Oh those foul mouthed Westerners

We arrived in the Philippines with a couple of words and phrases under our belt, some of the words included; auntie, uncle, how are you? I am fine… and other colourful words that I can not translate to English here in our blog! Most of which I learned from my fellow co workers. Why is it that the bad words always stick in your memory?

At home saying bad words like throwing the occasional “F” bomb into sentences really has lost its shock value. It’s become more or less an adjective or a filler word meaning a mass of different things. Well as I learned it’s quite the contrary in the Philippines, especially in the more rural areas that we were staying in.

On one occasion after drinking quite a few Tanduay (local rum) and cokes our filters came off our mouths. Joking around we said that “special” phrase "Putang Ina Mo" which pretty much made our new local friends mouths drop and simultaneously brought a blush to their faces. They said in horror “no no… you can’t say that~ it’s bad!” I quickly learned that swearing in the Philippines is not a funny pastime like it is at home. In a country where people are constantly calling us “sir & madam”, and polieness is shown to everyone these bad words have certainly not lost their shock value.

~Nicola