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I have posted the following images on my previous blogs, but I’m reposting them so you’ll have an idea what I’m talking about being Filipino.

Here’s one . Filipino students taking exams….. with that odd contraption on their heads, there’s no way they can cheat.

The next one says , roughly translated, ” Please, it’s gravy, not soup. Thank you.”

THE WAY  WE TRAVEL

1. You don’t know the meaning of travelling light.

2. Your second piece of luggage is a Balikbayan box. ( Balikbayan means ” returning countryman ” . It is a 20×20 box that can hold 50 lbs of stuff, the weight allowed per luggage. A passeger is allowed 2 luggages )

3. You’ve mastered the art of  jumping up and down on your suitcase to double capacity.

4. If there are four of you, you’re seen at airports  next to eight boxes.

5.Your total luggage always requires a small forklift.

6.You insist that custom officers who open your luggage repack everything ” just the way it was.”

7. You unpack and repack luggages in public in international airports.  (^___^)  The required weight per luggage is 50 lbs. One of our boxes exceeded the capacity by 4 lbs. Mom and I unpacked the luggage and stuffed 4 lbs of  the excess into our purses, right there at the airport.

8. You feel compelled to give ” souvenirs” to all your relatives and friends. ( A souvenir is not a   keychain. It’s one can of Hereford Corned beef, Taster’s Choice Instant Coffee, one big can of Tang Orange Powder, a bag of Snickers, and for the favorite nephew, a pair of Nike sneakers, or anything with a check on it, and for the favorite young niece, a branded purse, bought from Ross, hehe, or something from  Victoria’s Secret. )

9. You drive a car which proudly bears foreign license plates to publicize your latest travel destination.

THE WAY WE SPEAK AND COMMUNICATE

1.You respond to a “Hoy, ” Oy ” or “Pssst” in a crowd.

2. You always answer ” It’s quite near”, no matter the distance , when asked how far away a place is located.

3.You can use ambiguous words like ” kwan” and ” ano” in one sentence and yet be perfectly understood by other Filipinos. ( The watchamacallit jumped over the watchamacallit. )

4.You refer to your Mercedes Benz as the ” Chedeng”.

5. Goldilocks is more than a fairy tale character to you. ( It’s a very famous and popular bake shop)

6.You refer to anything old as ” pre-war “. ( WW2 )

7. You love to use the following acronyms:

     CR ( Comfort Room or toilet)

     DOM (  Dirty Old Man)

     KJ ( Killjoy, a party pooper, a wet blanket)

     TNT ( Tago ng Tago, literally, hide and hide, a person who hides from immigration authorities )

     KSP ( Kulang sa Pansin, translated as lacks attention or needs attention, or craves attention….. ” Ignore that child’s tantrums.. she’s just KSP ” )

     OA ( over-acting, over -reactive, full of drama …. ” I can’t stand that actress in the movie… she’s so OA “)

     MU ( Mutual Understanding….. in a courtship, this is the situation before a boy and girl formally get together as BF and GF… ” Are you together ? No, we’re just MU. He hasn’t confessed yet, but he knows I like him, too.”) (^_^)

    TL ( True Love ) ” He’s my TL , now and forever.” Awww !

8. Instead of ” I beg your pardon”, you say ” Huh?”

9.You say ” hand-carry”, instead of carry-on luggage.

10.You say ” shades” instead of sunglasses.

11. You refer to power interruptions as ” brownouts”

12. You call the waiter, ” boss” or ” brod”.

13. You say ” for take-out, instead of ” to go.”

14. You refer to the refrigerator as the ” ref”.

15. You say ” canteen” or cantina, insteadn of  cafeteria.

16. You say ” rubber shoes” instead of sneakers.

17.You say” ballpen” instead of ball point pen.

18. You greet one another by  raising your eyebrows or tossing your head.

And may I add,  you also greet a neighbor or a friend you see on the street with ,” Where are you going.” (  And much as you want to say ” it’s none of your business”, you know a Filipino will always find that reply extremely rude, and so, you are compelled to answer something ambiguous like, Oh, just around the corner, or to the store, or any response is okay, after all, the greeter is not really interested  in where you are going. It’s  just a form of greeting, Filipino style.

                To be honest, when someone asks me ” How are you?” , I am always tempted to reply with ” Do you really care how I am ? ” But I guess this is another topic.

Also, I have intentionally left out a great deal  of stuff from the book because I find some them already irrelevant  , out of date, and quite frankly, not true anymore. Filipinos nowadays say toothpaste, instead of Colgate, tissue instead of Kleenex, and soft drink or 7-Up, or whatever brand they prefer, instead of Coke.

And may I reiterate…. the author of this series is Neni Sta. Romana – Cruz. The title of the book is You Know you’re Filipino if…. A Pinoy Primer, Published by the Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing, Inc. 1997

The statements in closed parentheses are mine, and not of the author’s. Buy the book where you can find it.

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