Porti payb versus forty five

I am awfully tempted to learn the dialect here in Pampanga given the frequency of my visits to this once vast swampland. In fact, my confidence level on the NLEX has attained a level comparable to how used I am to the SLEX. I am even beginning to learn the accent of the people here.

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Now speaking of accents, some people around me have pointed out my allegedly rude habit of mimicking the erstwhile "mistaken" way of pronouncing some words. An example is illustrated on the title, along with other favorites such as "bulebard", "abenyu", "isteyts". How it all started, I haven't the foggiest but I do admit that I am oblivious as to the alleged rudeness of this practice.

Nolan claims that it is a form of mockery, and the fact that I am aware of the proper pronunciation of the words puts malice when I malign it. I do not see it that way, but with the growing number of people who keep noticing it I guess that there may be some truth to it.

Hmm, but then the only people who notice it are those that know the proper pronunciation. Do the people I speak to in that way find me offensive? I guess one of the reasons that I do this is because I want to communicate with these people on their level, make them feel more at ease by demonstrating that I can be one of them. To be honest, I find myself feeling like such a poseur whenever I speak english to a Filipino, and the fact that there is no "f" or "v" sounds in Tagalog may be a factor why I switch to the nearest sounding syllable.

Well, maybe I am doing it wrong, and that the proper way of doing it would be to say "apat na raan at singkuwenta" instead of "por pipti". But that does sound even more patronizing.

I guess I can't guarantee that I can totally rid myself of this habit, maybe I could limit it but when you're so used to doing things one way it gets really difficult to start another way. So the next time you hear me mangle the english language in a patronizing way towards other Filipinos, feel free to correct me as I give you the finger.