Negative denotations of the word "Filipina"

[madgirl09]

Hello Joe,

Oh, this reminds me.....I've been wanting to ask you this question, Joe...."what are the connotations of the word- Filipina, compared to the phrase "Filipino woman"? I think my knowledge is obsolete. In the Philippines, more than a decade ago, the last time my angry band of women was talking about the word "Filipina" in the context of the English word "Filipino", we were on to something like blog making to correct the "negative meaning" attached to it by a certain dictionary. What has happened to that issue ? Do many internet sites still use this term to mean that "negative meaning"? Is the word "Filipina" a Tagalog word but now has been included in the English dictionary? Please enlighten me. Sorry...no offense meant on this post, but I am really confused. not-so-mad-girl09

[Joe Carillo]

I find nothing wrong with the usage of the word “Filipina,” but I personally prefer “Filipino woman” over that term. You’re right, though, that a brouhaha took place in the late 1990s over a report that the Oxford English Dictionary had made an unsavory and degrading entry in its definition of “Filipina.” That report seems to have turned out to be false. Anyway, from what I can gather, the official definition for “Filipino/Filipina” in the OED is as follows:

“A. n. A native or inhabitant of the Philippine islands, especially one of Spanish or mixed blood. B. adj. Of or pertaining to Filipinos or the Philippine islands.”

Likewise, my digital Merriam-Webster’s 11th Collegiate Dictionary has this definition for “Filipina”:

Main Entry: Filipina
Function: noun
Etymology: Spanish
Date: 1899

: a Filipino girl or woman

It looks like it wasn’t really the OED but a Greek dictionary compiled by a certain George Babiniotis that, in a show of abysmal ignorance and racial insensitivity, had defined the word “Filipineza”—not “Filipina”—as not only a woman from the Philippines but also “a domestic worker from the Philippines or a person who performs non-essential auxiliary tasks.” 

I found some reports claiming that this was the second time that the term “Filipina” has been defined as “domestic helper.” An entry in Maid to Order in Hong Kong: Stories of Filipina Workers by Nicole Constable makes a reference to the OED having defined a “Filipino” as such sometime during the term of Philippine President Corazon Aquino. The Philippine government was reported to have protested that reference and that the OED duly amended that entry. However, I couldn’t find any corroborating source that the OED had indeed made that linguistic faux pas, nor that it actually made the amendment to the offending definition.

On the whole, I must say that we can only view this unpalatable chain of events as part of the huge price the Philippines has to pay for its great—no, overwhelming—economic dependence on the labor diaspora.

[madgirl09]

Thank you, Joe. Now I remember. It was a trial version of the OED that contained it, according to the reports.

And what could the word "filipina" mean? It seems dictionary use is becoming the last resort. The internet has become the more convenient source of information especially to young students. What is bad is that, the "hafus' or half-bred, mixed race American-Filipino kids, for example, are often frustrated with the definitions and stories they get from the internet. Searching the word "Filipina" yields some "filipina" meanings too...mail-to-order brides, nannies, etc. Worse, local Japanese folks define the word as "pr......" , nothing-you-may-stomach.

In Tokyo, where there are some Filipinos working as babysitters, non-Japanese housewives would often refer to nannies as "filipina". One post at our foreign women in Japan blog asked, "I need a filipina for my children". Of course, this made me fuming again...So I was quick to remind the poster to at least use a capital letter. Oh, not to forget....my Aussie fellow workers in Oceania asked me to help them too..."find a filipina girlfriend".    I asked them to define what that is...Oh, never mind.

Dear Joe, what differences has "filipina" to the capitalized form Filipina? What should we do to safeguard our image not only for our own sake, but for our children as well? Sorry for the rant  .

[madgirl09]

Sir Joe, I think it would be better if we move this discussion on "Filipina" somewhere else. I'm sorry to have posted an unrelated issue to this thread. I want to continue asking about this term as it means a lot to us here where I am now.

For several years now, I have been telling my friends not to allow themselves be called Filipina by a non-Filipino unless they are speaking it in Tagalog. They should say "Filipino woman" or simply "Filipino". That's because we don't address an American woman "Americana" if we say it in English. I'm not really well-versed with new grammar rules...Has the English rule on gender adjectives been changed? When and why? This makes me thinking how dictionary publishers decide on new entries to their dictionaries. How does the process of new word selection operate? Should a word be included based on the number of speakers, frequency and distribution of users around the world? I just think this other "Filipina" meaning usage is infectious and would penetrate again into future dictionaries as our plight as Filipino women do not improve. This is my last question on this ubject, I promise. 

[Joe Carillo]

No problem, this section is the Lounge, which is the freedom park of the Forum. We can take up any topic here without feeling guilty that we are straying from English usage as subject matter.

You asked how the process of new word selection by the major English-language dictionaries operates. Unfortunately, the process does enter a new word into the lexicon based on the number of speakers, frequency, and distribution of its users around the world. The more people using the word in print and in speech, the more likely that word will enter what is called the English corpus, or the collection of recorded utterances that's used as a basis for the descriptive analysis of the language.

Since we are today the world's second biggest humanpower exporter, next only to Mexico, the likelihood of the word "Filipina" getting absorbed by the language corpus of many countries has risen exponentially, both for its positive and negative denotations and connotations. I'm afraid that no matter how much we protest the unsavory linguistic aspects of this phenomenon, they will continue to thrive in the world consciousness for as long as there are Filipino women seeking livelihood opportunities outside of their homeland. This, as I said in my earlier posting, is part of the high price we have to pay for exporting our labor all over the world. 

[maxsims]

Joe,

Until now, I had not been aware that "Filipina" could be used in a derogatory sense.   I took it (and still take it) to simply mean "a female citizen of the Philippines".  I use it strictly as a proper noun and rightfully accord it a cap F.

It's a nice-sounding and nice-looking word and much more convenient than "Filipino woman", a term that, to me, excludes any female under eighteen.    Perhaps you should invent "Filipinita"...!

I suppose that if you call yourselves "Filipinos" and then use "Filipino" as both a noun and an adjective, you should expect a little confusion, not the least among foreigners.    Adding to that confusion are "pinay" and "pinoy", which are purely expatriate Filipino inventions and which can suffer equally pejorative connotations, I gather.   I wonder why Madgirl is not railing against those?

Anyway, my ward and my God-daughter are both Filipinas and are content to be so called.

[madgirl09]

Hi Maxsims 

I have not heard any Non-Filipino use the word "Pinoy" or "Pinay". This is what we call ourselves informally as it is shorter and more casual. I use this term when I write short emails or participate in chats (or when I'm in a hurry). Probably, Non-Filipinos (except you  )have not picked up its usage yet, but I wonder what meaning they'd connect to it when they do. (Oh, don't say -Penoy, that's balut!  ).

I still prefer to be called just "Filipino" by others, and "Filipina" (Pilipina) by fellow Filipinos in Tagalog conversations. When the English rule for gender adjectives adopts the Spanish/Tagalog rule: endings for masculine- -0 ; feminine -a, then I think it's time to follow. My network connections also keep writing articles in the internet about "Filipinas" being morally educated ladies/women, hardworking professionals, and ideal housewives/mothers, apart from the many other adjectives previously attached by the not-fully-informed. We plead that men, likewise, correct the derogatory connotations the word already has, and write "more than what pleases their eyes" at internet sites.

Thank you for sharing your ideas regularly, Maxsims. I enjoy reading them too. Thanks Sir Joe for opening a forum like this. This is a valuable site for me and my friends in upgrading our English skills.

[maxsims]

Please call me Max.

...I still prefer to be called just "Filipino" by others, and "Filipina" (Pilipina) by fellow Filipinos in Tagalog conversations...

This is called eating your cake and having it, too!

[madgirl09]

Max, call me Filipina anytime you want  . You mean well and respect my tribe so well  .
Don't take everything I say so seriously. Sometimes I make mountains out of molehills. It's just me, maybe.

Say.... I have a question for you Max. Can women call Aussie men "mate"? Should only men call each other "mate"?

[maxsims]

Good question!

It is a long-held tradition in Australia that only men call each other "mate".   As you know, it is an indication of friendship, but it is occasionally used, sarcastically, as quite the opposite.    It is this latter use that some women - a very few - increasingly employ.

My ward's sister - a Filipina - has lived in Australia for a few years now.   During our phone and internet conversations, she would call me "mate", but no more.    I think her husband has taught her that "mate" (in the context of friendship) is in the male-only category!

But things could change.    Not so long ago, the expression "guy" was exclusively applied to males; the American equivalent of "bloke".     Now, everyone is a guy!

[madgirl09]

another question...why is the "outback" outback? my friend who's from adelaide kept talking about the outback. what's its etymology and how do typical australians view people living in the outback? (sniff sniff...i can smell some barbecued lamb meat and croc meat...yummy!)

[maxsims]

I don't know when "outback" entered the language; neither do I know who coined the term.   It could just as well be termed "inback" because it refers, very generally, to the  sparsely-inhabited, largely inhospitable and arid area in the centre of my country.

Typical Australians?    No such animal!    The overwhelming majority of us live in coastal cities, and although we often speak disparagingly of our cousins in "the bush" (which is closer than "the outback"), we regard them with enormous respect for the primary production they manage in the face of an ever-changing and unforgiving environment.

Of course, they often speak disparagingly of us, too, but it's all a part of Australians' laconic sense of humour.

[madgirl09]

Aussie stuff continues  ....What's the best way to encourage Japanese girls to taste the vegemite? Should I say it's the most nutritious spread on Earth? I have never tasted that myself, though it graced our faculty room tea table for many years, and my friends seemed to enjoy munching their scons smothered with vegemite. I think, eating vegemite sandwich every tea time is itself an unforgetttable experience. The girls are wondering what other things are interesting to experience to make their one-week stay in Australia something to brag about? I told them never to come back without Kangaroo pouch souvenirs. Are these pouches really lucky coin purses?  I want to order a dozen of them (in Japan, "a dozen" means 10 pcs.).

That brings me to my next question. Sir Joe, should a dozen always mean- 12 pcs?

[Joe Carillo]

That brings me to my next question. Sir Joe, should a dozen always mean- 12 pcs?

No, not always. In fact, I still use the idiom “baker’s dozen” to test how good the English of people is, and ever since I started doing so, less than 30 percent would supply the correct answer. I'd ask: "How many items are in a baker’s dozen? Are there 12 or 15 or double the ordinary dozen?" Their usual answer: 12. But the correct answer is the unlucky number 13. In old England, bakers were fined heavily for shortchanging customers with less than the correct weight of bread. To guard against being brought to court, which was such a bother, they began making it a point to add an extra loaf to every 12 they sold. That’s actually how the baker’s dozen came about.

[maxsims]

Madgirl,

There are very few non-Australian adults who enjoy Vegemite.    I have never met one.

Vegemite is an acquired taste, and the reason it's almost a staple Down Under is because we are introduced to it as infants.   Also, it's about 3.5% salt!    (If you think that's bad, it used to be double that!)

I recall trying it on an American (the US of A variety), and her response was "Eeugh!  Salted axle grease!"

Mind you, it's chockers with Vitamin B, and it's probably the reason that we Aussies are so good at sport.   (That's our story and we're sticking to it!)