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Jeff Werner

Designer in Vancouver, Canada. Secretary of the 221A Artist Run Centre, member of Fieldwork design collective, and former exhibit designer at the Beaty Biodiversity Museum and the Vancouver Aquarium. Graduate of Emily Carr and University of Victoria, and worked in the Philippines, Indonesia and the Netherlands. Cycling advocate and race on the Garneau Evolution team.

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.

CRW_6956.jpg
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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