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Carabao Kevin
Super Moderator
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Posted: Wed May 31st, 2006 05:05 am |
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Here is a GREAT true story!
Not long after my wife got here she brought some lunch to me at work. Now my wife knows that there are a lot of Spanish words in Tagalog and in Cebuano(her "home" language).
Well, we are eating together and a Mexican friend comes and sits with us. I speak some Spanish, and understand more than I can speak of it. My nice wife being the courteous Filipina she is, looks at my friend and asks him "do you want Puto ?" held out some Filipino Puto. My Mexican friend looks at me in a very puzzled way and says "hey, what the F**K is your wife trying to say?" I couldn't keep a straight face any longer, I was the only one of us 3 that understood the whole misunderstanding.
Filipino Puto - Food, a type of "rice cake"
Mexican Spanish Puto - A male Homosexual
My Mexican friend thought my wife asked "Do you want, - PUTO!?" Thinking she was offering him a piece of cake and calling him a homosexual! Of course she asked "Do you want Puto?"
We all had a great laugh afterwards, when the embarrassment was over for the both of them.
Anyone else have any great language problem stories? Lets hear them.
thanks,
-Mabuhay-
Last edited on Wed May 31st, 2006 05:08 pm by Carabao Kevin
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Patric THEPHILS.COM
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Posted: Wed May 31st, 2006 06:41 am |
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Well, my first trip to The Philippines & i was sitting in Jollibees with a Pinay.
You all know however masarap their Champ burgers are... they are also very juicy. Me beeing a fast eater ( my wife says i eat like a dog - " Patric, slow down...i´m not going to take your food away from u ! ") Hehe.
Sooo, anyway sitting there making sure nobody takes my food.... results in me needing a napkin...so i ask a waitress for some napkins... The girl i´m with looks embarrassed & the waitress even more so..... I thought she just didnt understand my request so i asked her again..... the waitress gets this strange look on her face and walks away soon to be back with som napkins. All is well i think, until the girl i´m with explains the difference between the definition of napkin & tissue in The Philippines. He he, it made me laugh !
Cheers !
Last edited on Sat Jun 17th, 2006 03:23 am by Patric THEPHILS.COM
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Carabao Kevin
Super Moderator
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Posted: Wed May 31st, 2006 05:06 pm |
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Patric THEPHILS.COM wrote:
Well, my first trip to The Philippines & i was sitting in Jollibees with a Pinay.
Sooo, anyway sitting there making sure nobdy takes my food.... results in me needing a napkin...so i ask a waitress for some napkins... The girl i´m with looks embarrassed & the waitress even more so..... I thought she just didnt understand my request so i asked her again..... the waitress gets this strange look on her face and walks away soon to be back with som napkins. All is well i think, until the girl i´m with explains the difference between the definition of napkin & tissue in The Philippines. He he, it made me laugh !
Cheers !
That's a good one. I had a very similar thing to happen.
As we were sitting in our home one day, my wife tells me she needed a napkin, so I went to the kitchen and Fetched one for her. She said, "don't be silly!" She had to explain it to me also. So I went to the store for her.
-Mabuhay-
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Carabao Kevin
Super Moderator
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Posted: Wed May 31st, 2006 05:55 pm |
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It was my first trip to the PHILIPPINES.
I knew that "O O" is TAGALOG for "YES", but sometimes they slang it a little. You know "Ah AH" or whatever sounds close depending on the person who you are talking to. Thats cool, here in the states we slang a lot of words also.
Well, my wife (not my wife at the time) & I had been walking Makati for some time now (I THINK we were STILL in Makati).
We decided we wanted something to eat. We spotted a Jolly Bee or McDonalds, I don't remember which. We go inside, I ask my wife: "Do you want a Coke - something to drink?" She replied: "Uh Uh". And went to the Comfort Room.
I wait in line and order food and a LARGE Diet Coke. The young lady taking my order says "sorry sirrrr, we are out of Diet". I reply "Ok, I'll have a regular". Cute Pinay responds "Sorry sir, there is no Diet". Me: "That's ok, make it a regular". Cute Pinay:"There is no diet sir, I am sorry" She is looking nervous, me I'm feeling stupid. I turn around in hopes my "date" is nearby, NO SUCH LUCK, I am the only KANO in the place! I knew there had to be a language barrier, but couldn't figure out the problem. So I order: "I'll have a 7-Up, or Mt. Dew, which ever you have." Cute Pinay: "You want that a regular, sir" Then it hit me, I was trying to order a Reg. Coke, she thought I wanted a Reg. Size Diet Coke. My Reply:"I'll have a Large, Please" As I am breaking out in a sweat with embarrassment and joy it's over.
Being glad that was all over, I proudly walk off into the crowd looking for my "date" among many of the same size and hair color people. YIKES. Finally, I see a hand waving upstairs, I go up there, so very proud that I have conquered that fast food ordering in a foreign country. I sit down, we divide the food. Then my wife (date) asks: " Where's my drink?" I say: "HUH?" In a dumb male caveman-KANO type of way. She repeats: "Where's my drink?" I shoot back: "You said "Uh UH!" She said: "I know, Where's my drink?" (Now maybe she said "Ano?" which is Tagalog for "WHAT?") I said "O-O" is yes in Tagalog, but "UH-UH" is NO in the U.S. - hey we have got to stick to one language here, or this aint gonna work" Then she said: "What took sooo long?" I explained the whole painful event, and ended with "sorry, IF you want a drink, you will have to go get it, otherwise just share mine" She went and bought a drink came back and we had a good laugh together.
-Mabuhay-
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Patric THEPHILS.COM
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Posted: Sat Jun 10th, 2006 10:34 pm |
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I noticed something on my first trip & that was that people in The Phils dont seem be as likely to correct u if u for example pronounce something the wrong way....
I spent 3 days in Manila, during that time i must have mentioned that i was heading for Iloilo to atleast 10-15 different people. Since i never ever heard the right pronunciation of Iloilo i´d been saying il_oil_o... Not till i was sitting at the Domestic airport talking to a Phil/American who told me that it was Ilo_ilo...
I´m wondering if this was just a coincedence or if it might have something to do with "saving face"... not making me feel embarrassed or something...
Cheers !
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Carabao Kevin
Super Moderator
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Posted: Wed Aug 23rd, 2006 05:21 am |
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GREETINGS TO ALL of the GREAT Members on thephils.com!,
Here is a question that I have, and so far I have not found anyone that can answer it.
Q. - Why is the Country called PHILIPPINES with a "PH" but the People are called Filipinos with an "F"? 
Now, I thought that The Islands were named after King Philippe of Spain?....If this is true, the "H" is silent in SPANISH, so wouldn't that make it properly pronounced "PILIPINES"? I have heard it called that! So, was it the Americans that changed the way it is Pronounced?
I sincerely apologize in advance if I offend someone by my assumption, or mis-assumption on the words & pronunciations.
Thank You - Salamat
-Mabuhay-
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Sirena
Moderator
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Posted: Fri Oct 13th, 2006 10:35 am |
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I've lost track of how many times the language barrier has resulted in laughter or embarassment, though English people don't use 'uh uh' instead of no, so I haven't encountered that problem.
In my partner's dialect the words for 'vinegar' and 'vomit' are almost identical, and I once embassased myself at the dinner table at his parents house when (trying to practise my language skills) I politely asked his sister to pass the puke!
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Patric THEPHILS.COM
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Posted: Sat Jan 6th, 2007 07:39 am |
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When going to a Doctors clinic in November last year i went up to the front desk & talked to the nurse who told me to have a seat till the Doc was available. I told the nurse that i´d step outside (tinted glass doors, i could see in & the nurse could see me) a have a smoke while i waited.
The nurse said "No, u wait" (& pointed behind me where there were sofas & chairs).
I said "Yeah, but i´m just gonna stand outside the doors & have a smoke"
nurse: "U wait!"
I looked at her, confused & thinking; what´s with this nurse? i´m not going anywhere...just gonna stand outside....
The nurse looked at me with a facial expression like ; what´s wrong with u?!?....
nurse: "wait !" pointing again behind me.
Now i thought; ok ok... i´ll just sit down & wait then..no big deal, & when i turned around, i saw a scale!! Aha, she wasnt saying "wait" she was saying "weigh"  .
I laughed & said "sure, no problem"
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Sirena
Moderator
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Posted: Sat Jan 6th, 2007 09:28 am |
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When I first arrived in this Boracay around 8 years ago I didn't know where to shop for things. On my hunt for 'ladies products' I was directed to a large store but I still couldn't find them so I asked the cashier. At first she thought I was looking for babies diapers but I finally managed to convey what I wanted (her English was very poor), and once it dawned on her she leaned across the counter and "whisper!" and pointed to a corner of the shop. I apologised profusely - and in a hushed voice - thinking I'd offended her by discussing 'feminine hygiene' out loud, but only when I got to the right section of the shop did I realise that "Whisper" is actually the brand name for the product! Oops! 
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Sirena
Moderator
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Posted: Tue Jan 9th, 2007 12:31 pm |
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| Sorry, I meant to put "she leaned over the counter and SAID "whisper"!
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chinitadacat
Member
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Posted: Wed Jan 10th, 2007 03:59 am |
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| The tagalog of philipines is PILIPINAS, in philipines we ussually call our country pilipinas, and philipines in english, hehe i dont know if this will help ya, filipino is spanish words i think and pilipino is tagalog. did i make sense? hehe
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Carabao Kevin
Super Moderator
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Posted: Wed Jan 10th, 2007 04:55 am |
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chinitadacat wrote: The tagalog of philipines is PILIPINAS, in philipines we ussually call our country pilipinas, and philipines in english, hehe i dont know if this will help ya, filipino is spanish words i think and pilipino is tagalog. did i make sense? hehe
Hi chinitadacat ......
WELCOME to thephils.com
Thank you for your reply.
I think I understand , basically, we are talking about 3 different languages, so that is how we ended up with 3 different spellings and/or ways to pronounce it. Makes sense....kinda .
-Mabuhay-
-Kevin
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chinitadacat
Member
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Posted: Wed Jan 10th, 2007 06:00 am |
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you're welcome, that is a good question anyway, i would have never think about that ever if i didn't see it here:-) Im very proud of the western who wants to learn almost everything about Philippines.
i just want to add this maybe it will make it a little bit easier to understand:
Philippines=english Filipinas=spanish Pilipinas=tagalog
Filipino=spanish Pilipino=tagalog
i think in the US they call our country Philippines and the people Filipino:-)Last edited on Wed Jan 10th, 2007 06:44 pm by chinitadacat
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Sirena
Moderator
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Posted: Sun Jan 14th, 2007 09:48 am |
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Another one that makes me smile is when some Filipinos say "I'm boring!" or "I'm tiring!" when they actually mean "I'm bored" or "I'm tired". There's a big difference between the meanings!
And I have to remind my partner not to say "FART" when he means "part"! 
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zsigred
Member
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Posted: Sun Jan 14th, 2007 12:22 pm |
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Sirena wrote: Another one that makes me smile is when some Filipinos say "I'm boring!" or "I'm tiring!" when they actually mean "I'm bored" or "I'm tired". There's a big difference between the meanings!
And I have to remind my partner not to say "FART" when he means "part"!
hahaha...never heard any Filipino say that, although many of my Korean students make that mistake a lot!
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Sirena
Moderator
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Posted: Thu Mar 8th, 2007 12:56 pm |
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| By the way, can anyone tell me what the word "kikay" means?
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lumbia
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Posted: Thu Mar 8th, 2007 10:29 pm |
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Hi Serena:
There are two ways of interpreting Kikay.
Firstly, Kikay or Kika is the female version of Kiko. Kikay/Kika or Kiko is somebody who acts silly, funny or a clown. I believe it comes from the word Kingkoy, a Filipino version of a certain cartoon character.
Secondly, a person named Francisco can be nicknamed Kiko, Kikoy, Iko or Iking. Of course for the female Francisca is Kika or Kikay, Ika or Ikang.
Hope this helps.
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lumbia
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Posted: Thu Mar 8th, 2007 10:46 pm |
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Sirena wrote: Another one that makes me smile is when some Filipinos say "I'm boring!" or "I'm tiring!" when they actually mean "I'm bored" or "I'm tired". There's a big difference between the meanings!
And I have to remind my partner not to say "FART" when he means "part"!
Funny but these are not surprising to Pinoys. We have to understand that "F/f" is not in the Filipino/Bisayan alphabets. I hear a lot of my friends say Pader instead of Father when they talk about their father. They know how to pronounce the word father correctly, yet they use this word as a term of endearment to their folk. "th" is not also in the filipino "tongue". The nanny of a former colleage tried to speak english to her kid, and said, " Pe-nis your food, bebe", instead of "Finish your food, baby". I jsut have to take it in context to understand what she meant.
Hope Fil linguists will share their expertise here!
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welshy
Member
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Posted: Tue Mar 13th, 2007 08:26 am |
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| yes i got some funny looks when i asked for "ethlog" which i was told means eggs, but have found out it also means testicles!!!! so people thought it quite amusing in the bus station when i said that i need two of them coz i left mine (i cooked some for the journey) at the guesthouse. haha did i feel a twat when i told a filipino friend about it later, glad i won't be goin back to tacloban in a long time!!!!!!
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Paul
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Posted: Tue Mar 13th, 2007 06:15 pm |
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welshy wrote: yes i got some funny looks when i asked for "ethlog" which i was told means eggs, but have found out it also means testicles!!!! so people thought it quite amusing in the bus station when i said that i need two of them coz i left mine (i cooked some for the journey) at the guesthouse. haha did i feel a twat when i told a filipino friend about it later, glad i won't be goin back to tacloban in a long time!!!!!!
LOL. No worries, Welshy. I'm sure the Filipinos enjoyed your attempt (assuming it was your first), upon saying it.
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