MANILA, Philippines -- Pinoy is what Filipinos call each other, a term of endearment. You?re Pinoy from Pilipino just like you?re tisoy from mestizo or chinoy from chino.

It?s a nickname just as Minoy is from Maximo, Ninoy from Benigno, Tinay from Florentina and Kikay from Francisca. But now they?re Maxi and Ben and Tintin and Cheska.

You?ve been called indio, goo-goo, Negro, flip, noypits. Or Filipino, a biscuit that is brown outside and white inside, or a word stricken from the dictionary which means domestic. Ay, lintik!

You?re Juan de la Cruz or Mang Pandoy. You?re common tao, masa, urban poor but also Cecile Licad and Don Jaime, Jose Rizal and Tony Meloto, Shawie and Pacquiao and Nick Joaquin, galing galing.

Born June 12, 1896, the Republic of the RP is a Gemini, good at connecting, good at loving-loving, good at texting and interpersonal skills.

Filipinos like to yakap, akbay, hawak, kalong, kalabit. We sleep side by side, siping-siping, we go out kabit kabit.

There?s lots of us to go around. Someone always to listen to a sob story, even in a jeepney, to share-a-load or to share a TV.

Everyone?s tito, tita

Who has a hipag, a bayaw, a bilas, a balae, a kinakapatid? Who has an ate, dete, diche, kuya, diko? The maids call her ate, the driver calls him kuya and everybody is tito or tita.

Who has a Lola Baby, a Tito Totoy, a bosing called Sir Peewee, his wife Ma?am Lovely and their kids Cla Cla and Cring Cring?

The Pinoy lives in a condo, a mansion, an apartment, a bahay na bato, ilalim ng tulay, Luneta, Forbes Park, and Paris too!

He?s a citizen of the world, he?s in all the villages and capitals, colonizing the West, bringing his guitar and his bagoong, his walis na tingting, his tabo, his lolo and lola.

Where there?s a beat, there?s a Pinoy. You?ll find her singing in a nightclub in Tokyo, a musical in London, the Opera House in Sydney. Sure, they?ve got the infrastructure, the theaters and architecture. Who but Pinoys direct their plays, or trains their company managers, and imports our teachers, by the way?

Viagra to Victoria?s Secret

Look at that baggage?all pasalubong, none for herself. From bedsheet to hair color, Toblerone to carpet, Viagra to paella pan, Victoria?s Secret to microwave.

Hey, Joe, don?t envy me ?cause I?m brown, you?ll get ultra violet from that sun and turn red not brown.

Just lucky, I guess. God put us all in the oven, but some were uncooked and some were burned, but me, I came out golden brown!

Hey, Kristoff! Hey David and Ann! Your Pinoy yaya makes your kids gentler, more obedient, she teaches them how to pray. Hey Big Brother! Hey Grandma Moses! Who but Pinoy nurses make your sick days easier all the way?

We made the jeepney, the karaoke, the fluorescent bulb, the moon buggy. We invented People Power and crispy pata; popularized virgin coconut oil, scaled the Everest and made it with Cebu furniture abroad among the best. Ever trying for the Guinness World Record?with the longest swim of a child, the longest kiss, the longest longanisa?

Linguist

The Pinoy is a linguist. As in. As if. For a while. Open the light. Close the light. Paki ganyan naman ang kuwan sa ano. Tuck in. Tuck out. Don?t be high blood. If you?re ready na, I?ll pass for you.

Hayop; Hanep! Bongga ka ?day, feel na feel kita, kilig to the bones ako. Don?t make wala, don?t make tampo. Taralets na, babes, let?s go, nababato na ang syota mo.

I?m inviting you to my party, please RSVP. Oo means ?yes? or ?maybe,? or ?yes if you insist,? or ?maybe if it doesn?t rain.?

?Yes? is also a nice way of saying ?no.? Yes, hindi kita sisiputin. ?No,? eto na ako at ang barkada ko. Please don?t ask a Pinoy a question like that!

Just flows

She?s not so exact, not so chop-chop, she just flows and flows. Filipino time? Naku, huli din naman ang Kano!

The Pinoy finds time to be nice, to be kind, to apologize, to be there when you?re depressed, to help you with your utang and your wedding dress.

The Filipino is a giver, never mind what it does to his liver, never mind what it takes. Hardships of the Third World don?t dry up his blood, they just make him more compassionate, more feeling, of the other guy?s lot.

Note that the maid sends all her wages home to ailing daddy. She is the OCW whose labor of loneliness created the original katas ng Saudi.

?Bahala na?

The Filipino is fearless, bahala na si Batman, which actually means Bathala na or ?leave all to God.? Okay lang if I die by bitay, okay lang if I live, okay lang if I survive by the skin of my teeth.

Saway ni Inay: Di ka naman Bill Gates, di ka naman French, mahirap nang magbuhat ng sarili mong bench.

Be Pinoy! Enjoy!