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Pinoy Trivia
Facts !A Fast Facts
First "Filipinos"
The term Filipino originally
referred exclusively to
Spaniards and Spanish
mestizos born in the Philippines.
Espanoles-Filipinos -- children
of Espana and Filipinas -- was
how they specifically called
themselves. Later the native
upper class of indios
!uncivilized heathens!" and
#hinese mestizos$ believing that
education and wealth gave
them the cloa% of Spanish
culture$ also began calling
themselves Filipinos.
#uan de la Cru$
Contrary to popular notion$ the
symbolic name !Juan de la
Cruz! is not a Filipino invention.
&. 'c#ulloch-(ic%$ a Scottish
born )ournalist$ coined the
generic tag while wor%ing for the
'anila *imes in the early +,--.s
after discovering it was the most
common name in police blotters
and court doc%ets in and around
'anila.
%aria %ania
&hy do so many Filipino
women and men" carry !'aria!
in their names/ 0 ma)or cause
dates bac% to spanish times
. 0re there more Filipino
males than females/
A. 1ust slightly. *he latest count
put the ratio at +--., males for
every +-- females. 2n 'etro
'anila$ however$ the Filipino
male is outnumbered3 92.6 to
100.

. 4here did the terms kuya
and ate come from/
A. 'ost experts point to
#hinese origins. Kuya is said to
be a combination of two
#hinese words3 ko elder
brother" and a a term of
%inship"5 ate from the same a
plus chi elder sister".

. 6ow many Philippine
presidents were bar
topnotchers/
A. *hree3 'anuel 0. &oxas$
(iosdado 'acapagal$ and
Ferdinand 'arcos.

. 0ll Filipino names for the
days are from Spanish$ with the
sole exception of Linggo
Sunday". why not Domingo/
A. Linggo comes from the
'alay Mingu$ which is a
*hree Filipino babies will
be born in the next 7-
seconds or so.
8ne hundred thousand
hectares -- the size of
9:;$--- bas%etball courts
-- of Philippine forest are
denuded every year.
Every day about <;-
Filipino babies die of
preventable diseases
such as pneumonia$
diarrhea and measles.
*he Philippines has not
en)oyed complete internal
peace for the past =-
years.
*here is one live chic%en
for every Filipino.
*he average Filipino
bride is <9 years old5 her
bridegroom$ <;.
'oops (((
*he typical Filipino
brea%fast is not tapsilog
tapa$ sinangag and
itlog". 2t.s kankamtuy:
kanin$ kamatis and tuyo.
Chop suey is not a
native #hinese dish. 2t
originated in the late +,th
century in a #alifornia
camp where the #hinese
coo% simply threw
when parishes would refuse to
baptize a child unless the
parents chosen name included
the allusion to the >irgin 'ary.
*he practice resists to this day$
but on a far less pervasive
scale.
"Pilipinas"
The term Pilipinas$ as
distinguished from Filipinas$
made its first public appearance
in a stamp issued during the
1apanese 8ccupation of 'anila
in 4orld 4ar 22. ?ot until +,7<
did the Philippine government
ma%e a similar change from
Filipinas to Pilipinas in officially
describing the nation.
%onths ! )ays
Hundreds of Spanish words
have *agalog roots. Examples3
acharra atsara"5 banguerra
banggera"5 barrumbado
barumbado"5 bucayo bukayo"5
caua kawa"5 cascasero
kaskasero"5 panciteria
pansiteria"5 @uizame kisame"5
salacot salakot"5 tampipi
tampipi"5 tinapa tinapa"5 tulisan
tulisan".
corruption of the Portuguese
Domingo Sunday". Aut on its
way to the Philippines$ Mingu
became Linggo.

. *he Pasyon$ sub)ect of the
pabasa during Lent$ holds what
distinction in Philippine
publishing history/
A. 2t.s the ?o. + all-time
bestseller in the Philippines.

. &amon 'agsaysay named
his presidential plane Mt.
Pinatubo. 4hy/
A.Mount Pinatubo in
Bambales was 'agsaysay.s
area of operation as a guerilla
leader in 4orld 4ar 22. 6e went
on to become military governor
of the province at war.s end.

. 4hat.s special about the
+,<7 film Tatlong Hambog/
A. 2t featured a %issing scene
between Elizabeth !(imples!
#ooper and Luis *uazon -- the
first in Philippine cinema
together what he had left
over and called it .chop
suey.$ a phonetic
transliteration of the
#antonese tsa sui$ which
means something li%e
!odds and ends!.
*here is no pancit
Canton in #anton$ and
no lumpiang hanghai
in Shanghai.
*he choice of Cabriel
!Flash! Elorde.s
sobri@uet had nothing to
do with speed. 2n fact it
was originally !D.&.S.
Flash!$ the initials
supposedly for Dintanar
&adio Shop or Station"
as Elorde.s first manager
Dintanar" was a #ebu
radio ham. *he !Flash!
was ta%en from the
regular radio line !news
flash bulletin!.