Pinoy wats: it is not wrong grammar, it is propaganda

There is now a proliferation of Pinoy english word mishaps and I’d be lying if I tell people I don’t laugh my ass off reading them.

To whom do we give the blame? Most of the times, especially for people of the upper socio-economic strata, the blame must be impuned upon illiteracy. Blame it on high income inequality and high poverty rate.

Yes, Philippines is not known for its IQ (we are infamous for our untraceable diaspora). But no matter how funny or depressing reading words written in black, yellow or any bright colored spray paints available that says do not urinate in the wall, talk and teks etcetera, there is that cliche that everyone is free to fill in with there personal favorites (there’s ____ behind the clouds)

And as I see it, when i read ‘Pls. wats your step’ in a wall post at Tagaytay, I thought about its subliminal message: propaganda. Maybe on hindsight, these “mis” takes are made to show that we as Pinoys living in an neocolonial era of the United States have our own way of rebelling.

So maybe the real question that is posed for us to answer is: to whom do we give the credit? Thank you Melanie Marquez, you of all people seem to be the heroine.

WE DO NOT ACCEPT CORRECT GRAMMAR FOR THE SAKE OF THE UNITED STATES, WE ACCEPT IT BECAUSE WE WANT TO.

Although this article is written in English, pardon me I have a hard time writing in Filipino while thinking about words that would be most fitting to send my message across easiest, its purpose is to tell Filipinos that we are not illiterate in the context of the English language. If we wanted to be English literate, we’d cross boarders, ride boats and climb mountains but if we don’t, we write and say the bits and pieces that are left for us to know through media and WOM (word of mouth).

WATS YOUR STEP does not make Pinoys look any level lower than any other people. If in any case, it makes us a level above them because we reject what is not ours. If there is one thing we could reject it is their language. Since we already accepted the imported canned goods, Michael Jackson (Bless his soul) and Grey’s Anatomy, we must at the least accept the fact that we do not need to master the ‘universal’ language in such a way that made it look that our existence depended on it.

Wrong grammar, pronunciation or not; it does not define the person who delivers it. And this is my closest attempt to patriotism as I’m not an avid Pinor Pocketbook collector nor Lito Lapid movies fanatic. So next time you see funny killer pinoy doodles, feel free to laugh, just know who you’re supposed to dedicate those hahaha’s to.

see more: Funny Signs by Definitely Filipino

Cheers!

Pau