Verboten

I find it both amusing and somewhat sick at the same time that when learning a new language, it’s always the bad words I get to learn first.

Back when I was just a young ‘un, a family from Tarlac moved to the house adjacent to ours. The mother often gave her kids an earful and it was from those live and loud episodes of parental castigations that I picked up the Kapampangan swear phrase, “Puta nay da mo!” which sounds a lot like and has the same meaning as the Tagalog “Putang ina mo!”: “Your mother is a whore!” So the mother was actually telling her kids about her profession every time she told them off. Huhm.

Years later, attending a university in the predominantly Ilocano-speaking city of Baguio, one of the first words I learned was, sure enough, one that would fit quite well in an outburst of Ilocano profanity. Breathe in, and say, “Ukinam!” Again, in the tradition of the aforementioned expletives and Western culture’s “Yo Mama” jokes, the curse word pertains to one’s mother. But this time it’s not about her sleazy occupation; it simply refers to her genitalia. Literally, “Yo Mama’s cunt!” We ~~Pangalatok~~ Pangasinan-speaking folks say “Baoninam!” instead to convey the same possessive form.

Also while in college, studying sign language on the side, I learned a new way to express anger, exasperation, frustration and other similar emotions with a simple hand gesture. Nope, it’s not by flipping the bird. I learned that a long time ago. It turned out members of the deaf community have a general agreement that if somebody does the handshape for F and points it straight at you, that’s as good as him or her telling you to F yourself. Makes sense.

Now, working for a Japanese company, I am largely obligated to learn the language of the anime. It’s so excruciating at times, all I can say is “Kuso!”

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