I received this e-mail from reader Raquel O. this morning:
I would like to react to Ms. Mel Tiangco’s question to P-Noy during the recent TV panel discussion regarding the bus hostage crisis at the Quirino Grandstand [in Manila]. She used the word “major, major” as she asked P-Noy regarding the outcome of the crisis.
Is “major, major” now an accepted word for panel discussion between the President & a respected TV host like Mel?
My reply to Raquel:
No, Raquel, I don’t think that Mel Tiangco was well-advised in using the expression “major, major” when addressing her question to President Benigno Aquino III. It struck me as disrespectful, crass, and in bad taste during that formal media interview with no less than the country’s head of state and chief executive. Perhaps Mel was just carried away by the “no holds barred” label for that special interview with the President; she must have thought that it gave her the license to be that licentious with language. As someone has so sagely said, “A society is generally as lax as its language.”
I also think that Mel’s opportunistic use of the much-derided phrase was just another manifestation of the ferocity of the ratings war between the three major Philippine TV networks. Indeed, I got the feeling that she uttered it to make her presence strongly felt on that occasion and to steal the thunder away from her two competitive news anchors from ABS-CBN and TV5.
