I was surfing YouTube when I chanced upon a video of the latest beauty pageant in the Philippines. I am naturally curious on why the video was tagged as hilarious, embarrassing and wrong grammar. I watched the video and then I felt it. The sensation of being choked in a fancy restaurant without anyone knowing the Heimlich Maneuver. Together with me, my laptop and the axis where our planet rotates fell 100 floors down. If this was being watched by another person, he or she would just a hearty laugh. However, for me as being Filipina, my cheeks turned beet red and my feet were submerged in cold water. I do not need to search for more related videos since I am sure that this is one of “biggest” hits on the Internet after Miss South Carolina and Leave Britney Alone! courtesy of Chris Crocker. Sure, people make mistakes yet I find this unacceptable much less entertaining. Call me an ingrate for criticizing a fellow Pinay. I am a woman too but the last thing that I want is to be called dumb. Being a teenager is not an excuse to laugh like a hyena in front of a crowd. Filipinos can be the greatest audience but we can also be the most ruthless. This was evident in the video when people started booing, stabbing laughter and the cameras focused on the gaped mouths of the judges. In my book, “New York is An Island”:, I tackled on the common mistakes of Filipinos on pronunciation, phonics and grammar. I myself have occasional glib yet I exerted effort to correct myself. After I posted an excerpt of the chapter, I received numerous feedback that I should not impose the “twang” of perfecting the English language hence they insist on using “conversational” English whether was and were are used wrong. I begged to disagree and stood my ground. I am no longer in one of the 7, 107 islands of the archipelago but I am now a global citizen. English is my tool to make my niche in the world and Filipino as the language I will always love and take pride in using whenever I can. So to you Janina, I implore you to take the following suggestions seriously. Before you participate in the international pageant, enlist the help of your family. You are included in my prayers and may you understand that “being in the taf 10″ is not the most important thing ….ever.

1. Find you phonics teacher and have remedial classes on the f and p sound.

Example: Farfle is the color of Barney

If you cannot overcome this, I see little hope for you in the V and B section.

“It is bery bad for you to join the fageant!”

 

2. You are a mass communications student, please save your college from further humiliation. Practice speaking in front of mirror for 20 minutes three times a day.

 

3. Being seventeen years old is great. I vouch for your beauty yet brain cells are commodities too. Ten years from now, you do not want to date a jerk that took you as a trophy.

 

4. Please, please, please do not laugh like that in public. We give you permission to do it infront of your parents or while feeding your cat. However, crucial times need crucial changes. If you want to bring home the crown, stop adapting the behavior of a coyote.

 

5. Watch your video a hundred times not to let yourself down but rather to humiliate you so much that you will think “What the hell was I thinking?” Only when we recognize and accept our blunders can we move on.

Janina

You are absolutely pretty

Do not take things lightly

You won a serious crown

So do not let us down

We forgive you once

For being a dunce

You still have time to change

Broaden your speaking range

If you heed my advice

You will be wise

Do the country proud

And the gem in you will be found