YOUNG VOICE

Bababa ba? Bababa

We do not need fancy words and perfect grammar. T.Y. can also be appreciated just as much as Thank You and 14344 can be I love you very much. What we need, is the right choice of words that will enable us to communicate, to express and to understand.

When the elevator shaft opened, A Filipino bellboy greeted an American. “Going down, Sir?” the bellboy asked. “Yes, to the ground floor,” replied the American. “Right away, Sir,” the bellboy grinned politely and pressed the button bringing the elevator down. While descending, the elevator stopped at the third floor. The shaft opened and in came a Filipino. What happened next left the American perplexed and confused throughout his entire elevator ride. “Bababa ba?” asked the bellboy. “Bababa,” replied the Filipino. The bellboy turned to the American saying, “He’s going down also, sir.” The American went out of the elevator wondering how two people can communicate effectively muttering just a single syllable.

We Filipinos possess great talent with word play. Imagine, who else can form an entire dialogue with just one syllable? The Filipino language shares the same amount of uniqueness with her dog-shaped archipelago. If I remember my Philippine History correctly, we started out with Alibata, then borrowed a couple of Chinese to season our merienda, a bunch of Hindi and Malayan to baptize most of our household items and assimilated Spanish and American to form our alphabet.

Language is dynamic, much more with Filipinos who fancy add-ons and revised editions.

Yes, we take word play to steeper heights. First, we add –ing to almost anything and use it as if it were grammatically flawless. My hobbies are reading, listening to music and malling. Mall plus ing is what students usually do on a Friday, roaming the parameters of a shopping center as a form of leisure. Second, we precede a Filipino word with “make” for it to appear foreign and easy to the ears in a dominantly English sentence structure. The dining table is a mess. Please make punas. Third, to satisfy variety, we alternatively use the squaring of a word to fill in the blanks of mental-block moments. A teacher would say: Class, how many times do I have to tell you not to chika-chika there while I’m discussing in front!

Shakespeare will bow to our lingo innovations. We simply don’t care about the difference between a proper noun and a common noun since we continually interchange both anytime. “Manong, please xerox these, four copies each.” All the while the photocopying machine’s brand was Canon. We would consider photographs as Kodak, nail polishes as Cutex and pencils as Mongol. This may root from our patriotic spirit, not just with our native land, but with the first brands of merchandise that had ruled Philippine commerce. Quite recently there had been even more radical change with our choice of words. Pronoun cases no longer exist in our syntax. “Where na you? Here na me.” Millions are addicted to the tempting use of the ever-rampant and omnipresent gay lingo. Goodbye can range from baboo, vavu, baboosh to vavuvski.

I believe there is nothing wrong about the way we talk, however echosanes it may seem. What’s important is, we understand each other and we can freely express ourselves. What is the worth of perfectly cultured vernaculars when half of the natives don’t even have any idea of what they mean? Although, I also agree that these are a little bit ‘over the bakod’ to be incorporated in written and business communication. But we don’t have to be strict with its conversational use. Cavemen in the past communicated with arghs and uhms, but no one has filed a lawsuit against them. In fact, they were able to start the roots of our civilizations. Despite a limited vocabulary, but equipped with a strong assurance that they understand each other, that everyone understood that argh means food, their hunger was satisfied, they survived.

What our little society needs is neither business talk nor political discussion. Not many are aware of the jargons and gobbledygook. We do not need fancy words and perfect grammar. T.Y. can also be appreciated just as much as Thank You and 14344 can be I love you very much. What we need, is the right choice of words that will enable us to communicate, to express and to understand.

For me, the Filipino language is one of the most blessed languages because it holds variety and it is never stagnant. The Filipino will never get bored of communicating with it. The Filipino just have to put together the right words, regardless of form, as long as they are right enough to enable him to share instead of talk, to express instead of discuss, to communicate instead of announce.

Speak Filipino.

Speak to communicate.

(Comments and reactions to reylangarcia@gmail.com)