Here is just a small sampling of English words you may not have realized didn’t always mean what they mean in the Philippines (in alphabetical order).
1. Bad trip
English - a result of one's vacation not such as to be hoped for or desired; unpleasant or unwelcome.
Filipino - any feeling that makes you feel bad or uptight or angry or any way but good.
e.g. "Wow, Pare, bad trip! I didn't quite answer all the questions in my exams today."
2. Bedspace
English - a space in which an individual bed is or is intended to be placed, especially regarded as an area belonging to the bed's occupant, and including the other furniture, possessions, etc., normally adjacent to it.
Filipino - (of a bedspacer) for someone who shares a room with others, mostly catering to students and employees who live far and wants to be nearer to their school or place of work.
e.g. "Saan ka ba nagbe-bedspace, I need one preferably in the Makati area."
3. Blooming
English - a garden of flowers fully flourishing, prospering.
Filipino - someone who is looking good, often because of a lifestyle change; glowing, as with youthful vigor and freshness
e.g. "I like you today, Mary, you're so blooming, ang ganda-ganda mo!"
4. Boodle fight
English - "boodle" means a great quantity, especially of money, and "fight" is to take part in a violent struggle involving the exchange of physical blows or the use of weapons.
Filipino - is the military practice of eating a meal that dispenses with cutlery and dishes. Diners eat with their hands from food placed on top of a long banana leaf-lined table, diners do not sit in chairs but instead stand shoulder to shoulder in a line on both sides of the table.
e.g. "Okay kumain doon sa Casa Imelda, they offer great boodle fight lunches during the weekends."
5. Chancing
English - do (something) despite its being dangerous or of uncertain outcome.
Filipino - making a move in the sexual context and other sexual advances over someone who is most likely not wanting the advances.
e.g. "I don't like that Joshua. Akalain mo, na-chancingan niya ako while we were sitting beside each other inside the car."
6. Comfort Room
English - a room in a public building or workplace furnished with amenities such as facilities for resting, personal hygiene, and storage of personal items (now rare).
Filipino - also referred to as "CR", a room with toilets in a public place, can also be referred to as the ladies' room and the men's room.
e.g. "Do you know where the comfort room is? I ate something bad this morning, parang sumasakit tiyan ko."
7. Cowboy
English - a man, typically one on horseback, who herds and tends cattle, especially in the western US and as represented in westerns and novels.
Filipino - a person who is not nitpicky and pretentious.
e.g. "You'd like to bring him to carinderia restaurants. He's so koboy!"
8. Double deck
English - having two decks, levels, or layers, mostly a double-deck bus or a double-deck sandwich
Filipino - the popular term for the bunk bed, which is also known in other countries as the double bed.
e.g. "Ma. gusto ko sa birthday ko ay double deck, I need a spare bed for my classmates when they come here for a sleep-over."
9. Eat-all-you-can
English - version is "all-you-can-eat" used to describe a meal at a restaurant where people can serve themselves as much food as they want.
Filipino - means the same except the placement of the contracted words.
e.g. "Let's go to Timog Avenue, there's a lot of eat-all-you-can there, masasarap!"
10. Feeler
English - a tentative proposal intended to ascertain someone's attitude or opinion.
Filipino - a narcissistic person who is overly admiring him/herself in a certain way, sometimes irritating others. Referred to as “feeling maganda/gwapo” or “feelingero/a”.
e.g. "You know that Eula from the Science class. I hate her, she's totally so feeler!"
11. High blood
English - also known as hypertension, is a common condition in which the long-term force of the blood against your artery walls is high enough that it may eventually cause health problems, such as heart disease.
Filipino - a state of mind when a person gets angry or agitated.
e.g. "Naha-high blood na naman ako sa iyo! Please do as you're told and follow instructions carefully!
12. Live-In
English - (of an employee or student) reside at the place where one works or studies.
Filipino - means common-law relationships where a man and a woman lives together as husband and wife without the benefit of a formal marriage.
e.g. "Sina Boy at Jessica, nagli-live in na pala sila. I saw them in their rented apartment once."
13. Maniac
English - a person exhibiting extreme symptoms of wild behavior, especially when violent and dangerous.
Filipino - a sexually perverted person, also often called manyakis.
e.g. "Enzo brought me to the movies yesterday. Didn't expect him to be so manyak, he's groping me all over!"
14. Napkin
English - a square piece of cloth or paper used at a meal to wipe the fingers or lips and to protect garments, or to serve food on.
Filipino - an absorbent pad worn by women to absorb menstrual blood.
e.g. " Beshie, can I ask for a napkin, pahiram muna kasi meron ako, eh."
15. Racket
English - a type of bat with a round or oval frame strung with catgut, nylon, etc., used especially in tennis, badminton, and squash.
Filipino - a freelancing job such as writer, designer, performer, or the like, selling work or services by the hour, day, job, etc., rather than working on a regular salary basis for one employer.
e.g. "Hey, it's a long weekend ahead. Hanap tayo ng raket, sayang ang oras."
16. Salvage
English - the rescue of a wrecked or disabled ship or its cargo from loss at sea.
Filipino - to be killed or murdered by a criminal gang, oftentimes used by the media to describe a murder case.
e.g. "Have you heard the news? Na-salvage daw si Joey, the people who did it dumped his body by the river."
17. Slippers
English - a comfortable slip-on shoe that is worn indoors like bedroom slippers and moccasins.
Filipino - natively called tsinelas, it just means the same thing, only looks different and designed more like the American flip-flops.
e.g. "Don't forget to bring sets of slippers on the beach, they're comfortable in the sands.
18. Tomboy
English - a girl who enjoys rough, noisy activities traditionally associated with boys.
Filipino - a lesbian or a a homosexual woman.
e.g. "Remember Melay? Tomboy na siya ngayon, she's often seen dating Pamela."
19. Videoke
English - (as in karaoke) a form of entertainment, originally from Japan, in which recordings of the music but not the words of popular songs are played, so that people can sing the words themselves.
Filipino - similar with karaoke, except that it's a result of combining karaoke with video and was first introduced in the country in the 1990s.
e.g. "It's fun to attend birthday celebrations in Tondo, Manila. They always have videokes to sing with pag nakapag-serve na ng beer."
20. Vulcanizing shop
English - the Roman god Vulcan was the god of fire and of skills that used fire, such as metalworking. So when Charles Goodyear discovered that high heat would result in stronger rubber, he called the process "vulcanization" after the god of fire.
Filipino - a repair shop, usually "jack-in-the-shack" type where deflated/punctured tires are repaired and brought back to working condition.
e.g. "Got a flat tire on my way to work, good thing there's a vulcanizing shop nearby."
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