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5.2.4 Invectives

The New International Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language

(2010) defines an invective as “a railing accusation; vituperation; abuse” (p. 669). In the plays, a

total of fifty-two lexical items were accounted for and classified as “invectives,” based on actual

occurrence. After ruling out overlapping and repeated occurrences, it was found that based on

word type occurrence, there are thirty distinct entries under this category. A complete list of the

entries, the plays they appear in, and other information is presented in Appendix 4.

Majority or twenty of the entries are borrowed from Spanish, nine are borrowed from

Tagalog, and one is borrowed from Ilocano (Table 7). Most of them are found in plays written

by Guerrero, though the terms estupido, gago, querida(s), and walang hiya also appear in

Montano’s plays. These four terms also appear in plays written during the 1950s and the 1960s,

the periods when most of the entries for this category are mentioned.

Table 7. Invectives in the plays (based on source language)

OTHER
SPANISH TAGALOG
LANGUAGES
Bastus Gago Kuriput / Kuripots Salawasaw
Boba Loko Lintik (Ilocano)
Carajo Majadera Hayup
Chismoso Puñeta Mestizong bangos
Cuño Querida(s) Pangit
Demonio Salvaje Pasikatero
Doble cara Tarantada Taksil
Estupido Tarantado Walang hiya
Exagerado Tonta Yabang
Gaga Torpe

Borrowings from Spanish. Majority of the entries are borrowed from Spanish, including

the terms bastus, boba, carajo, chismoso, cuño, demonio, doble cara, estupido, exagerado, gago,

gaga, loko, majadera, puñeta, querida(s), salvaje, tarantado, tarantada, tonta, and torpe.
 159

According to Cassell’s Spanish Dictionary (1959) the term bastus means “coarse,

homespun, unpolished; clumsy, clownish, gross, rude” (p. 121). The Diksyunaryo-Tesauro

Pilipino-Ingles (1973) defines it as “indecent, lewd” (p. 137), specifically when referring to an

action or a person who does such actions. The term appears in the following excerpt from

Guerrero’s Blessed are the Grafters (1962):

ED: I’ve been peeping every morning for the last two months.

CULASA: (Slapping him again.) Bastus! What do you think I am, basta basta?
(p. 174)

In this particular scene, Miss Culasa is upset and angry with her colleague, Ed, for staring

at her while she fixes her hair and clothes in the office before work. She slaps and calls him

bastus, accusing him of treating her as if she were “basta basta.” The term basta basta means

“lightly; in a somewhat slighting way” (Tagalog-English Dictionary, 1986, p. 166). In this case,

it appears that Miss Culasa is telling Ed that she is not someone to be taken lightly or easily.

Another term that is borrowed from Spanish is boba, which the Oxford Spanish

Dictionary (1994) describes as “silly” and “a fool” (p. 98). Likewise, the Diksyunaryong

Filipino-English (2005) states that boba refers to a person who is “foolish; silly; stupid” (p. 115).

The term is mentioned in Montano’s The Merry Wives of Manila (1955), where Doña Concha

calls her friend, Mrs. Amapola, a fool or boba:

MRS. AMAPOLA: I’ll die this very minute, Concha! I’ll die, I tell you!

DOÑA CONCHA: Boba, how can you snatch back your husband if you have
inferiority complex? Hala, stand up and put your best foot forward!
(p. 248)
160

Carajo is another term mentioned in one of the plays. The Larousse Spanish Dictionary

(2009) defines it as an expression equivalent to “damn it!” (p. 89). Meanwhile, the Oxford

Spanish Dictionary (1994) defines it as a slang term equivalent to “bastard” and “pig” in the

figurative sense (p. 129). Carajo appears in Guerrero’s Blessed are the Grafters (1962):

LACSON: Let me use it first.

SALSIP: But the ribbon – (Lacson breaks the ribbon as he goes in. The two
bodyguards follow him.)

LACSON: Carajo! Don’t follow me here. (He closes the door.) (p. 216)

Here, just before Lacson enters a toilet, his two body guards act as if to follow him.

Clearly annoyed, Lacson stops them by shouting carajo and closes the toilet door.

Another term that originates from Spanish is chismoso, which Cassell’s Spanish

Dictionary (1959) refers to as “tale-bearing” (p. 287). In the same way, the Larousse Spanish

Dictionary (2009) identifies it as “a gossip; scandalmonger” (p. 105). In Guerrero’s Close-Up

(1970), the speaker, Marina is describing another character as chismoso:

MARINA: …This Rex is so chismoso – ay, such a malicious gossiper. Can you
imagine, he started spreading the rumors that Peter has a crush on him?
I’m sure it’s Rex who has a crush on Peter… (p. 340)

Cuño is also borrowed from Spanish. This term is equivalent to the English expression,

“damn!” (UrbanDictionary.com, 2013). It appears in Montano’s Gabriela Silang (1956):

BISHOP USTARIZ: If you don’t want to do washing and cooking the church will grant
you that exception. Now, are you satisfied?

DIEGO: Not yet. Before we allow you to go peacefully, we demand that

you put your consent in writing, so that every one of us here will
know where each one stands.
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THE FRIARS: Madre de tupa! You have the nerve to ask such a thing! What
impertinence! Casa de demonio! Cuño! (p. 141)

In this particular scene, Diego Silang is demanding that the friars no longer treat him and

his people as if they were slaves. Bishop Ustariz agrees, but when Diego asks him to put his

consent into writing, the bishop gets angry and upset, and calls him cuño.

Another borrowing from Spanish, demonio, appears in one of the plays. Cassell’s

Spanish Dictionary (1959) lists demonio as “demon; devil; evil spirit” (p. 301). The term is

mentioned in this excerpt from Guerrero’s Call Me Flory (1966):

FLOR: You must be mistaking me for somebody else.

OSANG: No, I am not. You used to live near the Cathedral, remember? You came
there soon after Liberation and borrowed some of my cardboard to cover
your windows. Then you married that Caracoles who made money with
the Japs. He sold scrap iron, remember? They used to call him Juan
Demonio, remember?

FLOR: I don’t remember any of that silly nonsense. (pp. 318-319)

In this excerpt, Osang is asking Flor, a rich woman, if she remembers her, insisting that

they used to be neighbors in a slum area. She recalls that Flor’s husband was nicknamed Juan

Demonio, apparently for selling iron taken from camps that were burned during the war.

However, Flor pretends not to recognize Osang and denies everything.

Also appearing in one of the plays is doble cara, which is Spanish for “double-faced”

(Oxford Spanish Dictionary, 1994, p. 274). Similarly, the Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles

(1973) refers to it as “double-faced; double-dealing” (p. 253). The term appears in Guerrero’s

Blessed are the Grafters (1962):

WIFE: Taksil! Doble cara! Who was that girl I saw you with in a taxi on P. Burgos?
162

ED: Er – er – a client of ours – of our office.

WIFE: A client, eh? Did you have to put your arms around her? (p. 211)

Here, Ed’s wife is accusing him of having an affair, calling him doble cara. She also

calls him taksil, which means “traitor” in Tagalog (Tagalog-English Dictionary, 1986, p. 1314).

Estupido is another Spanish invective that appears in the plays. According to Cassell’s

Spanish Dictionary (1959), estupido means “dull, slow, stupid; insensible” (p. 408). Likewise,

the Diksyunaryong-Filipino English (2005) translates it as “stupid” (p. 209). The term is uttered

in Guerrero’s Blessed are the Grafters (1962), where a character is called estupido for falling in

an underpass:

CULASA: Why are you so dirty?

MESSENGER: I fell in the Quiapo underpass.

ED: Estupido! Why did you have to go through the underpass?

MESSENGER: I wanted to pray, so I passed by the church… (pp. 177-178)

Estupido is also mentioned in this excerpt from Montano’s Gabriela Silang (1956):

VICTORINA: What are the plans of Zabala?

VICOS: He does not plan to marry, not yet, or none that I know of!

VICTORINA: Estupido! What are his intentions upon the capitana? (p. 201)

In this excerpt, Victorina is interrogating Vicos, one of the men who killed Diego Silang.

When she asks him about the plans of the alcalde mayor, Zabala responds with a sarcastic

answer. Thus, she calls him estupido and asks him again.
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Another Spanish borrowing is exagerado, which the Larousse Spanish Dictionary (2009)

describes as “exaggerated; overly dramatic; exorbitant; flamboyant” (p. 225). The term is used

in the following excerpt from Guerrero’s Basketball Fight (1952) to describe a basketball player:

PILAR: This Leony was always exagerado. He did that several times, too.

MIGUEL: Did what?

PILAR: Oh, he would claim a foul when there really was no foul. Every time
somebody touched him he would start screaming.

Also mentioned in a couple of plays is the term gago, which is defined as “a stammerer,

stutterer” (Cassell’s Spanish Dictionary, 1959, p. 439). The Oxford Spanish Dictionary (1994)

describes it more fully: “a person with a speech defect, especially one who cannot articulate

consonants” (p. 365). The Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles (1973) gives another definition:

“one who can’t understand things or usually misinterprets meanings of things” (p. 420). The

term appears in Montano’s The Merry Wives of Manila (1955):

FRED: And why are you wet, dear? Niloloko ka ba ni Napoleon?

(Is Napoleon teasing you?)

OSCAR: Gago, I don’t fall for that Napoleon business! Except for this costume! In
those days, Napoleon threw water on the ladies so that their gown would stick
to their body. (p. 271)

In this particular scene, Fred and George are guests in a “turn-about” party, where the

men are dressed as women, and vice-versa. Fred is teasing Oscar, whose dress is all wet. In an

angry response, Oscar calls Fred gago.

The term gago is also uttered in Guerrero’s When Children Play (1965) by a girl, in

response to her brother, who is teasing her:

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CLARISA: (To Teddy.) His room is very untidy. Mine is nice.

JULIUS: That’s because you are a girl.

CLARISA: Gago! (p. 28)

Interestingly, in the same play, the term gaga, which is the female counterpart of the term

gago, is also mentioned. This time, it is the boy who calls his sister gaga for telling their mother

about his disobedience:

MOTHER: I told you to play in the garden, but as usual you disobeyed me. You
played on the street.

JULIUS: I was playing in the garden.

CLARISA: That’s not true. I saw him on the street.

JULIUS: Gaga. (p. 16)

Loko is another Spanish borrowing mentioned in one of the plays. The Oxford Spanish

Dictionary (1994) defines it as “mad, insane, crazy” (p. 464). The Tagalog-English Dictionary

(1986) states that it means “insane, demented,” while its verb form, lokohin, means “to tease; to

make a fool of” (p. 839). It appears in Montano’s The Merry Wives of Manila (1955), where a

character calls his friend loko:

FRED: Oo, maniwala ka, sister!

(Yes, believe me, sister!)

OSCAR: Loko, don’t call me “sister”! If it were not only for this masquerade
business, I would have come in my barong Tagalog! (pp. 270-271)

Another Spanish borrowing that appears in one of the plays is majadera, which the

Oxford Spanish Dictionary (1994) defines as “stupid; whiny; clown; whiner” (p. 471). On the

other hand, the Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles (1973) translates majadera as “a

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presumptuous woman” (p. 683). The term is uttered in the following excerpt from Guerrero’s

The Young and the Brave (1952):

CARMEN: Civil engineer indeed! Uncivil, uncouth, uncivilized engineer! Engineer

whose first bridge in Bulacan collapsed when a carretela passed over it!

BERTING: Movie star! You were dreaming of changing your name to Maja Rosas!
Maja Rosas – maja blanca – majadera! (p. 113)

Here, Carmen is having an argument with her husband, Berting. She is criticizing him

for being a failure as an engineer. In response, he makes fun of her dreams of becoming a movie

star and changing her name to “Maja Rosas.” He insults her more by making fun of her name

and saying similar-sounding terms: maja blanca, a kind of pudding (Diksyunaryong Filipino-

English, 2005, p. 530), and majadera, which means “presumptuous woman,” as cited earlier.

Another Spanish invective that is uttered in one of the plays is puñeta, which the Oxford

Spanish Dictionary (1994) equates with “for heaven’s sake!” (p. 650). The Larousse Spanish

Dictionary (2009), meanwhile, interprets it as “damn it!” (p. 425). The term is mentioned in

Guerrero’s Blessed are the Grafters (1962), where a character utters it in surprise:

SALSIP: Please stay for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

LACSON: Of what?

SALSIP: Of our newly remodelled Ladies Room.

LACSON: Puñeta! You mean you’ll have somebody cut the ribbon for a toilet?

SALSIP: It’s the custom in the Philippines. (p. 216)

Also appearing in the plays is querida, which means “lover; darling” (Larousse Spanish

Dictionary, 2009, p. 428). The Tagalog-English Dictionary (1986), however, defines it as “a

paramour; mistress; a woman who improperly occupies the place of a wife” (p. 326). It appears
166

in this excerpt from Montano’s The Merry Wives of Manila (1955), where Doña Concha is

quarreling with her husband, Senator Hizon, telling him to leave and go back to his queridas:

DOÑA CONCHA: I’m completely done with you! And don’t “my darling” me.

SEN. HIZON: Come, come, you’ll regret what you are saying.

DOÑA CONCHA: No, no! I won’t regret anything ever! As far as I am concerned,
you can just go right back to the arms of your queridas! (p. 254)

In the same way, the term is mentioned in this excerpt from Guerrero’s Blessed are the

Grafters (1962). In this particular scene, a senator arrives at an event with a woman who is not

his wife. Behind his back, two ladies gossip about his companion, describing her as his querida:

SENATOR: Er – no – my wife couldn’t come. This is my friend Miss Tinapa.

FIRST LADY: (Whispering.) That’s his second querida.

SECOND LADY: His third. His second is now the querida of Congressman Chinelas.
(p. 217)

Salvaje is another invective borrowed from Spanish. Cassell’s Spanish Dictionary (1959)

describes this term as “savage; rough; ignorant” (p. 695). Meanwhile, the Diksyunaryo-Tesauro

Pilipino-Ingles (1973) states that salvaje means “one with cunning trickery and unreliability in

dealing with others, often being an abuse of confidence” (p. 868). The term appears in

Guerrero’s Opisina ng Gobierno (1962):

JANITOR: Naku! (Noise) You – (Noise) – you – (Noise) you’re noisier than (more
noise) – than Divisoria, Quinta, and Paco markets! (Someone throws
paper on the floor.) Hoy, salvaje! I’ve just cleaned this room! (p. 28)

In this scene, a janitor is cleaning the office one morning, when suddenly the employees

rush in and mess up the floor. Complaining about the noise and the mess, he shouts salvaje to

someone who has just thrown paper on the floor.

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Another invective that appears in the plays is tarantado, which comes from the Spanish

term atarantado, meaning “restless; wild; amazed; astonished” (Cassell’s Spanish Dictionary,

1959, p. 98). Likewise, the Tagalog-English Dictionary (1986) defines tarantado as “foolish,

silly; impudent; disrespectful; shameless” (p. 1385). In Guerrero’s Blessed are the Grafters

(1962), the term is used as follows:

MESSENGER: Give me one – twenty.

ED: What for?

MESSENGER: For the broken cup and saucer.

ED: Tarantado! (p. 178)

Earlier in the scene, a messenger arrives at an office with a broken cup and saucer. He

was supposed to have bought a cup of coffee for Ed, the clerk, but he fell in an underpass on his

way back. He tries to ask for money to pay for the broken cup and saucer, but Ed, who is upset

because there was no coffee, responds by calling him tarantado.

Similarly, the term appears in this excerpt from Montano’s Opisina ng Gobierno (1962):

ARNULFO: I’ll take you to Avenue if you tell me where can I find Mr. Velasco.

AENLLE: Tarantado! Third floor, room 306.

ARNULFO: Thanks. But stop calling me tarantado.

AENLLE: Aba, I often call you tarantado. (p. 49)

In this scene, Arnulfo, a sales agent, is looking for someone in an office. Before this, it is

explained that Arnulfo looks exactly like Alfredo, one of the employees. And so, when the

secretary, Aenlle, answers him, she mistakes him for Alfredo, whom she often calls tarantado.
168

Notably, the term tarantada, the female counterpart of tarantado, appears in the

following excerpt from Guerrero’s Modern Girls (1952):

FILAMER: That girl reporter from the Manila News is here.

LITA: Well, let her in – and tell her to sit down.

FILAMER: (Going to the door and shouting again.) Hoy, you, from the Manila News,
come in and sit down.

LITA: Tarantada! (p. 37)

Here, Lita is asking the maid, Filamer, to let a visitor in. Filamer does so by shouting to

the guest and telling her to come in. Because of her rude behavior, Lita calls her tarantada.

Also mentioned in one of the plays is the term tonta, which the Oxford Spanish

Dictionary (1994) describes as “stupid, dumb, silly” as well as “idiot, dummy, fool” (p. 747). It

is uttered in Montano’s Gabriela Silang (1956):

VICTORINA: Hey, you, what are you mooning about?

GREGORIA: I’m dreaming of Diego. But that’s none of your business.

VICTORINA: What? Tonta! Diego Silang is already married, therefore, keep out.
He is no longer available. (p. 120)

In this scene, two women, Gregoria and Victorina, are talking about Diego. Gregoria

says that she likes him, even if he is already married. Shocked, Victorina calls her tonta.

One more Spanish borrowing mentioned in one of the plays is torpe. The Larousse

Spanish Dictionary (2009) translates torpe as “clumsy, slow, dim-witted” (p. 513). Similarly,

the Diksyunaryong Filipino-English (2005) interprets it as “stupid, dull, timid, shy” (p. 965). It
 169

appears in Guerrero’s The Best Way (1952), where the speaker, Josefa, calls her son torpe

because he didn’t get any medals at his high school graduation:

JOSEFA: …Mario – my son here didn’t get any medals tonight – all he got was his
diploma – unsigned by the director pa. He wants to have his picture taken
at the studio tomorrow. Can you lend him your medals so he would
appear intelligent in the picture? (Knocking her son’s head with her
knuckles.) Ay naku, hijo mio! Why are you so torpe?

Borrowings from Tagalog. Nine invectives are borrowed from Tagalog, namely: hayup,

kuriput/kuripots, lintik, pangit, pasikatero, taksil, yabang, walang hiya, and mestizong bangos.

According to the Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles (1973), hayup means “animal;

beast; fauna; monster” (p. 489). Aside from this, the UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino (2010) states

that it can also mean “tao na malupit (a person who is cruel)” (p. 440). This appears to be the

meaning implied in this excerpt from Guerrero’s Blessed are the Grafters (1962):

WIFE: Debts! We owe so much money to the Chinese store at the corner. Bejo
won’t give me sugar this morning.

ED: (Drawing some money from his wallet.) I have here some.

WIFE: (Grabbing entire amount.) Taksil! Tarantado! Hayup! It’s the same story
every payday – I’ve to come here and get some money. (p. 190)

Here, Ed’s wife arrives at his office to get some money to pay their debts. Furious with

Ed because she has to go to his office every payday just to get some money, she calls him hayup.

She also calls him taksil, which means “traitor” (Tagalog-English Dictionary, 1986, p. 1314).

More specifically, the UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino (2010) defines taksil as one who “lumabag sa

katapatan at pagmamahal sa asawa, kaibigan, kamag-anak, kapisanan, o bansa (disregards

honesty and love for a spouse, friend, relative, organization, or country)” (p. 1209).
170

Another Tagalog term that appears in the plays is kuriput/kuripots. The Diksyunaryong

Filipino-English (2005) defines kuripot as “a miser; skinflint; tightwad” (p. 422). The Anvil-

Macquarie Philippine English Dictionary (2010) states that “if someone is kuripot, they are very

mean with their money” (p. 117). The term is mentioned in Guerrero’s Basketball Fight (1952):

PILAR: But I can’t do that, Dña. Miguela. Dña. Pablita and Dña. Francisca are
close friends of my family and they have got to be invited.

MIGUELA: Dña. Pablita and Dña. Francisca – a pair of kuripots! (p. 12)

Here, Pilar and Miguela are discussing whether or not to invite two women, Dña. Pablita

and Dña. Francisca, to a wedding. Pilar thinks that they should be invited because they are close

friends of her family. On the other hand, Miguela believes that they shouldn’t be invited because

they are “a pair of kuripots,” implying that they might be stingy with their gifts.

In another Guerrero play, The Best Way (1952), the term also appears in this excerpt,

where Josefa calls her friend, Tecla, kuriput for not giving her some sugar:

JOSEFA: … Tecla, I need some more sugar.

TECLA: I am sorry, Josefa. I haven’t anymore.

JOSEFA: Don’t be so kuriput, Tecla. Just half a kilo. I’ll pay it back. (p. 83)

Also mentioned in one of the plays is lintik, which the Tagalog-English Dictionary (1986)

defines literally as “lightning” (p. 824). The same reference provides another definition. When a

person says lintik ka, which translates to “may you be struck by lightning,” the term is expressed

as an “imprecation or curse” (p. 824). This appears to be the intention in Guerrero’s Blessed are

the Grafters (1962), where Lacson is arresting tax agents for extorting money from a company:
 171

LACSON: Lintik! Sons of bitches! Put the handcuffs on them and bring them
outside! (p. 215)

Pasikatero is another term that appears in one of the plays. It is based on the Tagalog

term pasikat, which means “show-off; boastful” (Diksyunaryong Filipino-English, 2005, p. 640).

It is used to refer to someone who is “pretentious” or “making claim to excellency or

importance” (p. 797). Pasikatero is uttered in Guerrero’s The Young and the Brave (1952),

where Felisa is complaining about her son-in-law’s boastful attitude:

FELISA: He has such a big caratula: Attorney Sandico Cervantes III. All palabas!
Pasikatero! Why doesn’t he practice his profession?

Another term that is mentioned in the plays is walang hiya, which literally means

“shameless” (Diksyunaryo-Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles, 1973, p. 517). The Tagalog-English

Dictionary (1986) states that this term is used to call someone who is “thick-skinned; not

sensitive to criticism, reproach, rebuff, or the like” (p. 654). It is mentioned in Guerrero’s

Blessed are the Grafters (1962), where Miss Culasa, a secretary, gets upset while talking on the

phone because the caller is trying to ask her out:

CULASA: Salsipuedes & Co.… Yes, this is Nena… Who are you? … Toti
Arellano? … Walang hiya! I certainly won’t go out with you!

The term also appears in Guerrero’s Opisina ng Gobierno (1962), where the office boss

catches one of his employees doing an illegal activity. The chief calls him walang hiya:

CHIEF: (To De la Rosa.) Walang hiya! (He gets the papers.) Call the police! (p. 61)

Furthermore, the term also appears in Montano’s The Merry Wives of Manila (1955):

DOÑA CONCHA: (Shouting) I’ll denounce your chicanery in the Confidential!

SEN. HIZON: Go ahead! I’m not scared of the press any longer!
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DOÑA CONCHA: Walanghiya! (Crash!) … Bastus de primera clase! … (Another

crash)

SEN. HIZON: Concha, stop it! (p. 256)

In this particular scene, Doña Concha is in a fight with her husband, Senator Hizon. She

is angry with him for having affairs with other women. While shouting, she throws around some

plates and calls him walanghiya.

Also appearing in one of the plays is the term yabang, which the Diksyunaryong Filipino-

English (2005) defines as “boast; boastfulness; brag; bragging; pride; arrogance” (p. 1055).

Similarly, the UP Diksiyonaryong Filipino (2010) refers to it as “labis na pagkilos, pananalita,

at pagpapahalaga sa sarili upang makuha ang pansin ng iba (excessive action, words, and self-

importance to catch the attention of others)” (p. 1342). It is mentioned in the following excerpt

from Guerrero’s When Children Play (1965):

JULIUS: Can you read?

TEDDY: I can.

JULIUS: Yabang. What’s this title?

TEDDY: (Reading aloud.) “Lives of Filipino Patriots” by Jose de la Llana. (p. 22)

In this case, two young boys are discussing a book. Julius is asking Teddy if he can read;

Teddy replies that he can. Julius, who cannot read because he is too lazy, calls Teddy yabang,

but then proceeds to ask him what the title of the book is.

Another term that appears in one of the plays is mestizong bangos. Interestingly, this is a

combination of the Spanish term mestizo, which means “a person of mixed race” (Oxford
 173

Spanish Dictionary, 1994, p. 496), and bangus, which is Tagalog for “milkfish” (Diksyunaryo-

Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles, 1973, p. 130). It is mentioned in Montano’s Gabriela Silang (1956):

ROBERTO: And now you, Miguel Vicos. Listen carefully to the next questions.

VICOS: What else can I do but listen? I am now a captive audience.

ANDRES: Don’t be so smart! Remember, that you are merely a mestizong bangos!
(p. 201)

Here, Roberto and Andres are about to interrogate Miguel Vicos, one of the men who

killed Diego Silang. Vicos responds sarcastically, prompting Andres to call him a mestizong

bangos. In the story, Miguel Vicos is described as the mestizo son of a Filipino woman and

possibly a Spanish priest. In this case, mestizong bangos is meant to be an insult or imprecation.

One more Tagalog term that appears in a play is pangit, which means “undesirable; bad;

ugly” (Tagalog-English Dictionary, 1986, p. 997). It appears in this excerpt from Guerrero’s

When Children Play (1965), where a young girl is commenting on how bad her brother sings:

JULIUS: (Singing.) “It’s been a hard day’s night and I’ll be working like a dog, it’s
been a hard day’s night and I should be sleeping like a log –“

CLARISA: How pangit. (p. 23)

Borrowing from Ilocano. One entry, salawasaw, is borrowed from Ilocano. According

to the Iloko-English Dictionary (1957), salawasaw is used to describe someone “who freely

divulges secrets or gossip; tattler; a leaky person” (p. 279). It appears in this excerpt from

Montano’s Gabriela Silang (1956), where a woman is shocked by her friend’s gossip:

MATILDA: Daughter cano of a priest.

GREGORIA: Salawasaw! How malicious you are! (p. 118)

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As cited earlier, majority of the entries in this category are borrowed from Spanish,

indicating the strong influence of the language on Philippine culture. Most of them are clearly

marked in terms of gender, with invectives such as demonio, gago, and tarantado used in

referring to male characters, and boba, gaga, and tarantada used to refer to females. In the plays,

invectives were generally used to insult one’s mental ability (estupido, tonta, torpe), ethnicity

(mestizong bangos), or particular character trait, including lewdness (bastus), treachery (hayup,

taksil) arrogance (pasikatero, yabang), backstabbing (chismoso, salawasaw), and other behaviors.