When Katrina said ‘Binaboy ako,’ swine flu cases went up
This week in Barrio Siete, I speak about the ramifications of language and the many meanings it can conjure.
Take for instance Katrina Halili’s famous line in the Most Downloaded Video of the Year. Whereas other phrases can easily be translated from Tagalog to English, her utterance of “Binaboy ako” was lost on some experts. “I was swined” or “I was porkified” is kinda awkward and is just for joking. ” I was treated like a pig” is rather harsh for something that she probably enjoyed, if only it was kept more private.
Being “lost in translation” is something we always encounter. In this country of 7,107 islands, there exists several hundred dialects. A word in one province can have a nasty meaning in another, and this is where the riot comes in.
A few of the strange words that cropped up in the comments:
Utong sa Tagalog means nipples. In Ilocos, it’s perfectly okay to munch on utong because it means string beans 
Utot as we in Manila know it is a fart, utot in Pangasinan is a mouse (via the Cath)
Asapu ke in Kapampangan means “I caught it.”
Cebuano speakers like moi find it normal to say “nalibugan ko” when am confused. In Manila, this will get you in big trouble 
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