Topic: The correct spelling of Filipino

[dorian_gray]

Again, citizens of the Philippines are called Filipinos.

[Uncle Che]

You are fighting a losing battle. British people spell it Philippino and if they start spelling it a certain way, they will never change. It used to drive me crazy, but not anymore, just gotta live with it. The essence of the story is more important than the spelling.

[Mods-Rockers]

Disagree Che, uneducated brits spell it that way, not all brits do.

[airpuka]

well the phillipinos, or the fillipinos spell it phillipino i used to know a crap load of them back in the states and thats how they would spell it, also the phillipines is spelt this way as well if you look it up on the internet or in the encyclpedia, but  basically both are correct cause you can search online for filipino and get results

[dorian_gray]

Yes, I have many British friends and I used to be in a relationship with one. They never spelled Filipino as Phillipino. By the way, there is only one L in "Filipino" and in "Philippines". Just keep in mind that the country is named after King Philip II of Spain. In Tagalog, we call ourselves Pilipino or the slang Pinoy. Philippine can also be used as an adjective.

Anyway, thanks to Airpuka for calling our attention to this sick stunt. I just hope that my fellow Pinoys will learn to stand up for their rights and I also hope that the other teachers (of any nationality) will do the same because it is just plain wrong.

[NamTok]

   What's with this esoteric back and forth about the spelling of the country's name and the spelling of the word used to describe the nationality of the people of the country? Are there issues here to discuss?    If not, let's move on, please. If there are issues to discuss, then let's get to them, please. Your're losing readers    and contributors because we look into the topic and see semantics and obtuse, localized, spellings of the country and the nationals of the country and quicky move on to another topic of significance.

   I commend the fellow American guy who started the topic, but almost everyone else has dwelled on semantics. I know the guy who originated the topic is a fellow American because he can't use the English language anywhere near to     the respectable correctness, but his sentimenets, which are very American,  : are in the right place.

   Is semantics what the topic is about? Save us, please....let's get down to substance... 

[kenkannif]

I thought it was Filipinos for them all and blokes, and Filipinas for the women???

I don't think any nationality does it more worse or more better (my English is well good) than any other one.

[hero]

  That's what my friend's ex-girlfriend told me too and she was from The Philipines.  Blokes are Filipinos and women are Filipinas.

[Uncle Che]

Due to the Spanish influence, when you are referring to Filipinos in general you use Filipino. If you are referring to males, use Filipinos, if referring to females and males, use Filipinos. If referring to women only, use Filipinas.

Just to mixup the pot even more, for many years Tagalog had no letter F and Filipinos were referred to as Pilipinos. The official name of the Philippines is Republika ng Pilipinas. In fact, on the front of a Philippines passport, it says PILIPINAS PASAPORTE. But in the biodata page, it says Filipino for nationality, no matter if the bearer is male or female.

For a little fun, I am linking to a funny little mp3 file on the Filipino accent. Listen how the F's are pronounced like P's. It is from a Filipino comic, Rex Navarette.


http://www.teflwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/noaccent.mp3

[airpuka]

Are you a filipiNO? or a filipinYES 

[dorian_gray]

I am surprised that Uncle Che knows Rex Navarette. Are you a Filipino?

Here are a couple of links of online dictionaries. I tried looking for the word "fillipino" (notice the two Ls).

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=fillipino&dict=B

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/fillipino