Filipinos have a peculiarity in their English. They like to combine words to make short phrases. Here are a few examples.
Instead of typing out "Solicitor General" the press calls this guy "SolGen." Sounds funky. Great name for a funk soul band. SoulGen. As in soul generator.
And Bu-Cor? What the heck is that? That's the Bureau of Corrections. Tadeco is the Tagum Agricultural Development Corporation. Quite a mouthful.
How about this one:
What is a sogie? It's nothing. There is no such thing as a sogie. "Sogie" is an acronym which means whoever wrote this article messed up by not capitalising each letter as such: SOGIE. SOGIE is an acronym for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Expression.
Chinese bizmen? Bizmen is not even a word. What they really mean is Chinese business men. They could have fit that in the headline if they had decreased the font size. But they didn't so now this news paper looks stupid.
Here's a real testament to how lazy journalists in the Philippines can be. Compare these two headlines.
What is a destab plot? Does it involve knives? Will the AFP be stabbing people to death? Nope. GMA News was just too lazy to type out the full word: destabilisation. But Philstar did type it out. See? Proper English is not so hard.
How about this one:
McDo? How is that even pronounced? Long "O" or short "O"? And who orders McDonalds to eat at the cemetery while they are praying for their dead relatives?
TRAPOS? That's a new one. Short for "traditional politician." This is probably the worst one yet. Is this a word to be said out loud in conversation or is it a literary device only?
And now finally the number one shorthand word used all over the Philippines. It's basically a new word all its own.
Unli. Short for unlimited this "word" is used mostly by the telecoms to advertise their phone plans but is also used by restaurants to advertise all you can eat or drink deals.
I am sure there are lots more of these shorthand words. This is only a small sample. It's not surprising that Filipinos would take the English language and make it their own. They have also done the same with Spanish. It is interesting and funny how language evolves within a culture. Each culture works out its own creative wordsmithing.
What do you expect? Here are a few I have heard:
ReplyDelete1.) Putput pronounced potpot. The pedal trike on Leyte.
2.) Jan Jan pronounced Jon Jon. A male name.
3.) Ever pronounced with a long "E".
But I am talking about new words or hybrid words. Not just pronunciation.
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