SEMANTICS, AN EXPLANATION & AN APOLOGY

A month ago, I saw a repeat telecast of an episode of OPRAH. Among her guests were the cast of the award-winning movie CRASH. They were talking about the word ‘nigger’ and the hostess wanted her black guests to share their view as to the use of ‘nigger’ in modern America. One of them said that he and his friends call each other that when they are in a bantering mood and he further suggested that it would be nice if that n-word would be redeemed and have a positive meaning associated with it. However, Oprah and two others were strongly opposed to that. They said that the word has too much of negative connotation and brings back a lot of bad memories, that using it now to identify themselves is like agreeing to all the crimes, and evil that was committed against their race just because of their skin color.

Here in the PI, there is an expletive that is commonly heard among women and gays; the word ‘BRUHA.’ From my younger years until lately, the picture that comes to mind when I hear this word is an unkempt lady; someone whose hair is so tangled that a comb would break if one attempts to smooth the tangles out. This came about because the first time I heard the word was when a character over the radio said, “Magsuklay ka nga! Para kang bruha!” Recently, I came across an English-Tagalog dictionary and saw that the literal meaning of ‘bruha’ is that of a female dog. In English, b_tch. Of course, most people would know early on, but you see, my mother is not a Tagalog! :)

Tanong lang: May naririnig pa ba kayong, “Nanganak ang bruha namin, anim sila!”? Di ba kadalasan ang naririnig ay, “Mag-ingat kayo, may asong kapapanganak diyan.”

When I see movies or read books where people call other people ‘b_tch,’ I cringe inside. Then a few years ago, I met a lady and we became friends and this lady changed my nice name (hehe) into either of these two: “Bruha, or Sis.” At first, I hated it when she starts like, “Uy, bruha, alam mo….” But then sometimes, she’d say, “Hoy, sis!” So then, I resolved that from then on, when I hear “bruha” from this lady, I should not get offended but rather associate to it the meaning of ‘sis’ or anything friendly. And of course, as they say, if you can’t beat them, join them. So I joined her. I also changed her name to "bruha” and call her that all opportunity I get. It became a 'lambing' for us both. The lambing part there is in knowing that we can call each other anything all in the name of our being sisters, and nobody gets offended.

Yesterday, someone told me that an online friend was disturbed (more like offended, but I hope not) by one of the comments this blogger has made in another friend’s blog entry where the comment started, ‘Hoy bruha…” To him, the commenter was hostile. When I heard this with my other sisters this afternoon, we laughed cuz to us, we are all bruhas and bruhildas…. but then for some reason I cannot sleep and keep thinking about it. I have a ‘revolutionized secondary meaning’ in mind when I said ‘bruha,’ nevertheless, I am still responsible. Anyway, that comment probably belongs to the recipient’s mobile phone inbox, not in the comment section of someone else’s blog, and consequently scandalizing someone else’s sensitivities.

To you, I apologize.

Peace na please! :)