Ganda's Sarcasm

“May nag-blog!”


The rise of Vice Ganda didn’t only offer a new viewpoint of homosexuals in the Philippines - it gave the country a new infectious taste of hilarious sarcasm.


It’s not new to learn that we, Filipinos, mostly ask questions with obvious answers. You see your brother soaking wet after walking under heavy rain and you ask “Naulanan ka?”. You smell the food your mother is cooking and then you ask “Ma, nagluluto ka na?”. And you let a person inside your karinderya and you suddenly ask “Kakain po kayo?”. Vice Ganda, a stand-up comedian now a red-carpet delight, is clearly sick of these and so came his contribution to the endless prominent catchphrases composed of two words ending with an angry exclamation point: “AY, HINDI!”


And surely, even you have been a victim. Vice Ganda’s growing exposure (because of noontime television’s Showtime and soon his own talk show, Gandang Gabi Vice, probably a Pinoy gay counterpart to Ellen) planted a new popular way of speaking in Pinoy pop culture. Boys, girls and gays alike are using this, probably as a way of showing superiority or just to fool around.


Vice shows another concrete example of how gays in the country are indeed one of the most influential sources to new ways and forms of communication. There’s the gay lingo, and now this Vice Ganda-stamped sarcasm that are humorous but are, most importantly, colorful evidences of the Filipino language’s dynamism. Call it destructive, crude or frustrating, you probably just get fooled by it all the time. AY HINDI! - Gio Potes, September 2011