Ok all cultures have some habits that outsiders tend to find a little strange. It’s not to say that they these habits are in fact “strange” because to the in group they are completely normal. The outsiders just may seem to find them that way.

Having said that, that’s what this thread is all about. Filipino habits others may find to be a little strange or odd. I’ll get things started and hopefully others can add.

1. Filipinos point with their lips and raised eye brows. <-- To a Filipino this icon may actually mean I’m just pointing at you. 2

2. When sitting on a chair one leg may dangle while the other leg is up on the chair and folded to their chest.

3. You will see people out side smoking on a street corner while in a squat position. Think of how a sumo wrestler starts out their match but their @$$ would be a little farther down and while one arm is out the other is holding a cigarette to their lips.

You know these are also habits that Japanese people have by the way. Further proof that makes Filipinos Asian.

2 ok, I was being sarcastic there people. Lighten up. Smell the flowers. Let’s see if we can have fun with this thread....or not.

the darndest things. i kinda miss those stupid werid $hit my people do. americans do stupid things but when i see it it just piss me off, rather than laugh about it.

2 They do? Such as?

Common among Filipinos -> They scratch their heads when they don't know what to say / or the answers to the questions throwed to them, even though their head isn't itchy at all.

Greeting through the raise of the eyebrows.

Oh yes, the epression "Uy!!!".

Hehe

"Uy!" That kind of has multi uses doesn't it? 2

The scratch the of the head thing I know I have seen other people than Filipinos do that. Maybe it's a universal thing. 2

I think so. It's just very common:
When you greet
When you plead
When you want to say something..

Usually, it's the first word that people say

tell their kids to go to time out instead of beating the $hit outta them. driving too slow. go to countries and assume everything they think stereotypical about it is true eg one white tourist lady asked a hawaiian airport attendant if people over here still live in grass huts.

Or when you are getting upset and you want some one to stop from doing something. 2 That's a very useful word.

Edit: 2 flipcombatmedic. I thought Americans drive fast, though.

Ok, another thread made me think of this. I hate when Americans drive and talk on their cell and hold up traffic to boot. But in the Philippines I have seen people text and drive. 2

whats with the "oho" or "ho" thing all the time....

like "sige na ho"...

i'm doing that right now!

ok you guys totally missed the best one:

when you need to get in someone's way, like it your blocking the TV or something, you put your hands together in front of you as if to make a path and say "excuse, excuse" i've actually done that before... it's what the cool kids do.

ooh more!

You go to a department store and try to bargain the prices
You find dried up morsels of rice stuck to your shirt
You add an unwarranted "H" to your name (i.e., "Jhun," "Bhoy," "Rhon.")
Your house has a distinctive aroma
You say "comfort room" instead of "bathroom"
You "open" or "close" the lights (<--ay nako my parents... #1 offender)
You ask for "Colgate" instead of "toothpaste
You ask for a "pentel pen" or a "ball pen" instead of just a pen
You refer to the refrigerator as the "ref" or "pridyider (teehee.. i love that word.. frigidaire lol)
You say "Kodakan" instead of "take a picture
You say "Ha?" instead of "What?"
You say "for a while" instead of "please hold" on the telephone
You say "he" when you mean "she" and vice versa (aiyah this one is TOO common)
You prefer to make acronyms for phrases such as "OA" for overacting, "DOM" for dirty old man and "TNT" for, well, you know
You say "air con" instead of "a/c" or air conditioner
You say "brown-out" instead of "black-out."
You say "for take out" instead of "to go."
You have a tabo in the bathroom
You have two or three pairs of tsinelas at your doorstep
You refer to your VCR as the "Beyta-Max."
You have plastic runners to cover the carpets in your house ( we used to do that)
You own a Mercedes Benz and call it "chedeng."
You have aunts and uncles named "Baby," "Girlie," or "Boy."
Your parents call each other "mommy" and "daddy."

And of course:
You hang a Rosary on your car's rear view mirror


i got them from here... it's so funny to dot he test b/c you relate so much
http://www.websciences.org/dvhpub/fliptest.htm

I used to have hundreds of list of those "How do u know if ur a Pinoy"!

1. Filipinos point with their lips and raised eye brows


some of the Africans I work with do that

I’m gonna try to start answering people back in this way. HAA? I think it’s better when you drag it out a little bit though and of course you have to say it loud too.



When I was younger I used to turn those things over in people’s houses. They would have all these little spikes on the under side and since it’s clear most of the time you wouldn’t notice it. So then I would just wait for some one to come by with no shoes on to fall in to my little trap.

2 Oh, good times. The sad thing is I don’t see them in people’s houses much anymore.

^omg hhaa that's the best... rex navarrette even made a skit on it

At times it would be hilarious. 2

I have heard of Rex Navarrette. Never really got a chance to listen to his stuff though except for a little skit where he talks about how you can recognize Filipino homes because of the glass shards on the top of their fences. That $hit is so true. I should go try to find some more of his stuff.

As for another Filipino habit I see in the PI, a lot of the old timers like to like to roll their shirts up to their chest. No matter how big that belly is. They ain’t got no shame. Sometimes they will be patting it or rubbing it too. They look so relaxed while doing it though. 2 I kind of want to see that trend spread out to the US.

Heard of him, too. I have a classmate who has his CD.

just goes to show that a Filipino's home goes outside the boundaries of his legal house.. lol

Filipinos put so much emphasis on "debt of gratitude" utang na loob...

they will use that all the time to get you back for whatever reasons

Yeah, and sometimes that's a positive attitude that can turn into a negative one.

HAHA so true.

Not really strange...but I think it's funny not being Filo...

1. For those who aren't FOB filos going home and having to change your accent to resemble the filo accent when speaking to your family

2. Always eating cornbeef I like cornbeef but you guys eat too much...lol

No offence intended...just think its funny...I always tease my Filo buddies about silly little things...

2 This might be true.

Another one, all your friends' parents become your aunts and uncles.
"hello aunty, hello uncle." 2

Isn't this a less formal version of "po"?

^oho! tama po kayo! Noong maliit pa ako, may mga bago akong kaibigan galing Manila at ang kanilang paraan ng pagsagot sa matatanda ay ho at oho. Nang sinubukan ko silang gayahin, pinagsabihan ako ng nanay ko na mas maigi gamitin ang po at opo bilang tanda ng paggalang sapagkat mas pormal ito.

That's what I thought

I thought I had read the same thing... generally use ho for those around your age, and po for your elders. Nice to know I remember some things

How have you been Aki

Walang nasabi ang Nanay ko ukol sa paggamit ng ho at oho sa mga kasinggulang ko.... ewan lang...

maari bang isali sa strange things that pinoy do ang pag-iiwan ng tsinelas o sapatos sa labas ng bahay? (di ko na kasi binasa yong mga naunang tala eh.)

Kuzzy! patuloy pa rin pala ang pag-aaral mo sa iba't-ibang kultura ha!? mabuti naman! heto... naghahabol ng gawain sa opisina... maraming natambak na trabaho eh... ikaw? kumusta?

Yeah, I've been slacking, but I'm still studying :P Did your pile come from slacking, too? Nah, you're not a slacker I'm good, thanks! Still slowly reverting back to normal mode out of holiday mode

Sorry to go off topic, everybody... I thought this one was pretty funny

You might be Filipino if... you buy the karaoke system first before the stereo and TV

hindi! minus one muna! pero ngayong videoke na! 10,000 songs may kasama pang intsik na mga awitin yan ha!

kakaiba din ba (o sa atin din lang ba) ang paggugupit ng pilikmata ng sanggol para mas humaba at maging malantik ito?

iwan na kita... nagugutom na ako eh... paalam... magandang gabi! gabi sa amin eh!

kuzzywuzzy cant read tagalog

If someone tries to do me a favour I just say "No thank you, I can handle this myself" if they usually force it....like my mom cuz I know later on she'll blackmail me and make me feel guilty...so fack dat shiat!

its been used so many time negatively ...

One of the very strange things the Filipino men do in the Philippines is that... they pee wherever they want to... kung saan na lang sila maabutan. Disgusting.

sorry.. its not just filipino guys either

Babatukan kita!

I know my eyelashes have never been cut, but I'm not sure about Jmac

what r u talking about?

Actually, I use Fabulash® too, but shhh.... don't tell anyone

hoy! nag-aral kaya si Kuzzywuzzy ng Filipino... pero hindi ko alam kung yaong mga maretorikang pangungusap ay napag-aralan din nya...

kakaiba din yong pagarbohan ng handa sa kahit anumang okasyon samanatalang inutangan naman ang perang panghanda!

haha... 'corned beef' atsaka SPAM... oh, as well as vienna sausage i eat that like everday...


yea... on other occasions i've seen filipinos who think they can take a $hit whereever they want too (mind you this was in the phils...) (ok, so it wasn't on a street corner or anything, but i mean come on, whether or not it's out in a field or the highway or whatever...that's dirrtay...) eew btw my cousin said he saw an old woman pee at some street corner sure it was ONE time, but ick...




oh, and about calling your friends parents tita and tito... i do that too... haha i ave 14 real uncles and aunts and like 20 fake ones

I thought it was only your parents who was born in the Philippines. LOL same here I have like 10 fake aunts and uncles and like 18 real ones.

That is so Hilarious!!! because my friend ALWAYS does that whenever she wants me to look at whatever she's looking at ,but she says "dun"(sp?) whenever she does it...it's so funny!!

lol yep... 5 or so visits is enough to see someone $hit in public... serious... it freaked me out haha...

my mom has made it really important to keep all the old customs so, yea, we do everything just like we would in the philippines.. expect we $hit and piss indoors thank you very much

Same here , LOL last time I visited Pinas I saw someone $hitting in the river.

I see a couple of Mr. Turds swimming in the river too

Really? Im not just talking about guys who pees around the bush... im talking about those guys who pees anywhere... they dont mind if someone can see them... they just stand there on the posts or any walls or any vehicles and open their zip... then wholla.

If thats the case grabe naman na man, i didnt know it was that bad.

I really don't know if this trait is shared by most Filipinos but,

The thing I've noticed is that wherever Filipino's go, the first thing they look for is the Restroom.

One more thing, anywhere, and I mean anywhere Filipino's go, the mode of calling another person is "PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTT" even if they are in a foreign land we use this mode for calling someone we know from a distance! 2

and afterwards they touch you and shake your hands and $hit

Ahahaah. I remember, my classmate told me that he saw a lady peeing on the street, then after, she "flushed" it with mineral water. LOL.

the peeing thing. it's cuz there aren't infrastructure enough. not like in the us, that probably only in lonesome or big freeways with no immediate exits could you not find bathrooms.

^True, but sometimes, even if there are available restrooms, some Filipino men still prefer to really turn to Nature when nature calls! LOL

Public CRs din kasi are disgusting, no water, no tissue..kung meron man, may bayad aka entrance fee. LMAO