Bad-trip Pinoyspeak (and other deets)
I can’t say I look forward to gathering up these little gems of Pinoyspeak every few months. First of all, it’s difficult to compile enough of them to constitute a column. Not enough submissions coming in from the peeps, you know. (Oh, there’s another late entry: “peeps.” Short for people. Don’t know which hip-hopper inflicted this one on the current generation, though I do recall having a bearded hippie instructor of “audio-visual studies” back in fifth grade who referred to his pupils as “peeps,” much to our bafflement).
These phrases may not all originate here in the Philippines — we are living in a global culture, after all, whether we care to or not — but some of them could only have emerged from these very shores.
Actually: Sent in by a reader via e-mail, this is an all-purpose “crutch word,” a space-filler in conversation usually employed to catch one’s breath while thinking of the next thing to say. And here it’s often pronounced “ac-TOOL-y,” for some bizarre reason.
Ano: Another crutch word. This one is definitely not restricted to the young folk in our midst. You hear it among the older set quite often, as in “Where did you put the, ano?” But the older set has the perfectly good excuse of premature senility to explain its frequent use. Not so the younger set.
Ayos ah: Roughly translates to “That’s cool.” Sent by a sibling-in-law, this one seems to make the rounds of laidback, idyllic universities like UP.
Bad trip: There is a persistent streak of hippie jargon in Philippine culture that seems to straddle the decades (it apparently skipped over the ‘80s, a period when mullets briefly replaced ponytails here among the young and hip). “Bad trip” is a local all-around expression of disenchantment or disappointment with a given situation, roughly equivalent to that other hippie perennial, “Bummer.” Oddly, the phrase “bad trip” doesn’t necessarily refer to taking drugs. “Trip” is frequently hijacked from its unsavory ’60s roots and converted into an all-purpose gerund: Food tripping, etc.
Cliché: What’s wrong with this one? Well, it’s a noun. And people here use it as an adjective (“That’s so cliché”) instead of properly saying “clichéd.” Like, all the time. Wrong, wrong, wrong. They also forget that saying something too often — such as “That’s so cliché, di ba?” — inevitably becomes clichéd.
Deets: Oh, the marvelously illiterate shorthand employed by time-restricted newbies. “Deets” is short for details, of course, as in “e-mail me the deets.” Like “peeps,” this one always sparks an unaccountable rage on my part whenever I encounter it in an e-mail or text message. Just call me the Spelling Nazi.
Fanboy: It’s an odd little fact that fans of pop kitsch culture (say, Sharon Cuneta movies) are sometimes heterosexual males. When this is the case, they earn the interesting monicker of “fanboy,” which may or may not imply that they have elaborate shrines constructed in their homes to honor their idols. Any male who goes a bit gaga over a local celebrity, adopts a dreamy, insipid expression upon seeing them in public, or insists on having their “picture, picture” taken with said icon on their cellphone can be regarded as a rabid fanboy.
Game na: Translated by seatmate Igan D’Bayan as “Let’s get it started.” More broadly, it refers to any social activity or event that should get underway soon. The expression has been around forever, but still seems to have plenty of Pinoyspeak juice left in it. Strangely, there is no converse expression — nothing that suggests the opposite, “Game over.” Guess that says something about the Pinoy affinity for fun and games.
Haggard: Another expression sent in by a UP inhabitant, meaning tired or busy, usually during finals week. Bad trip, ‘no?
I know, right?: Not strictly Pinoyspeak, this is a particularly sosi kind of verbal appendage, usually thrown out there after one has received affirmation of what one has just said. (See: “Di ba, pare?”)
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LSS: Check your text-speak for this shorthand version of “Last song syndrome.” It’s that unfortunate tendency to hum the last song you heard over the radio, on a TV commercial jingle, coming from someone’s cell phone ring tone or emanating from the Magnolia Ice Cream truck. Can only be cured by counter-programming with something tuneless, like Eminem or Britney.
Nosebleed: Kind of old school, this term for a difficult time in one’s academic life still persists, along with other old-time faves like “haggard” and “toxic.”
Obvious: This is a good one for wiseasses. It is uttered after someone has said something particularly self-evident, and you want to point this out in a smug, in-your-face manner. Now officially preferred instead of the much-abused “Duh!”
OK?: Another space-filler word, usually spat out at the end of a high-blood spiel for added emphasis. It means, “I mean it. I’m not kidding. All right?”
Pimping: Adopted from Gossip Girl or whatever, this is now commonly used in fashion circles to refer to someone promoting a brand, product or something else. Somehow, pimps have become the epitome of cool among Pinoys. Caveat: Make sure you say “she’s pimping for Ralph Lauren,” not “she’s being pimped by Ralph Lauren.” The subtle distinction can mean the difference between being a pimp and being a ‘ho.
What evs: The verbal equivalent of a shrug, or the height of lazy-speak. Take your pick. The deets aren’t important. What evs…
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Got more Pinoyspeak? Send to xpatfiles@yahoo.com.
