Magnet #312 - Winslow Homer's The Blue BoatEvery year around this time, my sisters and I go to the card shop and look for birthday cards for our dad. And every year, we have to eliminate a good 75% of the great cards, cuz they use the word "Dad" or "Daddy" on them, instead of what we call our dad - Tatay. That's Filipino for Dad or Daddy.
That's just who he is - Tatay. It's weird to even think of calling him anything else.
Actually, this article is fairly interesting - all about how this Filipino reporter's sons are pronouncing Tatay in Obama's America. (They speak Tagalog, while my parents speak, and are, Visayan, but the Tatay concept remains the same.)
And no, I can't think of any word that will help you pronounce it correctly. It won't matter - for some reason, no non-Filipino can pronounce Tatay correctly. I'm serious. I've had friends whom I've known for 20 years now and they still can't pronounce it. They say, TatAye, or Daday, or even TayTay. Weirdos. That's my Tatay!
It's Tatay's birthday today, so a very happy birthday to you! Mind you, the first umpteen years of our lives we all thought you were a New Year's Eve baby, until you finally clarified that you're actually a New Year's Eve, Eve baby. Anyway, hopefully you're enjoying your TVs and your new DirectTV today. Sorry we're not down in NC to help...watch tv.
I picked today's magnet, because it looks like my dad might have a new fishing boat buddy down the line. (Aside from Mom, that is. No, we just call her Mommy, or Mom. I dunno why, but she never wanted us to call her Nanay, the counterpart to Tatay.)
That fishing buddy might be my sister's fiance, Gordon, whose birthday is today as well. Happy birthday, Gordon!
And, don't worry Mommy, I'm trying to find just the right magnet for your birthday in May!
4 comments:
happy birthday tatay and gordon! :)
maybe for your birthday, tatay, gordon will say tatay right. :) haha, i kid!
happy birthday!
Happy Birthday, JoyDad!
Happy Birthday, Gordon!
Happy Birthdays!
Maybe your mom doesn't like 'Nanay' because it sounds too much like 'Nana', and nothing's more depressing than your kids calling you their grandmother.
If all goes to plan, my kids are actually going to do the opposite: I've called my mom 'Mutti' since taking German in middle school, and since she doesn't want to feel too old when (if?) grandbabies start to arrive, she wants 'Mutti' to be her grandma name.
Which brings me to my final snippit of today's comment: who's that comic who says you can always tell the kids who are going to go to jail because they call their mom by her first name and their grandma 'Mommy'? Because if my kids use 'Mutti', by his standards I'll be raising little felons...
You hit the nail on the head, GG. Nanay and Tatay is also used for grandma/pa, so she didn't want to be grandma. Which is in sharp contrast to nowadays, where she really wants to be one. :-)
Hahaha, I dunno who that comic is, but that was funny.
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