Mercado: Doble doble

HAD I known in advance that Ms. Venus Raj was in Angeles City the week last, I could have interviewed her about her celebrated performance in the quiz portion of the Miss Universe contest.

The Ms. Universe 4th runner-up was at Holy Mary Memorial park where she bid farewell to another national beauty, the late Melody Gersbach who was interred in the City of Friendship after a fatal road accident.

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Melody grew up in Angeles City. Her father owned a high-end restaurant at Clark, and was a much-sought-after chef for the city’s wealthy families.

It is good to know once in a while that international beauties visit Angeles to balance the perception that the city is a dumpsite of murder victims.

I would have told Ms. Raj that her “major major” reply to a quiz question was not really a ground for grave misconduct.

The young girl’s linguistic faux pas was not really embarrassing in the context of our Filipino setting.

If disgrace there was or shame for her faulty choice of words, it is shared by all of us Pinoys and are subject to a peculiar language that makes us distinctly what we are – Filipinos.

The truth is most of us draft our unexpressed thoughts in our dialect then translate the message to English.

This eerie culture, generally, is nurtured by our respective dialects which reflect and influence our thoughts and action.

The English language is direct and clear. A single word describes its complete meaning as in “Wrong.” Emphasis is not achieved by using “wrong-wrong” as we do in the dialect: “maling-mali.” “Mali” is not enough to convey our thought.

As has been the common ridicule, we are humorously chided for our penchant in choosing some double names. In our culture, names, to be endearing and intimate, have to repeat a word to make a rhyme: Noynoy, Tonton, Vicvic, Junjun, Ricric, Jingjing, etc. A Kapampangan housewife during a spat was heard shouting to her husband, “Love- love, animal ka talaga.”

Perhaps it is the “makulit” nature in us that makes us react to messages when they become repetitive. So we like to use a pair of words with identical sounds, hyphenated or not, as in “pares pares” “pito pito.”

Instead of saying “Ang tanga mo,” we make the meaning stronger by a double pejorative, “Ang tanga-tanga mo.” In most cases, the one called “tanga” becomes dumber and dumber still.

Our version of alliteration is an attempt to modify meaning as in deep shame (hiyang-hiya); pleasure (sarap-sarap), joy (tuwang-tuwa); dryness (tuyong-tuyo); anxiety (kabang-kaba); energy (latang-lata); condition (sirang-sira)

Two of my media colleagues are often described as “walang-wala” for Macky Pangan and “latang-latang” for Mang Rizal after patronizing a cheap massage parlor. You can describe me as “litong-lito” after I attended a public breast-feeding session of young matrons at SM Pampanga.

Filipino society has a distinctly native vocabulary of polyglot expressions from the various regions.

I learned from an exciting lady columnist from Sun.Star Cebu, for instance, that intercourse dog-style is “habal-habal” in that area. I thought that compound word is a means of motorized transportation along Colon St.

Our common capacity in expressing feeling and reflection is enhanced by the habitual “major major” emphasis on words through repetitions and phonetic variations.

Take the words “turo-turo” (roadside diner); “siyam siyam” (more than nine days of continuous rains); “tusok tusok” for fishballs, chicken adidas IUD, and (yucks) buldit manok.

Pampangos, for example, have a round-about way – guised as tact in conveying a message subtly: “Lambis lambisan me pa.” Or bola-bola me pa.” We are good at verbal and actual dissimulation. This explains our heavy produce of politicians and swindlers.

To go on Pinoy survival mode; there is “kanya kanya.” “Minsan minsan” is the aging men’s reply to the interview portion on their sexual (mis)behavior.

“Tau-tauhan” means a puppet “Beso beso” is what our folks do when they want to display breeding or pretensions of nobility.

Ms. Venus Raj was not aware of it but she was merely using compound words to emphasize a situation while in an agitated mode. “Major major” is aptly an adverbial compound, the first “major” modifying an adjective (major).

It was done in the mindset of an overexcited Bicolana. The onomatopeic words unintentionally created a blending of sound and sense, though in ungrammatical usage.

I’m Pampanga compound words similar to Raj’s major major are in declarative mood as in “masira sira.” or “mabolang bolang.”

You are forgiven Ms. Venus. Minor minor lang ‘yan. As the Tagalogs say, “Ayos na ang buto-buto.”

Next time you join another contest, never say always always but you can always say never, never.