you & your damn clichés
granted, i am bilingual and understand my filipino dialect better than i speaky de english, but sometimes i just don't understand some of these weird sayings that you white people use.
also granted, in my dialect, many of our phrases strangely seem to revolve around farting. and most words used by parents as terms of endearment for their children can usually be translated literally to mean "bastard." but we're just a lowly, third-world, savage people who killed magellan and eat dogs. (point of clarification--i'm fairly certain i'm not a descendant of the guy who actually killed magellan, and i don't eat dog...at least not knowingly.)
anyway, i was sitting in a meeting today where some woman said she didn't want to "stretch the envelope" which made me sort of snort to myself because even my ignorant english-as-a-second-language ass knows the actual phrase is "pushing the envelope." but it was only a minor triumph because i had no idea what "pushing the envelope" meant.
growing up, i'd try to figure out what certain clichés meant by examining the context in which the phrases were being used. i gave up most of the time. this is why i hated reading as a child.
a few years ago, i got brave and tried to causually throw the phrase "quick and dirty" into a conversation with my (white) friend jim. i've since stopped using such clichés around him after saying we could do a "dirty quickie." he never seems to forget about this incident and tells me constantly that i'm just a slant-eye trying to sound like a round-eye. but he's from minnesota and sounds just like that betty white character from the golden girls, so he's pretty much foreign too.
anyway, pardon me, white people, for complaining about your language. i did look up the meaning of "pushing the envelope," and i'm glad to say that i may actually remember its definition for the next five minutes.
and in the future, if you have any interest in learning how to call your child a bastard in filipino, let me know. we're a friendly people like that. i've also got a screamin' recipe for some chicken adobo, and i'll gladly trade you for the recipe of something you people refer to as "casserole."
also granted, in my dialect, many of our phrases strangely seem to revolve around farting. and most words used by parents as terms of endearment for their children can usually be translated literally to mean "bastard." but we're just a lowly, third-world, savage people who killed magellan and eat dogs. (point of clarification--i'm fairly certain i'm not a descendant of the guy who actually killed magellan, and i don't eat dog...at least not knowingly.)
anyway, i was sitting in a meeting today where some woman said she didn't want to "stretch the envelope" which made me sort of snort to myself because even my ignorant english-as-a-second-language ass knows the actual phrase is "pushing the envelope." but it was only a minor triumph because i had no idea what "pushing the envelope" meant.
growing up, i'd try to figure out what certain clichés meant by examining the context in which the phrases were being used. i gave up most of the time. this is why i hated reading as a child.
a few years ago, i got brave and tried to causually throw the phrase "quick and dirty" into a conversation with my (white) friend jim. i've since stopped using such clichés around him after saying we could do a "dirty quickie." he never seems to forget about this incident and tells me constantly that i'm just a slant-eye trying to sound like a round-eye. but he's from minnesota and sounds just like that betty white character from the golden girls, so he's pretty much foreign too.
anyway, pardon me, white people, for complaining about your language. i did look up the meaning of "pushing the envelope," and i'm glad to say that i may actually remember its definition for the next five minutes.
and in the future, if you have any interest in learning how to call your child a bastard in filipino, let me know. we're a friendly people like that. i've also got a screamin' recipe for some chicken adobo, and i'll gladly trade you for the recipe of something you people refer to as "casserole."
posted by rach at 12:14 am
5 Comments:
Its ok, if you tell me you would like a "dirty quickie", I would know what you mean... haha...
I want to learn Tagalog... I have a video from my camera with a filipino girl telling me something in tagalog. She asked me to find out what it means. Maybe I can send you the video with the audio of her and I saying it? Then you can translate it for me possibly?
that depends.
if you sense that she was digging you, then she was probably saying something that i really don't want to have to translate.
either that, or it was something really funny & cruel.
we have a tendency to do that, sometimes.
haahahah, great blog. i consider myself a novice cliche scholar, thanks to my parents who came from cebu 30+ years ago and love 'americanisms' (nothing beats my dad proudly using such words as 'zilch' or my mom announcing that two people were 'screwing each other'). roamed onto your blog bc i was looking to see if anyone else has actually bought the pasta express cookstrain&drain extravaganza. p.s. my dad's family is from mactan island and says that he's a direct descedant of lapu lapu. HAH!
I found out what she said. I am learning Tagalog slowly.
I'll trade you adobo for mole. Speaking of which, I just bought a jar of something called "mole verde", which is green mole and I'm a little wary of trying it. My plan is to just try a spoonful on a very small piece of chicken. That way, if it sucks, I've only wasted $2.00 for the mole and not a ton of good chicken. Bok!
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