Comfortablility in the Family: Common Words Used at Home

Members of the family develop a certain language that only they can understand within their group. Sometimes, they make up words that don’t exist at all and use them as pet names for their members.

                There are several words and phrases that could be heard at home that would seem nonsense for others but would be well understood by the members of our family.-An example of these are expressions that I use at home.

                At times, I would add the words, “Joke” or “charot” to my sentences. “Charot” is commonly known as the gay lingo term for “Joke.” Members of my family understand that whenever I use these words, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I am joking but rather, they are just expressions that I use whenever the conversation seems to be awkward or whenever I feel like I have said something offensive but would not want to offend anyone.

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                Words made up by my mother are “bunignig,” “bulingling,” “pachuchut,” “pachuchay,” and “kolokoy.” These words would pertain to me and my brother. They are often used by my mother when she is trying to be sweet to us and whenever she is in a good mood.

                My mother makes use of various pet names for me and my brother and at times she would use the word “biik” to pertain to us. In the Filipino language, the word “biik” is synonymous to piglet in English.

                When my mother is at work, she would talk to her friends about us and substitute the word, children with “biik.” Some who know her well would understand that she is talking about me and my brother, but others who aren’t very close to her would wonder if she really has pet piglets at home.

So, whenever she would say, “Uwi na ako. Hinihintay na ako ng mga biik ko,” People who are close to her will immediately understand that she needs to come home to attend to her children’s needs.

My father on the other hand, would use the word, “anakerts” to address me and my brother. He also makes up words by mixing up syllables of actual words, like, “goli” for “ligo” “inka” for “kain.”

                My parents also make use of certain words to address each other. Instead of calling each other by their names or using the usual, “honey,” “babe,” or “mahal,” they call each other “Momsie,”  and “Popsie” or even “Mamerts”  and “Popperts.” The two are substitutes for the usual, “Mama” and “Papa.”

                My mother also substitutes certain explicit words with different words that she made up. She uses “Pokengkeng” for the female reproductive part and “Patotoy” for the male reproductive part.

                Whenever I’m at home and I sit too comfortably, she would say, “Wag mo i-expose yang pokengkeng mo.” In the literal English translation it is “Don’t expose your female reproductive area.” But what my mother is really trying to say is that, I should sit in a lady-like manner and avoid keeping my legs apart because it looks inappropriate.