Last October 2, Howie Severino, the GMA-7 TV writer, producer, and host who’s also one of the most awarded journalists in the Philippines, copied our mutual friend Krip Yuson, the award-winning writer and Palanca Awards Hall of Famer, the following congratulatory note to Carmela Lapeña (Melay) and Veronica Pulumbarit (Vernie):
“Congratulations to Melay and Vernie for introducing ‘hulidap’ to the global lexicon (aka Filipino portmanteau).”
This was for their being cited in
Schott’s Vocab in the August 31, 2010 issue of The New York Times, as follows:
Hulidap
Filipino portmanteau for police arrests motivated by extortion.
(Huli [arrest] + holdup.)
On GMA News, Carmela Lapeña and Veronica Pulumbarit highlighted a term associated with police corruption in the Philippines. Commenting on the actions of former policeman, Rolando Mendoza, who took hostage a busload of Hong Kong tourists on August 23, Lapeña and Pulumbarit wrote:
“Mendoza’s fall from grace began not on that fateful day, but more than two years ago as he allegedly became involved in a controversial ‘hulidap’ operation in April 2008.
“‘Hulidap’ is a Filipino slang word coined from ‘huli’ (arrest) and ‘holdup.’ ‘Hulidap policemen’ conduct illegal arrests of innocent civilians with the aim of extorting money from them.”
The following day, October 3, Pete Lacaba, the Filipino language critic who’s more well-known as a film writer, editor, poet, screenwriter, journalist and translator, wrote Howie the note below in response, copies of which he furnished me and our mutual friend Krip Yuson, the award-winning writer and Palanca Awards Hall of Famer::
“Hulidap” was previously cited twice (2005 and 2008) in Double-Tongued Word Wrester: A Growing Dictionary of Old and New Words from the Fringes of English, an online dictionary compiled by Grant Barrett, who also writes for The New York Times:
Hulidap_1
Hulidap_11
The same dictionary also has a citation for “carabao English”:
Carabao_English_1
It also has full definition entries (not just citations) for some other words in Philippine English:
Doubletongued.org/index.php Associated with or special to Philippines or Filipino people, places, or things. You can also see citations assigned to this category.
(1/1 pages)
blocktimer n. an independent journalist or producer who buys airtime in order to broadcast programs on radio or television. (posted Aug. 23, 2004)
double-dead adj. (of meat) killed by accident or disease then butchered to be sold as fresh; uninspected or contaminated, and illegally sold. (posted Mar. 8, 2006)
presidentiable n. a candidate for presidency. (posted Jan. 12, 2005)
salvage v. to kill or assassinate. (posted Jul. 14, 2004)
skylab n. a motorbike fitted with a horizontal board at back that can seat several passengers across. (posted May. 31, 2007)
Susmaryosep n. an exclamation of surprise, disbelief, or emphasis. (posted Jul. 20, 2004)
swardspeak n. a cant spoken by Filipino gay and transvestite men. (posted Aug. 23, 2005)
trapo n. a traditional politician believed to be corrupt. (posted Jun. 7, 2004)
Joe Carillo’s comment to all these language goings-on:
Sic transit gloria mundi!