
Ever trying for the Guinness World Record-with the
longest swim of a child,
the longest kiss, the longest longanisa.
Linguist
The Pinoy is a linguist. As in. As if. For a while.
Open the light. Close
the light. Paki ganyan naman ang kuwan sa ano. Tuck
in. Tuck out. Don't be
high blood. If you're ready na, I'll pass for you.
Hayop; Hanep! Bongga ka 'day, feel na feel kita,
kilig to the bones ako.
Don't make wala, don't make tampo. Taralets na,
babes, let's go, nababato
na ang syota mo.
I'm inviting you to my party, please RSVP. Oo means
"yes" or "maybe," or
"yes if you insist," or "maybe if it doesn't rain."
"Yes" is also a nice way of saying "no." Yes, hindi
kita sisiputin. "No,"
eto na ako at ang barkada ko. Please don't ask a
Pinoy a question like
that!
Just flows
She's not so exact, not so chop-chop, she just flows
and flows. Filipino
time? Naku, huli din naman ang Kano!
The Pinoy finds time to be nice, to be kind, to
apologize, to be there when
you're depressed, to help you with your utang and
your wedding dress.
The Filipino is a giver, never mind what it does to
his liver, never mind
what it takes. Hardships of the Third World don't
dry up his blood, they
just make him more compassionate, more feeling, of
the other guy's lot.
Note that the maid sends all her wages home to
ailing daddy. She is the OCW
whose labor of loneliness created the original katas
ng Saudi.
'Bahala na'
The Filipino is fearless, bahala na si Batman, which
actually means Bathala
na or "leave all to God." Okay lang if I die by
bitay, okay lang if I live,
okay lang if I survive by the skin of my teeth.
Saway ni Inay: Di ka naman Bill Gates, di ka naman
French, mahirap nang
magbuhat ng sarili mong bench.
Be Pinoy! Enjoy!