"May Toyo Ka Ba?": Do You Have Toyo/Patis (Soy Sauce/Fish Sauce)?

In Bacolod, patis (pa-TIS) in Hiligaynon means soy sauce, and the Tagalog patis is is Rufina patis. Thus, they are both patis, the only distinction is that the Ilonggos refer to soy sauce as patis, while fish sauce is Rufina patis, as if all fish sauces are rufina.

In Tagalog speaking areas, what the Ilonggos know as patis is called toyo (TO-yo^). So that Ilonggo speaking people must have to specify when ordering for patis condiment in a restaurant in Manila in order to be served with toyo (TO-yo^) or soy sauce, because for the Tagalogs, the Ilonggo patis is toyo and the Ilonggo Rufina patis is patis.

Makes you a bit crazy, huh? Well, for the Tagalog speaker, toyo also means a "loose screw" so that when someone asks you, "May toyo ka ba?". It either means, "Do you have toyo?" referring to the soy sauce, or to your state of mind.

Ah, this naughty Tagalog word for the Ilonggo patis.

Kuwan or Kwan: The All-Around-Anything-You-Want-It-To-Mean Word

Yes, there is such a word. It is a substitute word if you can't remember what to call what-you-call-this. It's just one word, "kuwan" or slurred to "k'wan" (ku-WAN or KWAN).

Sometimes, to break the monotony of the sentence "Ginkwan ni kwan ang kwan ni kwan" (Something was done by someone on the something of someone), another word for kwan is "ano" (a-NO) which means "what".

In Bacolod, there is a famous home of delectable native delicacies named QUAN. So that if you ask your friend where did he get his delicious cassava cake, he will tell you with a mischievous smile, "Sa Quan" (From what-you-call-this).

Kilanlan or Kinahanglan?

In the modern Ilonggo or Hiligaynon dialect, there is a word that is threatening to put to extinction an original word.

The culprit word is "kilanlan" (ki-LAN-lan). It simply does not exist in the original Ilonggo vocabulary, it merely evolved through years and years of misuse especially by the young native Ilonggo speakers themselves.

Can this prove an alleged AIM finding that Ilonggos are poor listeners?

The murdered word is supposed to be "kinahanglan" (ki-na-HANG-lan) which means a must, a need, a necessity. It is also used by Cebuanos, and Warays.

"Kilanlan" on the other hand, is a Tagalog word that means an acknowledgment, recognition or familiarity. So the two words are not related at all.

If the younger generation will keep on using "kilanlan" instead of the right word "kinahanglan", then the latter is in danger of becoming extinct.