In Pangasinan, Wala Means Meron, Among Other Natural Disasters

In Pangasinan, Wala Means Meron, Among Other Natural Disasters

Tagalogs are often scandalized when they hear Pangasinenses talk in their language, thinking some of their words to be vulgar even when they are not. Little do they know that Pangasinenses themselves laugh behind their back when they hear certain innocuous Tagalog words, as they are reminded of something else.

 

Confusing? The following translations will explain why. (Warning: Vulgar words ahead.)

For starters, bulong (whisper in Tagalog) means dahon in Pangasinan.

 

Magana (has a good appetite) means maganda (pretty or beautiful).

 

Maong (jeans) means three things: jeans, good, and kind.

Tumpok (clump or bunch) means kamay, or to eat with one's bare hands, as in "mantumpok tayo" ("magkamayan tayo sa pagkain").

Masalimuot (controversial in Tagalog) means maalinsangan or humid in Pangasinan.

Salapi (pera or money in general) means fifty centavos in Pangasinan. (The crucial difference, however, is that -pi in Tagalog ends in a glottal stop, while -pi in Pangasinan is often pronounced as /pi/ or /pe/.

Maya-maya (a kind of fish; stress on the first syllable) means drizzle in Pangasinan, but the stress is on the second syllable.

 

Tukâ (bill or beak) means either suka (tuká) or sumpong (tùka).

 

Laki (size or growth) means male or grandfather (láki).

 

Wala (there is none) ironically means "there is" (meron) in Pangasinan, although the Pangasinan word actually has an unaccented -la. Walâ in Tagalog is anggapo in Pangasinan. These confusing meanings, of course, often cause hilarious exchanges like this at home, when speakers alternately speak in Tagalog and Pangasinan:

Person 1: Wala! 

Person 2: Walá o walâ? Walá o anggapo? 

Person 1: Meron! 

Sira (broken or crazy in Tagalog) means isda or fish and ulam or viand, anything eaten with rice.

 

Manok (chicken) means bird in general.

 

(An aside: Compare this with ibon, which is bird in Tagalog, to ebun, which means egg in Kapampangan, thus giving birth to this popular joke as people traverse the highway from Manila to Pampanga:

Question: Ano ang pinakamahabang tulay sa Pilipinas? Answer: Yung tulay sa NLEX. Question: Bakit? Answer: Kasi yung itlog sa Maynila, pagdating sa Pampanga, ebun na.

It's even worse in Cebu, as ibon, bird, becomes langgam, ant.)

 

If you hear Pangasinenses utter words that are seemingly indecent like antutan and kulantutan, just relax and bear in mind that they mean no offense. They only mean "Ano yan?" for "Anto tan?" and "Nasan yan?" for "Kulan to 'tan?" respectively.

 

Utot (fart) means mouse or rat. 

Bayag (scrotum) means tagal. 

Utong (nipple/areola) means shoot/s.

 

Titi (penis) means to render the fat.

 

Bao (shell, as in bao ng niyog) means vagina, although to be more accurate, the stress in the Tagalog word is placed on the first syllable, while that in Pangasinan is on the second syllable.

 

Kiki (vagina) means kiliti or to tickle.

 

Melchor Orpilla adds the following:

 

Tapát in Tagalog is loyal but tapát in Pangasinan is to disown/deny. However, tápat in old Pangasinan means on the opposite side.

 

Marikit in Tagalog means maganda, but marikit in Pangasinan is dalaga.

 

Sapók in Tagalog means strike with the hand (not the fist), while sapók in Pangasinan means dust.

 

Sampiga in Tagalog is hampas, but sampiga in Pangasinan means magkano.

 

Imis in old Tagalog means linis or ligpit, while imis in Pangasinan means smile.

 

Urong in Tagalog means to move back or to do the dishes, but urong in Pangasinan means to go to town.

 

Joey Ferrer adds:

 

Sabong (accent on the first syllable) means cockfight in Tagalog, but sabong (accent on second syllable) means (a) still young or not yet ripe and (b) sahog or the main protein ingredient mixed with vegetables.

 

An earlier post on Facebook has the following additional entries:

 

Pekpek (vulgar term for vagina) means pukpok, to beat or to hit someone or something with something hard. The Pangasinan version, however, uses the schwa sound for the e's.

 

Ari (a formal Tagalog term for genitals or privates) means hari or king in Pangasinan.

 

Bulbol (pubic hair in Tagalog) means to stew or cook like lugaw or porridge. Lugaw in Pangasinan is binulbol.

 

Selsel (which sounds like the word for masturbate) means sindi or light up. Salsal reportedly has other literal and idiomatic meanings in Pangasinan (e.g., "to gauge the depth of something using the foot" from the Cosgaya dictionary), and I am so glad it is no longer being used in those contexts.

While these differences in meaning have hilarious consequences, no one is sure how the sudden switch between languages belonging to the same linguistic family has occurred through time. In any case, this ensures a good supply of jokes among Pangasinenses and outsiders, something to break the ice when things get tense or to start a conversation on a light, albeit embarrassing note.

 

Contributors: Ismael Malicdem Jr., Melchor Orpilla, Joey Ferrer, Clarita F. Tagab

 

Reference: "Anto Kuno?" - a Facebook post by Bigkis Gamal