Filipinisms are English words or phrases resulting from the literal translation of Filipinos of English terms.

They may not be necessarily grammatically incorrect but may not be comprehensible to native English
speakers.

A good example of Filipinism is the phrase major major as popularized by Miss Philippines Venus Raj, 4th
runner-up in Miss Universe 2010. While the term major major may not necessarily be grammatically
incorrect, it cannot be understood by native English speakers. The term was a result of the Filipino habit of
repeating words to put emphasis or increase superlative intensity of a word like sobra sobra, puti-puti, bait-
bait, among many others. Hereunder are more examples of Filipinisms that are most commonly used in the
Call center industry.
Come again Can you please repeat that? Pardon me?
Bottomless Refillable
Next next week Week after next
Cope up cope with
Napkin Tissue
Connected with Associated with
Its for free! Its free of charge
Hold your line/for a while Please hold
Open/close the computer Turn on/turn off the computer
Take out/Take home To go
Aircon air conditioner or AC
Na already e.g. I got na the results
Fall in line Stand in line, form a line
CR Toilet or rest room
Rubber shoes Sneakers
Xerox Photocopy
Hand carry Carry on luggage
Course major

Filipinism is evolved from Filipino localization or acculturation of the English language which resulted to the
creation of words, phrases or terms that in some way maybe grammatically incorrect or foreign native English
speakers. In short these Filipinisms are colloquial English words and phrases that are unique in the Philippines.
Some of the most common words that are considered a result of Filipinism are as follows:
Open to turn on. Filipinos would normally say open the lights or open the computer which essentially means
turn on. The interchanging of turn on and open is because both have one Tagalog translation which is
buksan.
Take out To go. When buying food in a fast food restaurant. Filipinos would normally say take out to refer
to an order to go. This is precisely because they are not dining inside the restaurant but is taking out the food
they purchased to dine somewhere else.

Salvage to be killed. In the Philippines, the term salvage has a totally opposite meaning from what it really
means. It means to be extra judicially eliminated or assassinated. This is because the term salvage was
commonly used in the news to refer to a hidden dead body that was recovered. Thus, a salvage victim would
mean a victim of assassination.

American expressions are colloquial expressions unique to Americans. It evolved in the same manner as
Filipinism because of the multicultural ethnicity in the US, which resulted to the invention of new terms and
phrases. In the perspective of Filipino speakers, American expressions are also idiomatic expressions and
American slang terms.

Can toilet. This term evolved as early Americans pee in cans (similar to arinola)

Hit the sack to sleep. The term evolved because poor people use sacks to create makeshift beds to sleep

Get it understand. This phrase is short for get what it means?

Far-out great, awesome. This term evolved from the Hippie culture to refer to the inexplicable and
overwhelming feeling like getting high on drugs.

Filipinism generally pertains to the Filipino English, which is the result of the dynamic evolution of the
English language when it was adopted by the Filipino people. The adoption process of English would
inevitably involve some changes because of the influence of the local culture. This evolution of language is a
common phenomenon in as much as there is Ebonics (Ghetto English) evolved from American English, which
in turn evolved from British English.

Filipinism is not wrong nor is it a bastardization of English. In the call center industry, however, Filipinism
needs to be avoided because the great majority of the clients of multinational call center companies are
Americans. And Filipinism might obstruct understanding during communications, which is apparently a
critical aspect of the call center operations. Thus, Filipinism must be avoided as part of the effort to speak
American.
The easiest way to avoid Filipinism in English communication is to identify the common terms or phrases that
are used by Filipinos in English, which is not actually used by Americans and practice using the American
terms for the same. For instance, use toilet instead of CR, pardon instead of come again, to go instead
of take-out, and tissue instead of napkin, etc. Obviously, it would practically be impossible to think and
identify all the filipinism that we use. In most cases, we might not even be aware of which terms belong to
such category. Hence, conversing with your American boss, an American friend or an Americanized Filipino
(someone who grew up in the states), would also help so that one would know what Filipino English sounded
odd to them.

Another alternative way to avoid Filipinism is to actually learn American English communications by
exposing oneself to the American culture. This can be facilitated by watching American films/ movies, reading
American books, listening to American music or just chatting to some stranger in America via the Internet,
among other means. This will help familiarize oneself in the culture of the American English language.

Filipinos have been labeled as one of the happiest people in the world despite being beset with poverty,
corruption, and other problems that make life miserable. This ability to be happy can be attributed to the
Filipinos strong social community. According to Claudia Wallis, a psychologist of happiness, the happiest
people in world are those who possess stronger social ties with families and friends, which no amount of
wealth, knowledge, prosperity or material things can replace. And indeed, one way that Filipinos demonstrate
these strong social ties is their knack in making a comedy or parody of things. This same is true in work like in
the call center industry. Many local call center agents find or createamusing jokes and gags in their experiences
in the call center, which evolve primarily because of the cultural and language difference. They make fun of
these things, which in some instances can cause their work.
In the call center industry, most bloopers evolve from miscommunication, which is a mortal sin in the industry
but may be funny to many Filipinos. Filipinism for instance is one cause of these call center bloopers. This
pertains to our use of localized English, which somehow is not comprehensible to foreigners. Another common
source of blooper is the miscommunication caused by inability to appropriately understand a word because of
incorrect pronunciation. Finally, miscommunication also arises from the peoples use of certain lingos
especially shortened abbreviations or initials, to which most lay people may not be familiar or may interpret it
to mean differently.

Call center bloopers also arise from the creative genius of some people to make fun of what is right. For
instance, the ability of Filipinos to imitate and fake accents sometimes get in the way of faking different
accents. Some agents imitating a British accent sometimes tend to sound like an Indian or in some cases, even
an Arab, while those imitating an American accent tend to naturally sound like a black American.

Call center bloopers have formed part of the local landscape for call centers. They are not meant to deride
people just for the fun of it but are meant to relieve employees from the pressures and stress in working in the
office.