Local Standards of Measurement: A Commentary

Local Standards of Measurement: A Commentary

 

Someone has correctly noted that Filipino culture is an inexact culture. That is, except in terms of measurement of gold, which reportedly has advanced terminology among pre-Filipino ancients.

But there is truth to the observation among present-day Filipinos. Mike Lu, a former president of the Birdwatchers Club of the Philippines, once pointed out that Filipinos typically are content to call any little bird either maya or pipit. Although certain localities have specific names for specific birds and other species, the terms tend to generalize more than distinguish or specify: yung itim na ibon sa parang, paru-parong bukid, damong-ligaw, halamang dagat, daga at bubwit (mice are different from rats and shrews, and the Philippines has several species of rodents)... 

In particular, Pangasinenses use the word sira to refer not just to fish in general but also to the day's viand or main dish, and manok to refer not just to chicken but also to birds in general. Kanen, which is related to kanin (cooked rice), refers to not just rice cakes but all kinds of kakanin or even if made of corn, tapioca, cassava or some other starchy ingredient as long as it looks like rice cake. The list goes on, for other Philippine ethnolinguistic groups.

Even in cooking, one veteran cultural worker, Corazon Alvina, noticed this while featuring a regional cook on TV. She said, "You don't have specific measurements, no?" "Yes, tantya-tantya lang" (estimates only), replied the cook.

Similarly, Doreen Fernandez likened the sawsawan (assorted Filipino dips) concept to a chemical titration test (or jazz to be more accurate), with each dip slowly adjusted until it is perfected according to the diner's personal preferences and not to any existing standard. This high level of deviation and brash experimentation, or total lack of exacting standards, in Philippine cooking has resulted in not just the high variation in these dips, but also, in the various interpretations of adobo, pancit, longanisa, etc., even among households within a given town.

This lack of standard has been lamented by the likes of chef-restaurateur Margarita Fores and sought to address it with prescribed measurements, but then it can be argued that that is the whole point of Filipino cuisine -- it thrives in dizzying (or is it dazzling) diversity of interpretations or versions instead of aiming for just one standard.

When the Spaniards arrived, their measurement system -- which introduced the concept of exactitude -- became the natives' measurement system. But the other generalistic indigenous terms apparently persisted.

A Facebook post that made the rounds listed the following as the most well-known Philippine measurement units today, whose amounts are at best rough estimates.

Length/Distance: piranggot, kapiranggot, sandamak, sandamakmak, dangkal, talampakan, bisig, dipa

Mass/Weight: dakot, guhit, kagitna, gatang, chimanta, kaban

Volume: salok, saro, mangkok

Time: kisapmata, saglit, sandali

Not on the list are: litro, katiting, kapiraso.

Which reminds of a new joke that goes, "Ano ang tawag sa maliit na pusa?" (Answer: katiting.) Ano ang tawag sa maliit na aso?" (Answer: kapiraso.) "Ano naman ang tawag sa maliit na kambing?" (Answer: kapiranggoat.)

Hyperbolic words are a dime a dozen (assuming the regions have other equivalent terms): sangkatutak, sandamakmak, sangrekwa, sanglaksa, sandamukal, sangkaterba.

Regional terms

In Pangasinan, before we ever resorted to the use of “guhit” in weighing scales, the following were the terms that used to be commonplace in the public market.

litse, letse (leche) - equivalent to a can of Alaska condensed milk

ganta, gantas - what Tagalogs call gatang; 10 chupas?

lapad – measure of cooking oil in a Tanduay bottle

chupa, supa - cup

gantilla

salop – 2.5 kilos

limon - equivalent to the biggest can of Del Monte pineapple juice available in the market

takal – 1 letse or 1 takalan

buriki – 7.5, 10, 15, or 20 kilos (usually used for onions, which are placed in a loosely woven type sack so it has holes)

tiklis – equivalent to 1 standard-sized local bamboo basket

kaban, cavan – 50 kilos

Nonetheless, long before we Filipinos standardized our system of measurement to the kilogram for weight and the kilometer for length, we already had developed our own. It may not be an exact science like today's calibrated scales, but the measures worked in an environment where bounty and diversity were such a reality that they were probably too hard to deal with, much less to count down to the last degree of magnitude.

References:

Here's an eye-opener from Dr. Abe V. Rotor: http://avrotor.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-accurate-are-folk-measurements.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/Philippines/comments/96imfj/philippine_measuring_units/

Lito Banayo explains the idiom using “salop”: http://manilastandard.net/opinion/columns/so-i-see-by-lito-banayo/281012/-kapag-puno-na-ang-salop-.html