This quote is attributed to Winston Churchill in comments he made regarding Great Britain and the United States. While I’ve often found that Winston is a bit like Yogi Berra who is noted for his assertion that “I didn’t really say everything I said”, I believe that Winston would own up to this quotation.
One of the great things about living in the Philippines is that English is one of the official languages and it’s rare indeed that you can’t find someone who can help you out in English if you’re like me, a typically “monolingual” American.
But do be careful before you rush into things … just because the words are in English doesn’t mean you and the person speaking them have actually engaged in true conversation. One of the more subtle forms of “culture shock” involved with becoming comfortable living here in the Philippines is not only learning a new, native language, but relearning a bit of the English you thought you knew. A few examples to illustrate my point:
Overpricing: In the past few months there has been a lot in the news here about several large government contracts where the term “overpricing” has been bandied about. Now to me, “overpricing” means a supplier tries to charge a purchaser more than the market value for an item. As a guy who worked in government procurement for many years I’m no stranger to the concept. I always thought I got the best deal for the government I could … but I’m sure there were instances I could have done better … the term “Beltway Bandit” didn’t just arise out of thin air. But here in the Philippines,”overpricing” is a “code word” for bribery … when a contract is alleged to be “overpriced” it is an accusation that the government was charged too much and in return government officials accepted money from the person who did the “overcharging”. The real definition of that is “bribery”. One act is, at worst, negligent, the other is criminal. They are not synonyms at all. Perhaps the practice has developed in response to the extremely restrictive libel and slander laws here. Do not make the mistake of saying derogatory things like, “he’s a crook”, even in jest. That might be an ‘actionable’ offense … an libel cases can drag on for years and years.
Brownout: This is a pet peeve of mine. “Brownout” is a term that came from the US many years ago. Electric utilities developed a technique for coping with excessive power demands by lowering the voltage being supplied to the user. Since power changes by the square of the voltage in a circuit, small changes in voltage have a huge change in the power consumed. But brownouts are disastrous for many motor powered devices (such as air conditioners) and have even caused fires by overheating line (mains) powered devices so the practice was (at least officially) done away with. Today utilities cope with overwhelming demand by means of “rolling blackouts” … cutting all power to one area at a time while maintaining specified voltage in other service areas. More inconvenient, but a heck of a lot safer. In the Philippines, a power failure … the absence of power coming into your home … is called “Brownout” when in reality, it is a “blackout” or “power cut”. Why do the terms mean such different things? As my 2 yo nephew is fond of saying, “I dunno”. Confusing one with the other could be a shocking experience.
Comprehensive: Lest one think this is about picking on the Filipinos for incorrectly using English, let’s look at this word which is simple English with a simple meaning … encompassing everything. If you have car insurance in the US you very likely have a portion of your premium going to “Comprehensive coverage”. But it is not “comprehensive at all … it is coverage for physical damage that is not caused by a collision with another vehicle or fixed object or “upset”. Fell asleep and ran your car into a tree? That’s a collision coverage issue. Missed the tree and instead rolled the car in the grass beside the road? Ah, don’t be upset, that should be covered by the “upset” portion of your collision coverage. A vandal smashed your windshield … now that is likely covered by you “comprehensive”, which is, in actuality, anything but “comprehensive”. Here in the Philippines, a “Comprehensive Policy” essentially means what the word actually does mean in the dictionary … coverage against perils such as collision, upset, fire, theft, vandalism and so on. When I first saw my insurance policy quote before buying my car I almost jumped out of my skin … that mush for “Comprehensive”? Then when I saw how the word is used in the Philippines I found my “full coverage” insurance was actually a pretty good bargain.
Tomboy sometimes TB: Even though purists may correctly point out that American use of “tomboy” to describe a girl more interested in sports than make-up is a bit insensitive and sexist, but it’s still a part of most people’s language … and usually that’s all it means. A girl or woman who is interested in what are traditionally “male” things. It certainly has seldom, if ever, is making a statement about the woman’s sexual orientation. Here in the Philippines, you better be real careful about describing you niece or your wife’s cousin who happens to excel at sports or knows how to tune up an engine. When you say a girl is a “tomboy” it almost invariably means she is a lesbian and is sexually oriented toward other women. Why would this rather innocuous expression be reshaped into something that is absolutely no one else’s business and could be very hurtful to the woman and her family? Perhaps it’s a reflection of the goal of “delicadeza” at all costs, or perhaps it started long ago from some other meaning … but it is what it is and you’d be well advised to think twice, or even three or four times before ever uttering the phrase.
Okay, enough for now … what’s your favorite “separation by common language” issue?
Hi Dave – hahaha – When cruisers arrive, the Port Authorities ask for "Special Services Fee" which actually is a "Lagay" or bribery. One cruiser did ask what the fee was for and the official said "it is a fee for not boarding your boat to inspect". So the cruiser asked – "you want me to pay you for not doing your job?" 😀 I am glad to inform that this does not happen here in the Davao Port, but is common in Visayas and Luzon ports.
Hmmm – I've been called a tomboy when I was growing up. I am definitely NOT a lesbian, but was very active in male-dominated sports – i.e. boxing, basketball. I guess it is how one says it and who they are describing.
My understanding of brownouts – cut off of electricity in certain areas only, and blackouts – total cut off of the whole area. Like last night/early morning, there was a blackout – the whole area of Davao city and almost the whole of Mindanao. This actually created an alarm, but saw on TV that the problem was techinical in nature.
Thank you for this info. I allways wondered where the "Brown out" came from.
Reading this collumn made me think of Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes.
No offense intended to eighter of you.
@Ellen: Yes, pay them for not doing his job … although I wouldn't have been bold enough to put it that way … whinp ;-). I got stopped by a MMDA patrolman once for turning left aginst a red light. He was technically correct but I figured I might get away with it if I made a lot of paky usap. Nothing doing. "sir, you commited the offence and for this offence the court will require you to attend a two-day "traffic safety" semiar". When I press him for another way to slove the problem he accommodatingly offered to attend the seminar in my place for PhP 250 a day. I didn't have the "chuztpa" to ask him if he would furnish me his attendance and grade records to prove he went LoL. Hope he didn't snore ….
Well on the tomboy thing I probably should have clarified it _can_ mean just as you suggested. Wasn't if Freud who said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"? But I just had in mind several incidents I know of where fellow Americans blundered into the term and things did _not_ go so well. Americans would generally be surprised at first by the much more open and matter of fact way same sex relation ships are handled here, it's yet another significant difference from say mid-America where it's still not unheard of, especially for young men, to be murdered for the "crime" of gayness.
Now, what you described is what thye typically call in the US a 'rolling blackout' … and as lomng as all parties are talking about the same thing, it's just a word. We culd call it an electric square dance for all that it matters. But I get nervous about the term 'brownout', never knowing if they actually mean the intenional low voltage routine. You can drop the line voltage down to say 190 or even 180 volts, and incandescent light will still be on … noticeably dimmer … but OMG will an air conditioner or even worse, you fridge, groan.
@Preben: Hi. No offence is taken, by me or by my younger brother Andy LoL. Thanks for reading and for keeping the place alive. Oh, and speaking of Andy, just three weeks ago the local cable started carrying "60 Minutes", one of the very tiny list of American TV shows I've missed since moving here. I'm smiling. You know that show is agreat one for people in their retirement years to watch, it teaches how wrong the usual "Oh he's old and washed up" attitude really is. Last night they had Morely (who must be pushing 90) interviewing a fellow from Idaho who is 86 and still makng life saving medical nvestions and flying a whole fleet of aircraft he owns as a hobby. Actually an inspiration for anyone from 8 to 80.
Dave… Churchill is one of my heroes, in a manner of speaking. Outside of perhaps Mark Twain, there was perhaps no greater wit in the English-speaking world. Paraphrasing, probably incorrectly:
"Mr Churchill, you're drunk!"
"Madame, I may be drunk, but tomorrow I'll be sober and you'll still be ugly!"
@John Miele: You really have a hard time finding anyone who can compare to Winston in powerful (and humorous) use of the English langauge. One I always liked is: Obnoxious woman at party: "Mr. Churchill, if you were my husband, I'd shoot you." Churchill's response? "Madam, if I were your husband, I'd pull the trigger myself." Not bad for an American by birth 😉
Hi Dave – I'm confused… do you mean that Churchill was an "American by birth?" Born in America? I just looked it up, and he was born November 30, 1874 in Blenheim, Oxfordshire, England.
Did I miss something?
@Bob: Ho Bob … what you mean someone reads this stuff? 😉 Yes, I believe I am correct in what I typed … and so are you, except for one thing. You strung two questions together and your two-part question slightly contradicts itself.
Did I say Winston Churchil had US Nationality by birth? Yep, I did. Absolutely he did. There is no question. Part two of your question. Did I say Churchill was born in the USA? Nope, certainly didn't say that. You, me and Bruce Springsteen to mention three important people 😉 were "born in the USA", Winston certainly wasn't. One part of your question does not imply the second part.
Being born in the USA is only one way to be a US citizen by birth. Winston's mom, Jennie Jerome Churchill, was born in Pompey, New York to American citizen parents, so she was a US citizen both by birthplace and by blood. Winston (although I don't know that he ever exercised the privilege) had US nationality at birth because of his mom. The child of any US citizen (with a couple exceptions that don't apply here) is an American by birth. No matter where born.
Hi Dave – Interesting. I had been unaware of Churchill's mother being American!
@Bob: Since I wasn't around when he was in his prime, I don't know if he just ignored his American connections or slyly took some advantage. He and FDR and Douglas MacArthur were cousins, you know .. can't remember if it was a grandmother or great grandmother they shared.
And the fact he apparently could have claimed actual US citizenship didn't stop the pomp and ceremony of JFK naming Churchill an "Honorary US Citizen". Apparently no other person shares this honor, I read that yesterday and I thought there were other "Honorary" citizens … but apparently not.
I guess one could say he was a US citizen twice? LoL
Hi Dave,
I too am a big fan of Winston Churchill, I think he was exactly what the British people needed during World War II. Although, the British people would have been tough to beat even with out him as prime minister, with there "Bulldog" tenacity. His speaches and actions to the British people at their time in need, especially during the "Blitz", really helped to motivate and keep there spirits high. I had an uncle that was in London during the blitz, with the US Army, and he admired the British people very much, he said that after the bombings from German aircraft, the people would just come out of there homes, start cleaning up,just as if it was business as usual.
Anyways, I didn't know that if I had a child in the Philippines, that "automatically" he/she would be an american citizen? This is true? Just curious.
Thanks so much for article,
Danny
@Danny: Hi Danny, thanks for dropping by and for commenting. If you are a US citzen and you father a child (and of course you a knowledege that the child is yours ;-)) then yes, that child is an American citizen by birth. If the child's mother is say a Filipino/former Filipino the child is also a Filipino citizen, by birth. If you want the child to have a US passport and other proof of citizenship yu must file areort of birth overseas, but any child who can prove his mother or father was a US citizen at birth has US citizenship as a birthright. There are many US citizens around the world who wre born outside the US, some who have never set foot on US soil. They are still US citizens. The only difference in rights these 'outside US' citzens have is, unless they themselves go to the US for some period of time, they can not pass on citizenship to their offspring … the cycle can not continue through future generations … aside from that they hold all rights.
Hi Dave – your comments on 60 minutes made me remember a 90 year old cruiser and his wife. They sailed to Mexico together. We were standing on the marina dock chatting when we saw this boat head-on-90-degrees straight towards us. OMG – our friend shouted "STOP! throw us your line, we will pull you in instead". The 90 year-old wobbly walked to the bow, put his hand behind his ears and croaked "Whhhaaaatttt?" 😀
Till today, I still smile thinking about him and his wife; and really admire them for how they approach life.
@Ellen: That must have been funny, Ellen. But errors in judgement or personality quirks notwithstanding, we usually can learn a lot from Andy's generation. My wife blogs and one day she noticed a comment from a cousin in California … a realitve who had been out of touch for some time. What closed the communications gap? Simple. The cousin's dad, Mita's eldest uncle, born in 1915, was also in California with a number of his offspring, and one day Tito Casto decided to leran how to use this "Google" thing he had heard about, so he typed in his own name and found himself mentioned in one of Mita's blog posts. Few of his younger family had ever even bothered with the Internet much and certainly never thought of it for making connections to out of touch relations, but Lolo Casto showed them how. You are never too old to stop learning and exploring.
You are never too old to stop learning and exploring.(Dave)
You are so right. The other day my wife and I went shopping, and in the mall I saw a lady( she must have been in her mid 80ties) using Blue-thooth for her cellphone.
I was amazed.
@Preben: Did you get her number … if she's single maybe I'll introduce her to the uncle, he's single 😉
Every time I visit the Philippines, I experience what are called 'brownouts' when all the electric devises go dead. I know how they are caused. My question is WHAT CAN MANILA DO TO PREVENT BROWNOUTS?
Fred
How can brownouts be prevented? I know how and why I experience them when
I travel to the RP but I would like to know what can be done about them.
Fred
Hi Fred, thanks for reading snd for your comment. Truly I don't know. Some power outages can be prevented by better infrastructure design, but there's no incentive for that becuase some years ago the Philippines followed california's lead into the disastrous process of splitting the electric sysem into three separate segments … generation, transmission and local service. Sp there's no company with overall responsibility as there is in many parts of the US, and three separate profits have to come out of the government controled consumer rates. A recipe for business disaster.
OTOH, massive power outages are common in the US every time there's a tropical storm, winter ice storm, etc. There's no total solution, anywhere. Most big hotels, condo communities, shopping malls etc have their own standby generators. It's perfectly possible to have one for you home as well … but it costs about 10 times the commercial rate to make your own using your own generator … and the commercial rate is already 5 times or more the rates people from the US are used to paying. I think in literary circles they call this a conumdrum … or is ut an impasse?
Hi, Dave. Churchill may have been a good orator, but he didn't write his speeches. The famous phrase, "blood, sweat and tears" was written by a little-known speechwriter, who, to this day, is not a household name. Mrs Thatcher's, "the lady is not for turning" phrase, was written by a male speechwriter. Dave, you've come up with another good article. Thanks.-trish
Hi trish, thanks for reading and for your comment. I surely didn't know that. One of the reasons I like hanging out here and writing for Bob is, I learn alot, and often at least a smuch from the comments as from the articles themselves.