philippines Daily Activities Goods and Services Travel, July 18, 2007 5:36 PM 5 comments
Filipino Text Slang
So the Philippines is literally the text--or txt--capital of the world. More people send messages through their cellphones here than anywhere.
The P1200 (approx. $27 CAN) used, ubiquitous (Nokia has sold over 1 billion) Nokia 1100 phone I bought from a street vendor in Baguio. Here pictured during a hike overlooking the Banaue rice terraces, the only place I picked up a Globe-provider signal in the whole region--and where I got a txt spam.
One article from 2005 says there's about one cell phone for every two people here. That year 250 million texts were sent.
I get a good chunk of those on my phone in the form of spam. Everyday. And so now a sampling of some hardcore Tagalog-Engrish-Hybrid Txt Spam Action from the past week:
-----------------------
,** mOrN!nGs
(ö, ) gEt
((")(") SwEeTeR
wHeN..
,**
( ö, ) ü tH!nK
(")(") Of p!PöL wHö
mKeS üR
,** hEaRt&L!fE
( ,ö) bEaUt!füL&
(")(")bLeSt!ThNx
2ü&GBYü!güdAM
Sent:
10-July-2007
15:10:52
-----------------------
-----------------------
smE
ppOL
aSk mE
h0w
nicE
&w0ndrfuL
u R,
i sEd..
"m0r dAn wt u
xPctd!"
aftr
a
few
mOmEnts
dEy
rquEstd
mE
2
dscRyb
u
i sEd;
"wg nLng..mAinluv p kAu"
Sent: 10-July-2007
17:33:30
-----------------------
-----------------------
msrp
mgkrOn
ng
kaibgn..
my
kausp
lgi..
my
ksm
lgi..
my
krmy
s
iht..
pro
alm m
qng anong
ms msrp?
pg
ang
kaibgn..
ay
ikw..
Mrming slmt h! ü
Sent:
10-July-2007
16:31:56
-----------------------
-----------------------
Kult
Sent:
10-July-2007
13:38:17
-----------------------
-----------------------
Dkanba mgttxt?ok
i tnk i go a head n
cngrats my gf
kna.bye
Sent:
9-July-2007
17:03:49
-----------------------
OK I just showed a local some of these text messages and then realized they may in fact all be from someone I know. Or, as my informant tells me, I could have gotten a used SIM and phone number. Or, most likely, these are semi-spams that make the rounds on the phones here when people forward them to 10 of their friends.
5 comments on Filipino Text Slang
1. tcoen | July 19, 2007 12:17 AM
They don't seem to be selling anything. But I can't actually say I understand more than say 5% of the content, and even that is suspect.
That is some crazy communication. tc.bye
2. Tyler | July 20, 2007 1:39 PM
Hey, the first two are actually readable. The 3rd and 4th are jibberish though. They must be more Tagalog.
The 2nd (my interpretation):
Some people ask me how nice and wonderful you are. I said, "More than what you expected!" After a few moments they requested that I describe you. I said, "Wang and lung I mainly love to poke a you."
It was going pretty good until the end there.
3. Marco | August 29, 2007 10:22 AM
Tyler, the last line:
"wg nLng..mAinluv p kAu"
translates to:
'No way, you might fall in love'
4. Marco | August 29, 2007 10:27 AM
For the the text that was sent:
10-July-2007
16:31:56
Is in Tagalog and translates to:
It's great to have a friend, you have someone to talk to, you have company. But you know what's better? If that friend is you.
5. precious | November 15, 2007 2:06 PM
dat's how filipinos r unique..
im proud 2 b 1..
=D
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