What’s distinctly Filipino-coded, according to Pinoys online

By
Kelsey Telo
-

(Daisy's Peanut butter via Facebook)

From “bahala na si Batman” to peanut butter jars with orange caps, Filipinos online shared what they consider distinctly Filipino.

A post by artist Rob Cham (@robcham) garnered over 35,000 likes and 19.3 million views, prompting Pinoys to share idiosyncrasies that are too specific yet too relatable.

On X (formerly Twitter), Filipino users had at it, inspiring waves of viral answers.

One of the top-liked answers, with 74,000 likes, highlights the two most celebrated seasons in the Philippines: summertime and holidays.

Similarly, a response that points out our excessive use of the word “ano” as a filler and as a substitute. The tweet raked in 64,000 likes.

Another viral take with 56,000 likes alludes to a social behavior Filipinos do when they look at one another in silence before an eruption of reactions.

If the United States loves Skippy, Filipinos patronize the unbranded peanut butter with orange cap that usually comes in an oily and sweet blend. About 53k people agree.


For some, Filipino-specific traits include the use of sarcasm in everyday interaction—particularly saying you do not want to, but doing the opposite.

In a tweet with 42,000 likes, a Pinoy user noted something that Filipinos have adapted to use in school settings throughout the years, which schools in other countries do not use.

An X user shared a section in his thesis regarding English words that have specific meanings in Filipino context. For example, the word “bold” means “fearless before danger” in Merriam-Webster dictionary but pertains to pornographic material in Filipinized meaning.

In the Filipino lexicon, Batman is liable to occasions that they would rather let fate handle.

Show comments