as i write this, i'm waiting for the pictures from our zambales outing to be uploaded to my facebook account. i got hit by nostalgia today and i realized that i had not uploaded those pictures to FB (but i do have them in my multiply and FS accounts, haha).
looking at all those pictures, i felt some form of, well, not nostalgia, but regret. that outing was the first and perhaps the only time that the whole quality team of the company (QAs and their leads, from 4 accounts) came together for a whole week end. it was half an outing and half a team building session, because we had an HR rep (angie) with us, and we had some cool activities for the team. these activities aimed at strengthening our bonds with our fellows. i can't forget the iron chef meets amazing race challenge. there's the cake eating contest. and the pinoy henyo game. and of course, my favorite, the tomador challenge, which made me swear off drinking hard liquor forever. haha.
i wonder if this will happen again, now that the quality team's number has been reduced. starting this week, i will be transitioning to another account as QA analyst (not really a change, because i'll be dealing with the same people), but some of us are not within the quality team anymore. some have been moved to ops, others will move to nonvoice accounts. i just wish the kind of fun we had at last year's team building/outing would be repeated. i don't know how, but i wish it would be.
something to read about....
5 tips for making yourself more valuable to your company
by , on Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:03am PDTMy company is talking layoffs, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stressed out about it. Who stays and who goes may come down to things we can't control -- seniority, for instance, or full-time vs. part-time status, or the number of people in a given job category. But there are a few variables that can be controlled, and they can make a big difference in how valuable you are as an employee: Dedication, visibility, and special skills.
Here are five tips for keeping up with the things you can still control.
1.) Designate one day per week when you will come in early. Get there before the boss does; if you can manage it, get there before everyone else does, too. It doesn't have to be the same day each week, and it doesn't have to be by much, but that little extra bit of facetime can go a long way toward keeping you on the office radar and reminding people that you are, indeed, dedicated to the company.
2.) Designate one day per week when you will stay late. Later than your boss, later than everyone else, if you can, for the same reason stated above. Facetime, facetime, facetime.
3.) Look busy. A New York Times article about looking busy struck a chord with me, not because I'm lacking in things to do around the office, but because I hadn't thought about it before. I work at a computer -- I'd have to try hard not to look busy -- but if you're not at a desk job, then make sure you look like you have plenty to do, even if that means refolding the shirt display eleventy billion times a week.
4.) Be busy. Take on extra work if you can. I've noticed that, over the past few months, my mindset has changed from "They don't pay me enough to deal with that" to "Well, they pay me." A friend of mine whose husband was just laid off explained it this way: We've gone from a sense of entitlement -- not "I deserve a bonus because I'm great" but "I've worked here for 15 years, I ought to be able to work part time if I need to" -- to having to buckle down and compete with everyone all over again. Your company is going to want to wring every last bit of effort out of you in exchange for that paycheck; it's a lot more palatable if you beat them to it.
5.) Expand your skill set. Think of it this way: If you were just entering the workforce, you'd consider an unpaid internship, right, just to get the experience? Try to choose something you haven't done often before and, when the project is complete, add it to your resume, and show your boss that you have skills above and beyond the ones they hired you for.
Lylah M. Alphonse writes about juggling career and parenthood at The 36-Hour Day and Work It, Mom!, and blogs at Write. Edit. Repeat.
bar exams 2008
the supreme court just released the results of the 2008 bar exams. as expected, a woman topped the bar. the surprise is, she is not a graduate of UP, ateneo or san beda. her name is judy a. lardizabal, and she made the san sebastian college school of law very very proud.
the second surprise is the #2 spot, which was given to another woman, and again not a graduate of UP, ateneo or san beda. mylene i. amerol-macumbal is from the mindanao state university college of law.
*****
every year, at around this time, i feel some sort of emotional distress. i last took the bar exams in 2006, which was the third time for me. in 2007, when the results came up and i did not make it yet again, i felt like i wasted, what, 5 years of my life slugging it out in law school when i should have been carving out a career for myself. at the age of 25 i was still in school when my peers were already managers. at the age of 25 i was still being supported by my parents, and my dad could not retire because i relied on him for my tuition fees. at the age of 25 i was hopeful that i would become what my father could not be: the first lawyer in the family.
in 2003 that dream failed. in 2004 that dream failed again. in 2007, it failed a third time, and i gave up.
my status message for today reads, "maybe it was meant for them and not for me. then again, there are other things that God has planned for me. i take all these in His name." people here at work thought that i was referring to the recent changes at work. actually, "it" refers to becoming a lawyer. maybe there are certain kinds of people who are meant to be lawyers, maybe i'm not one of them, although sometimes i imagine how my life would be like had i passed the bar and taken my oath. it might be way different from the life i live now. it could be better, or it could be worse. i don't really know.
the second surprise is the #2 spot, which was given to another woman, and again not a graduate of UP, ateneo or san beda. mylene i. amerol-macumbal is from the mindanao state university college of law.
*****
every year, at around this time, i feel some sort of emotional distress. i last took the bar exams in 2006, which was the third time for me. in 2007, when the results came up and i did not make it yet again, i felt like i wasted, what, 5 years of my life slugging it out in law school when i should have been carving out a career for myself. at the age of 25 i was still in school when my peers were already managers. at the age of 25 i was still being supported by my parents, and my dad could not retire because i relied on him for my tuition fees. at the age of 25 i was hopeful that i would become what my father could not be: the first lawyer in the family.
in 2003 that dream failed. in 2004 that dream failed again. in 2007, it failed a third time, and i gave up.
my status message for today reads, "maybe it was meant for them and not for me. then again, there are other things that God has planned for me. i take all these in His name." people here at work thought that i was referring to the recent changes at work. actually, "it" refers to becoming a lawyer. maybe there are certain kinds of people who are meant to be lawyers, maybe i'm not one of them, although sometimes i imagine how my life would be like had i passed the bar and taken my oath. it might be way different from the life i live now. it could be better, or it could be worse. i don't really know.
Tagalog slang
Pinoy Kasi
Tagalog slang
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:40:00 03/27/2009
Filed Under: Language, Books, Human Interest
This morning, i had “thinapay” for breakfast, the term meaning very thin bread, a sign of difficult economic times.
“Thinapay” is one of the entries in “Pinoy Dyok-syo-nar-yo: The Completest Edition” by Ferdinand Aguas, with illustrations by Ace Cada. While eating the thinapay, I realized it’s been a long time since I did a column on language and I thought I should feature this different kind of dictionary.
The compilation is obviously meant to be mainly for entertainment but it gives some interesting insights into Filipino culture. For starters, the palm-sized book reminds us how dynamic languages are. What we call “Filipino” — a mix mainly of Tagalog words but with many influences from outside, as well as other Philippine languages — continues to evolve, perhaps at a much faster rate than ever before.
The last time there was a good compilation of colloquial Tagalog was in 1993, when De La Salle University published Tagalog Slang Dictionary (compiled by David Zorc and Rachel San Miguel and edited by Annabelle Sarra and Patricia Afable). Tagalog Slang Dictionary is extensive, with hundreds of entries, and it includes the etymology or origins of the words. As slang goes, many of the words are no longer in use now (e.g., “baguio” to mean talented, successful, competent, and even sexy) but others have persisted, even becoming part of mainstream Tagalog and Pilipino (e.g., “t.y.” for thank you or to mean something that is free).
Agglutination
Rereading Tagalog Slang Dictionary reminded me of the tendency, in the 1970s, to create new words by inverting syllables. Thus, “yosi” came from playing around with the first and last syllables of “sigarilyo.” “Erap” was actually derived from an inverted “pare.” It was quite a feat for young Filipinos to conduct a conversation with these transposed syllables and I remember friends who could convert every word in a sentence into their inverted slang equivalents. The inversion seemed almost natural for the 1970s, a period of youthful rebellion, a linguistic counter-culture that literally turned languages on their head.
The 300 entries in “Pinoy Dyoksyonaryo” reflect a less daring form of language transformation: agglutination. There are many languages in the world that use agglutination, which means combining two or more “morphemes” or language units that have meanings. German is an example, with their kilometric agglutinated words (a short example is “kindergarten,” combining “kinder,” or children, and “garten,” or garden). Filipino languages are full of agglutinative words (the persistent summer rains bring to my mind “bahaghari,” a rainbow described as a king’s G-string).
Agglutination seems to have picked up locally, producing many amazing and amusing new words. Thus: “yosi” from the 1970s has since given rise to “yosiga” to refer to a “siga” (a person with a swagger) who is always smoking; “yosipit” for a cigarette that one sticks over the ear (“ipit”); and “yostik,” which is a safety device made by tying a lit cigarette to a stick and using this to light a firecracker!
Since there are so many terms in “Dyoksyonaryo,” I thought I’d focus on terms related to the body. There were quite a few, which show an almost obsessive interest in anatomy and physiology.
For example, “puhok” refers to the short hair (“buhok”) around a whorl (“puyo”). You can see there’s more than agglutination involved as we coin new words. Filipinos love punning or playing on the sounds in words so it shouldn’t be surprising that “buhok” produced “puhok.” Or that we would come up with “newnal” to refer to a new mole. Talking about moles, a “nunalong” is a mole (“nunal”) on the nose (“ilong”), while a “himulmole” refers to the hair on a mole, derived from “himul” (lint) and the English “mole.” See how agglutination can produce mestizo terms, a combination of English and Tagalog?
Terms like “puhok” and “himulmole” suggest a compulsion with body hair. “Bagote” for example means a new (“bago”) mustache (“bigote”). Some years ago I was surprised to learn from my students that there was a term “burnik,” which refers to anal hair. No one seems to be able to explain how the term came about, unlike “karug,” which refers to the hair between the umbilicus and the pubic area. My informants explain that it means “karugtong ng bulbul.”
Skins and scents
Modern technologies give us new terms like “thumbteks,” the thumb used to text messages, and “spawis,” the perspiration (“pawis”) you get in a spa.
A number of slang terms reflect our vulnerabilities to, and fear of skin infections and afflictions. Who would have thought we would come up with “pidimpol” to refer to a pimple on a dimple? “Bigsa” is a big boil, smaller compared to a “kurikingkong,” a large (as in King Kong) “kurikong.” And if someone has the skin sores called “galis,” he should make sure it doesn’t worsen to the point where they become “galisgis” or “galis” that resembles fish scales (“kaliskis”).
Filipinos scrutinize bodies. “Bikinini” refers to bikini marks. Careful, too, Filipinos have noticed, and coined a term, “dumidorant,” to refer to deodorant residues left on the armpit.
We are also very conscious about “tinga” or food residues on the teeth. “Ngitinga” is a smile that exposes all your “tinga” and “dungisngis” is to laugh (“ngisngis”) showing a dirty (“dungis”) mouth. No wonder we have the slang terms “tingador” (a fork or “tinidor” used to remove the “tinga”), “tingadoro” (a person who is always cleaning his teeth) and a “tingago” (to remove “tinga” secretly or “patago”).
We also have very specific terms for some body movements, including “kendilaro” to play (“laro”) with candy in your mouth. “Kabayog” refers to the movements (“yugyog”) while on a horse (“kabayo”), which I can imagine might take on more sensual meanings in the future.
We have generated all kinds of terms for physiological functions and body sensations. “Pinoy Dyoksyonaryo” now has “hilikopter,” which is to snore like a helicopter. “Kilitirik” refers to the way we roll our eyes upwards (“tirik”) when we are tickled (“kiliti”). “Kilig,” a kind of titillated feeling, has always been an intriguing word and it has now spawned a new term, “kilipag,” to refer to the “kilig” feeling they get after they make “pagpag.” (This is a family newspaper so foreigners will have to ask their Filipino friends to explain or demonstrate.)
The slang terms tell us we’re quite comfortable with our bodies, what with our lavish and terribly graphic descriptions. Consider “cutetot,” referring to a gentle (cute) passing of wind (“utot”), but beware, the term is meant to be an understatement because the “cutetot” is said to be deadly.
Talking about deadly smells, I did notice that “Pinoy Dyoksyonaryo” is quite sparse with olfactory terms, perhaps because we already have so many. But give it to the Filipino to agglutinate two of the more terrible terms to produce, hold on to your seats, “panghit.”
Have more new Tagalog slang terms to share? Write Ferdinand Aguas at pinoydyoksyonaryo@gmail.com. And can others begin to compile slang terms in Cebuano, Ilokano and other Philippine languages?
* * *
Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph
Tagalog slang
By Michael Tan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:40:00 03/27/2009
Filed Under: Language, Books, Human Interest
This morning, i had “thinapay” for breakfast, the term meaning very thin bread, a sign of difficult economic times.
“Thinapay” is one of the entries in “Pinoy Dyok-syo-nar-yo: The Completest Edition” by Ferdinand Aguas, with illustrations by Ace Cada. While eating the thinapay, I realized it’s been a long time since I did a column on language and I thought I should feature this different kind of dictionary.
The compilation is obviously meant to be mainly for entertainment but it gives some interesting insights into Filipino culture. For starters, the palm-sized book reminds us how dynamic languages are. What we call “Filipino” — a mix mainly of Tagalog words but with many influences from outside, as well as other Philippine languages — continues to evolve, perhaps at a much faster rate than ever before.
The last time there was a good compilation of colloquial Tagalog was in 1993, when De La Salle University published Tagalog Slang Dictionary (compiled by David Zorc and Rachel San Miguel and edited by Annabelle Sarra and Patricia Afable). Tagalog Slang Dictionary is extensive, with hundreds of entries, and it includes the etymology or origins of the words. As slang goes, many of the words are no longer in use now (e.g., “baguio” to mean talented, successful, competent, and even sexy) but others have persisted, even becoming part of mainstream Tagalog and Pilipino (e.g., “t.y.” for thank you or to mean something that is free).
Agglutination
Rereading Tagalog Slang Dictionary reminded me of the tendency, in the 1970s, to create new words by inverting syllables. Thus, “yosi” came from playing around with the first and last syllables of “sigarilyo.” “Erap” was actually derived from an inverted “pare.” It was quite a feat for young Filipinos to conduct a conversation with these transposed syllables and I remember friends who could convert every word in a sentence into their inverted slang equivalents. The inversion seemed almost natural for the 1970s, a period of youthful rebellion, a linguistic counter-culture that literally turned languages on their head.
The 300 entries in “Pinoy Dyoksyonaryo” reflect a less daring form of language transformation: agglutination. There are many languages in the world that use agglutination, which means combining two or more “morphemes” or language units that have meanings. German is an example, with their kilometric agglutinated words (a short example is “kindergarten,” combining “kinder,” or children, and “garten,” or garden). Filipino languages are full of agglutinative words (the persistent summer rains bring to my mind “bahaghari,” a rainbow described as a king’s G-string).
Agglutination seems to have picked up locally, producing many amazing and amusing new words. Thus: “yosi” from the 1970s has since given rise to “yosiga” to refer to a “siga” (a person with a swagger) who is always smoking; “yosipit” for a cigarette that one sticks over the ear (“ipit”); and “yostik,” which is a safety device made by tying a lit cigarette to a stick and using this to light a firecracker!
Since there are so many terms in “Dyoksyonaryo,” I thought I’d focus on terms related to the body. There were quite a few, which show an almost obsessive interest in anatomy and physiology.
For example, “puhok” refers to the short hair (“buhok”) around a whorl (“puyo”). You can see there’s more than agglutination involved as we coin new words. Filipinos love punning or playing on the sounds in words so it shouldn’t be surprising that “buhok” produced “puhok.” Or that we would come up with “newnal” to refer to a new mole. Talking about moles, a “nunalong” is a mole (“nunal”) on the nose (“ilong”), while a “himulmole” refers to the hair on a mole, derived from “himul” (lint) and the English “mole.” See how agglutination can produce mestizo terms, a combination of English and Tagalog?
Terms like “puhok” and “himulmole” suggest a compulsion with body hair. “Bagote” for example means a new (“bago”) mustache (“bigote”). Some years ago I was surprised to learn from my students that there was a term “burnik,” which refers to anal hair. No one seems to be able to explain how the term came about, unlike “karug,” which refers to the hair between the umbilicus and the pubic area. My informants explain that it means “karugtong ng bulbul.”
Skins and scents
Modern technologies give us new terms like “thumbteks,” the thumb used to text messages, and “spawis,” the perspiration (“pawis”) you get in a spa.
A number of slang terms reflect our vulnerabilities to, and fear of skin infections and afflictions. Who would have thought we would come up with “pidimpol” to refer to a pimple on a dimple? “Bigsa” is a big boil, smaller compared to a “kurikingkong,” a large (as in King Kong) “kurikong.” And if someone has the skin sores called “galis,” he should make sure it doesn’t worsen to the point where they become “galisgis” or “galis” that resembles fish scales (“kaliskis”).
Filipinos scrutinize bodies. “Bikinini” refers to bikini marks. Careful, too, Filipinos have noticed, and coined a term, “dumidorant,” to refer to deodorant residues left on the armpit.
We are also very conscious about “tinga” or food residues on the teeth. “Ngitinga” is a smile that exposes all your “tinga” and “dungisngis” is to laugh (“ngisngis”) showing a dirty (“dungis”) mouth. No wonder we have the slang terms “tingador” (a fork or “tinidor” used to remove the “tinga”), “tingadoro” (a person who is always cleaning his teeth) and a “tingago” (to remove “tinga” secretly or “patago”).
We also have very specific terms for some body movements, including “kendilaro” to play (“laro”) with candy in your mouth. “Kabayog” refers to the movements (“yugyog”) while on a horse (“kabayo”), which I can imagine might take on more sensual meanings in the future.
We have generated all kinds of terms for physiological functions and body sensations. “Pinoy Dyoksyonaryo” now has “hilikopter,” which is to snore like a helicopter. “Kilitirik” refers to the way we roll our eyes upwards (“tirik”) when we are tickled (“kiliti”). “Kilig,” a kind of titillated feeling, has always been an intriguing word and it has now spawned a new term, “kilipag,” to refer to the “kilig” feeling they get after they make “pagpag.” (This is a family newspaper so foreigners will have to ask their Filipino friends to explain or demonstrate.)
The slang terms tell us we’re quite comfortable with our bodies, what with our lavish and terribly graphic descriptions. Consider “cutetot,” referring to a gentle (cute) passing of wind (“utot”), but beware, the term is meant to be an understatement because the “cutetot” is said to be deadly.
Talking about deadly smells, I did notice that “Pinoy Dyoksyonaryo” is quite sparse with olfactory terms, perhaps because we already have so many. But give it to the Filipino to agglutinate two of the more terrible terms to produce, hold on to your seats, “panghit.”
Have more new Tagalog slang terms to share? Write Ferdinand Aguas at pinoydyoksyonaryo@gmail.com. And can others begin to compile slang terms in Cebuano, Ilokano and other Philippine languages?
* * *
Email: mtan@inquirer.com.ph
my stars
from my.yahoo.com.
April 01, 2009
Virgo (8/23-9/22)
A recent change in your work or school life is going to start affecting your social life more than you thought today. You won't have as much free time as you're used to, so hurry up and get in some good quality time with your friends right away! If you are in a relationship, make sure your partner understands the time crunch you might be experiencing soon. It's important to communicate things like this if you want to keep the relationship healthy.
from my.msn.com.
Virgo
August 23 - September 22
Your thinking is quite clear today and you will find that it is right in sync with who you are, dear Virgo. Find your strength in conversations with others in which you display your keen insight of the situation at hand. Your detective-like nature is especially active, and others would find it hard to pull the wool over your eyes at a time like this. Stay tuned in to what is going on around you.
April 01, 2009
Virgo (8/23-9/22)
A recent change in your work or school life is going to start affecting your social life more than you thought today. You won't have as much free time as you're used to, so hurry up and get in some good quality time with your friends right away! If you are in a relationship, make sure your partner understands the time crunch you might be experiencing soon. It's important to communicate things like this if you want to keep the relationship healthy.
from my.msn.com.
Virgo
August 23 - September 22
Your thinking is quite clear today and you will find that it is right in sync with who you are, dear Virgo. Find your strength in conversations with others in which you display your keen insight of the situation at hand. Your detective-like nature is especially active, and others would find it hard to pull the wool over your eyes at a time like this. Stay tuned in to what is going on around you.
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