The sea coast echo., 1899-12-23
A PHILIPPINE GLOSSARY

and Edifeation Of People Who Have
Not Iiad the Advantage or Reeens
Philippine Travel.
- Now that the volunteers are re-
turning from the Philippines there is
I trouble ahead efor the dictionary
makers 1t is q peculiagity Of Ameri-
can slang that IT is at once SO concise,
picturesque and graphic that most
new werdsA of this kindseyentually
= f,rce Their way, despite dissent, into
the lexlcon.s The. volunteers will
brin 8 back with them so many brand
new expressions OF this character that
their socabutary N az provesal but in
comprehensible. For the conv eni-
ence of people who have not had the
advantage of recent Philippine travel,
aud also for the future reference of
our iexico3raphers, q short glossary,
with comments may be valuable.
One of The words most commonly
used in this dialect is S.hike.' Its
derivation is doubtful, hnt its de-
scripti>e POWER great and swift. Ito
hike means to travel with amazing
speed. 1t is generally used to give
some idea os how fast the Filipinos
can run when defeated in battle. In-
cidentally, hiking" is a. term ap-
pied to the speed which American
soldiers are obliged to develop when
trying TO catch the fleeing T filipino.
SO, in a more general way, ''hiking"
is applied to any swift and fatiguing
travel, whi'e e a ''hiher" is obviously a
man of hustling and enduring powers.
Gold feet" is an expression often
heard in Manila. It's plain Anglo
Saxon synonym is cowardice. Just
how the two became identified may
not at once be apparent, but he who
falters aud fears i'll battle is apt to feel
cold chils chasing down his spine, 1t
is the most natural anatomical result
for these cold chills* to settle
in the feet. Hence the term.
''Woolen socks," or, more briefly.
''socks," means nything that will
cure on overcome ''cold feet.
Coffee coolers" are those who man
age to get detached from their regi-
ments IN the field and assigned to
more or less easy aud eminentiy safe
berths IL Manila. A coffee cooler"
is supposed to be unable to swallow
his boiling hot coffee on the morning
of battle. OBJ iously, if he wants to
drink his coffee, he must remain be-
hind and cool it while his regiment is
moving out to the fray. Needless to
say. "coaee coolers are not esteemed
by their comrades.
A ''goosoo" is a Filipino who fol-
lows the cause of tho revolution.
While the derivation of this term is
rather obscure, it is limited that it
must be sought in the annals of Am
ericau political history. An ''ami-
go" by contradiction, is a Filipino
who protests his loyalty to the United
States and his disinclination to fight.
According to tue soldiers, the only
difference between a ''googoo'' and
an ''amigo" is that the former wears
the blue and white uniform of the in
surrecto, while the latter wears the
white cotton garments of peace. Each
is equally at heart a rebel against
Uncle Sam. Hence, in the American
y v,
come to signify false friend.
Rain maker" is not term of
Philit pine birth, but it is here that it
hns gained its vogue, and so is worthy
OF a place in this description, When
the Third infantry went on its Leech
Lake Indian campaign, just previous
to embarking for these islands, there
were several doctors along with
the regiment. While the pow VOWS
with the Indians were going on the
redskins manifested some interest in
our army surgeons. The red healer
could prepare medicine" which was
warranted to bring about copious
rainfall in time OF drouth. Could our
medicine men do as much? OF course
it would never do to confess our doc
tors to be inferior to the untutored
savage, and so the Thirds officers un-
hesitatingly asserted that our sur
geons, too, could make rain. That
fastened the name Of "rain- maker"
to our army surgeon, and the. term
has gained great favor on Luzon is
land. ... ........
"Bom bonn" is a noun of strictly
native invention. The more accurate
term would perhaps be native imita-
ton. A cannon on being discharged
gives forth an angry roar of ''bom!"
In second or two the shell explodes
with a fainter "bomp' Coupling
cause and effect gave us ''bom-bom :"
II native desires to explain that a
big fight is on, he plaintiveiy says,
''mucho bonn bom This phenome-
non of artillery fire is a good deal of
tragical puzzle to the little browny.
I emember seeing a couple in Melo-
ban, man and wife, who found an un-
exploded navy she'll in their back yard.
Full of desire to penetrate the mys-
terry of the bonn bonn, they placed the
she'll in mortar used for grinding
corn. and treated it roughly with the
pestle. The doctor who was called
recovered all the fragments of the
shell from their bodies, but, in spite
of his tenderly humane care, both
unfortunates soon penetrated the
greatest mystery conned by man.
"Aqui'' is not really slang. It is a
Spanish word for "here," and is also
used in the sense of .H'come here" but
it has gained so firm place in
the soldiers vocabulary that it must
not be forgotten. ''Pronto," mean
ing ''quick, and para" for "stop"
or halt" are other words of Spanish
extraction.
MEX" is noW typical Philippine
slang. 1t refers to the Mexican dol
lar, the former standard of money in
these islands. AS Mexican dollar is
accepted IN trade as worth just half
of an American dollar, SO Mex has
come to mean t'half. . When a sol
dier declares tYat he has paid GER
tain price for sin article, an incredul-
Gus comradej sarcastically inquiries !;
Money OK Mex?" When Funston
was crossing on his famous raft at
the Rio Grand de la Pampanga, Ne
brasks .efolunteer on his way to the
fror from the hospital YEARLY ap-
hntnlOG