How did the word gay go from meaning lighthearted to homosexual? Also, why are elementary schools sometimes called grammar schools? Plus, imeldific, gone pecan, random Scrabble words, and the difference between borrow and lend. And the etiquette of...
If something’s gaudy and excessive, Filipinos might call it imeldific. It’s a slang term inspired by Imelda Marcos and her legendary shoe collection. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Imeldific” The things you learn when you travel...
live-out n.— «There are certainly lots of overseas Filipinos in other countries around the world especially in the Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates but the difference with Israel is that not all Filipinos work the same hours. They have...
carabao English n.— «Whenever you hear a non-native English speaker, a Filipino specifically, uttering broken “carabao” English, or a version you are not used to hearing, please reserve your criticism.» —“World has more than one English” by Eric...
disponering n.— «I, for my own female brain, didn’t realize that Filipino innovations could lead to the fixing of cars or in layman’s term “disponering.”…I found out later that the car is a wreck he brought from the surplus, not his personal car as...
dirty kitchen n.— «Dirty kitchen (cont.): Actually, that’s the term for a secondary kitchen, often used by Filipinos. As one reader explained to me: “We Filipinos have a small cooking area outside the house where we fry our fish, cook anchovies...

