Etymology of Pinoy Cuss Words WORDS: KHYNE PALUMAR AND RHIANNA FLORESCA PHOTOS FROM VIDEO 48 November 6, 2012 | 3415 views
Repeat a word enough times, and it loses its meaning. Witness: cuss words. Putang ina. Gago. Ulol. Tarantado. Once, they might have been the most cutting, brutal verbal assaults the world has ever heard, with an effect not totally unlike a rapper telling someone how he made sweet, sweet love to that someone's mother the night prior. Now, these words are nothing but a little salt and pepper sprinkled into normal conversation. Nonetheless, we are fond of them, if only to mock our parents who once told us never to say bad words. So as a manner of tribute, here we are laying them all out in their full offensive glory with their respective origin stories. Read on, mga kups!
EPAL Noun. (eh-pâhl) The colloquial transliteration of “pumapapel,” or to volunteer unwelcome activity/butt in uninvitingly. Epal has also been mistaken to refer to the same penile discharge that kupal describes, for the simple reason that History Professor Michael Chua says: “Magkalapit sila ng tunog. So the words are associated with each other.” Adding, although they’re both used to refer to an unlikable person, epal falls on the milder end of the cursing spectrum. BOBO
Adjective/noun. (Boh-boh) Traces back to the Spanish word of the same pronunciation and spelling, which means silly (“boba” in female form) in contrast to its more scathing Pinoy definition—idiot/dimwit. But you’re thinking, “Hindi naman siya mura, eh.” Filipino Linguistic Professor David San Juan argues: “Sa kultura kasi nating mga Pinoy, hangga’t maari, ayaw nating makasakit ng damdamin. We prefer euphemisms to the actual word. Kahit alam nating bobo ang isang tao, hindi natin sasabihing, ‘Bobo ka!’ to his or her face maliban kung galit tayo. Nagiging mura siya kasi sensitive tayo sa paggamit ng salita.” Related words that you may want to use to change things up according to San Juan: tunggak, ungas, idiota.
TARANTADO Noun. (Tran-ta-doh) From the Spanish “Attarantado,” which means to frighten or incite panic, and old Italian “Attarantar” which alludes to epileptics. Tarantado, is Spanish vulgar-colloquial for “blunderhead,” or “stupid.”
GAGO/GAGA Adjective. Noun. (gah-gah/gah-goh) In Spanish, a person who stutters or stammers a lot. Later adapted in Tagalog to refer to someone stupid, idiotic, and/or a screw-up, apparently because a person who fidgets with words is prone to humiliation, and describes all these things.
INA MO, PUTANG Noun. (pooh-tuhng ee-nah mô) A variation of “anak ka ng puta” except the premise of you being a possible bastard plays
secondary to the central insult—your mother being a whore, or more crassly, your mother’s vagina. Historian Dr. Luis Dery, PhD, explains: “This is probably the most bastos. ‘Putang ina mo’ is not talking about your mother being a puta, it’s about the female sex organ—puta ng ina mo.” Its regional variations: “Bolig ni ina mo” in Bikolano, “Bilat sing ina mo” in Bisaya, and in less overheard Tagalog, “Pekpek/Puke ng ina mo.”
LECHE Noun. (leht-schë) In clean, textbook Spanish: milk. Its dirtier equivalent you could’ve guessed: “The phrase used to be ‘mal leche’—bad milk, or panis na gatas,” says Chua. “So sa colloquial, mal leche, is yung gatas ng ari ng lalaki. Ito yung semen, o di kaya yung maduming puti sa ulo ng ari ng lalaki.” (see: Kupal) LECHUGAS Noun. (leht-schu-guhs) Adjusted Tagalog-plural for the Spanish “lechuga”—or lettuce/lettuce head. Used in conjunction to a particularly ugly situation, and not directed to anyone in particular, i.e. “Damn it!” Why a veritable vegetable landed on our cuss vocabulary, even our panel of experts can only guess. And if we could: the “head” in “lettuce head” is a probable clue.
LINTIK Noun. (leen-tehk) Shortened from the original curse phrase “Malintikan ka sana,” which translates to “Tamaan ka sana ng kidlat,” “Kidlatan ka sana” and interpreted as: “May bad luck befall on you” and/or “Mamatay ka na.”
PUTA Noun. (Pooh-tah) A female whore. Why “putos” never caught up, or why male gigolos refused to elicit anything other than giggles on the insult front, can, according to Dery, be pegged on our unforgivably male language system. And he says, it’s not just ours. "Sa Alemanya, ang salitang ‘Kindergarten’ ay mula sa salitang bata, bahay, gawain sa bahay. That’s what women are perceived to be for—para lang sa bata, at para lang sa bahay. Very male ang language, hindi lang Tagalog. And it affects every aspect of our language, pati ang cursing, which degrades women, directly or directly.”
KUPAL Noun. (Koo-pahl) Literally the smegma from the glands of an uncircumcised penis—Tagalog for “dick wad” and the colloquial leche. Metaphorically referring to any dumbass who annoys the scorn and dislike out of you. Why you’d use it in reference to a human being, Chua says: “Remember, one context of cursing is to insult and shock. Ano pa bang nakakainsultong dumi kung hindi yung dumi sa ari?” BUWISIT Noun. (Bwee-cit) 1. An earlier derivative of today’s modern “Purita Kalaw” which refers to poor people. Except buwisit isn’t simply poor, Chua says buwisit’s level of poorness is that of “walang damit at walang pagkain” alluding to an old TV show that discussed its possible etymologies. 2. Borrowed from the Hokkien word/idiom loosely translating to instances or people associated as “pests,” “nuisance,” or “annoyance.” In its less direct translation, buwisit refers to “bad luck.”
PUñETA/PUNYETA Noun. (Pooh-nyeh-tah) 1. Misleadingly passes off as a euphemistic or diminutive variation of whore, i.e. a somewhat puta junior. But thumb through Spanish dictionaries and you’ll find the word doesn’t exist. Chua explains: “Wala talagang word na puñeta or punyeta sa Kastila. Ang pinakamalapit na word para dito is puño—a closed fist. Kaya ang connotation ng iba kapag sinabihan sila ng punyeta ay para silang sinusuntok.” 2. Chua adds: “Pero, mayroong pinagtanungan si Ambeth Ocampo [historian, author of Looking Back, 1990] na ang salitang ito raw ay Mexican-Colloquial or Mexican-Spanish. Remember ang historical context nito, nang masakop tayo ng mga Kastila, we were not ruled directly from and by Spain. Spain ruled vice royalties, and we were under one of those vice royalties—the vice royalty of Nueva España or Mexico. At sa Mexico, mayroon silang sariling version ng Spanish. From which comes Puñeta. Galing siya sa phrase na 'Vas tu puñetar.' Ang ibig sabihin ng ‘vas tu’ ay ‘you go’—‘You go masturbate.’” PUTRIS/PUTRAGIS Noun. (Poo-träh-gees) 1. Similarly spelled to the last letter in Latin (Putris), which means “crumbling” or “rotten.” 2. Putragis is our Filipino-Spanish approximation of the combined putris and putere which means “to stink.” Now, both meaning an individual who is both mabaho and kadiri or naagnas.
PUTA, ANAK KA NG Noun. (ah-nuk kah nahng poo-tah) Our version of the Spanish “hijo de puta” and English “son of a bitch.” But unlike its other
versions, our Tagalog “anak ka ng puta” is gender neutral. Tossed around to hit two birds with one stone. You, the possible bastard, and your mother, of many lovers.
